Active Learning

a collection of quotes and notes from the NmInTheSouthPacific project pertaining to Active Learning in the South Pacific. These were collected from the site by Shalen Gounden

Foundation Students: Site Visit to Solomons Islands, NmSolomons

• "when topics they are talking about are not to my interest I fall asleep"
• "if they give us exercises to do, it brings our interest"

Lima Ronald .L, Chapter in Educational ideas from Oceania, NmSolomons

• "A person learns mainly by listening, observing, imitating, participating and continual practice"(p. 120)
• Tawele: learning through experience

Student, A Fijian in an American University, NmStudents

• he says most learning was in a classroom setting from an early age; communal learning was restricted to fishing, firewood, planting
• "learning was basically by what was given to us"
• he said farming was even taught in the classroom setting, with "visuals" which he says helped him "relate to classroom setting"

Sala Bakalevu, NmFiji

• "everyone says its lonely [studying, reading, research), because you're doing it on your own"
• "when I was writing my thesis, I always felt like seeing my advisor, but felt like I was intruding, because I always felt like seeing my advisor, like every day"
• "doing something on my own, it's so lonely"
• I guess it has a lot to do with reading... we would prefer to talk more"''
• "I like the computer (as opposed to books). You're interacting with someone here, or something. It's visual. Something is moving here. You're seeing something talk back to you. It's different... something that makes sound."
• "If you can't have the reality of a group"
  • Vuli-ca means "to learn" as well as "to teach"
• no defined roles for teacher and learner
• shared tasks, working together, peer-learning
• "Learning is involved in the process of living. I could be learning from someone and at the same time I am teaching."
• "By listening, watching, and imitating in the whole community", p. 64, Educational Ideas from Oceania
• "Any urban person who doesn't have this (traditional learning methods) would be a minority"

Konai Thaman: Tonga Case Study, NmTonga

• ‘Ako' means "to teach" as well as "to learn"
• same with Vuli-ca in Fijian (see Sala Bakalevu Communal Learning and Vuli-ca in NmFiji)
• encompasses both knowledge and skills

Bisun Deo: Hindi is Difft, NmHindu

• knowledge transmission is integrated into many ceremonies, songs, stories, survival ability, farming etc.
• so, this aspect of learning seems to be shared with Pacific learning methods

Izzat "a concept embracing self-respect, self-pride, honor, dignity and status" (p. 100) would seem to accent individual achievement

Bisun Deo: Follow-up, NmHindu

• informal learning is active learning
• in a formal setting, "students are happier if they are doing something"
• "They are not students of our generation, where they sit down and listen. I think things have changed now; they want to explore, cut and paste"
• "no need for lecture; we can find out ourselves" but trust less what they find on their own than "from the horse's mouth"
• "it has to do with how comfortable students are with technology and libraries"
• Must be interactive to be active "if the computer directs, this is active learning. Go here, answer this. If it is just filling in forms it is not active."
• Prodding: "give opportunities to think: after an answer ‘have you thought about this? Have you thought about this? now discuss with a friend'"

Spores 2: July 30 2003, NmParallelsAndSpores

• Must be interactive to be active "if the computer directs, this is active learning. Go here, answer this. If it is just filling in forms it is not active." -Bisun Deo, NmHindu
• Prodding: "give opportunities to think: after an answer ‘have you thought about this? Have you thought about this? now discuss with a friend'" -Bisun Deo, NmHindu
• computer alleviates the "loneliness of books" because it is interactive, like a person, has images and sounds, helps communicate with people - Sala Bakalevu on NmFiji

Simon says to free assembly

• build prototype then test on students

Niseta F. Buataua, NmSamoa

"Samoa, like other Pacific societies, is organised on the basis of reciprocal assistance and the subjugation of individual to family interests (Gratton, 1948:47)" p. 118

Lima Ronna L, Chapter in Educational ideas From Oceania, NmSolomons

• "A person learns mainly by listening, observing, imitating, participating and continual practice"(p. 120)
• Tawele: learning through experience

Theories to discuss, Questions for Centers

• Several in front of computer?
• Discussions in/ out of institution?
• taking work home: affect of village-life on learning

Usha Savithri, Teaching Methodology, NmAptech

It seems a combination of e-anyonmity and peer learning is used to overcome aversion to question authority

• "...job of lecturer is to make students interactive... they have to give presentations... once they become interactive, if they have doubts, they go to the lecturers"
• students are encouraged to ask questions, and do
• all students forced to give presentations
• most projects are group projects
• student communities: online scheduled chats with foreign faculty

Learning Issues, Nauru Site Visit, NmNauru

• Colonization of Culture and Education
• Traditional learning was active learning, but with the strict formal education systems of the Germans, Japanese, and Missionaries, active learning is "not really part of life anymore". e.g. "arts and crafts are not passed down anymore" - AK 30 Sep 2003
• "Young men learnt how to catch fish by observing their fathers and uncles. Young women learnt how to cook food and plait mats by observing their mothers and aunts... A Gilbertese named Tabuia started a Protestant mission in 1888... Naururans were forced to observe the holiness of Sundays and to attend prayer on that day... Education as we know it today did not exist prior to the advent of Europeans to Nauru. Education later became compulsory. General Griffith, as Administrator, centralized education in 1919. Parents sent their children to school so as not to be gaoled or fined." -Degoregore, Roy (1991) Nauru: The Way it used to be. From Stories from Nauru. USP Centre Nauru and Institute of Pacific Studies, Suva, Fiji.
• "How do you nurture problem-solving in a rote-learning atmosphere?" -M 30 Sep, 2003

Phone With Greg Ribauw, NmNauru

• students set up their own study groups
• more students showing up "because I am telling them and putting up schedules"
• small island so "only problem is petrol"
• most study done outside of Centre: "I'd rather do work at work but I haven't seen many students come in to do work unless they need to type it up"

Notes from a conversation with School of Humanities' Akanisi Kedrayate, Unaisi Nabobo, Teweiariji Teaero, Stanley Houma, and Joseph Veramu, Spore 3 Brainstorm with SOH, NmParallelsAndSpores

• there is a push in SOH for more practical, group projects
• "trying to have at least 60% be coursework so there is more practical"

Rito Akilang, NmMarshalls

Training

• use of PC. multimedia training would be helpful

Themes for Phone Interviews, NmThemesForInterviews

• How is active learning used in a classroom setting?
• Are students more comfortable with learning by doing or by listening?
• please give examples

Melissa Gold, Educational Multimedia Software: Math's, Melissa Gold

• every few screens, students are given the opportunity to stop and try out what they are learning
• at every inline test, students are given a Helpline
• if they get the test wrong, they are given a hint and asked to try again
• if they get it wrong after the second try, they are shown exactly how to complete the problem and move on