MeMyself&I

The classroom, whether it is physical or virtual, is an environment of discovery where students construct their own knowledge and understanding, and develop within themselves the power of reflective and critical thinking. As a practitioner in the field of education, I see the role of the teacher as an empowering facilitator in the learning process. I take a situativist view in that I believe knowledge is fundamentally situated in practice, constructed by learners as they build new ideas upon prior knowledge, and that the best way to foster this knowledge construction is to facilitate scaffolded and supportive learning in a democratic learning environment. In such an environment learners are guided to take responsibility for their own learning, which lends itself to student-driven rather than teacher-driven pedagogical approaches and encourages free expression and mutual appreciation of ideas. Further, the learners have the flexibility to explore and learn from an environment that provides a rich array of choices and enables them to generate, test and regenerate ideas governed by their individual values, past experiences and whatever personal learning agenda they might bring to the environment. Because of this belief, I have a strong commitment to promoting authentic and generative learning, and I believe in alternative forms of assessment where I can help learners to view knowledge as a tool for solving problems rather than just a collection of facts. Hence, I also have a strong commitment to lifelong learning, and I see myself as modeling the professional educator as an expert learner for the benefit of my academic clients, their students and myself.