Research Homepage of Wonga L. Ntshinga
A Choreography-Based Service Composition Model
What is learning to me?

Learning, for me, has a common goal and clear-cut objectives. Learning, for me, occurs when students engage with the content. Learning occurs when a student is able to think independently, critically, and constructively. It means that student’s natural curiosity is fundamental. Learning, for me, is a cooperative task.

 

For me, learning is when a student is able to understand his/her misconceptions, and correcting the misconceptions. If the student is unable to understand or is not aware of his/her misconceptions, then it is my responsibility to correct these misconceptions.

 

I need to emphasise that learning is not simply assessment-driven. While teaching is a reflexive, communal activity, learning, for me, is reciprocal and it is ongoing. Learning is a process of adjusting to new experiences and that prior experience and knowledge play an important part. Learning, for me, is when the facilitator ensures that the environment is good (i.e. good-natured atmosphere in class).

 

Above all, every person has his or her own ways of learning (e.g. some students learn more while actively participating, others prefer listening to a lecture or reading a book (www: h)), hence I need to make sure that learning is relevant, enjoyable and challenging (www: c).

 

I also mentioned objectives for industry. IT industry has made a clear statement that they need graduates who are not merely vessels of academic knowledge, but active learners with imagination, flexibility, initiative, critical thinking, and independence. Hence it is important that I ensure that students, in my course, have the above characteristics at the end of the year.

My Teaching Philosophy

This teaching philosophy will include my objectives as a teacher, my ambitions, my values, my philosophies, my attitude, my expectations, and my ethical beliefs. With my ten years teaching experience, I will explain to you what do I mean by learning, and what do I mean by teaching.

I will mention my academic short-term goal and my long-term goals. Goals, that I think, are reasonable. I will explain how do I interact with the students, both inside and outside the classroom. I will show you how do I ensure that dialogic teaching and learner centred takes place.

While I will be doing all of the above, I will give you other teacher’s views of Teaching Philosophy and compare them with what I believe in. But you must know that explaining all of the above in full would require more space than I have available in this Teaching Philosophy.

 

I am writing this teaching philosophy for two reasons. The first reason is that I wish to share with you why am I doing what I am doing (Personal Purpose). The second reason is that I will use this teaching philosophy as my professional strength among other teachers (Professional Purpose) (www: b), since it contains my academic goals and means to achieve these goals.

This teaching philosophy will help me in focusing on my teaching goals (see below) and to appreciate my personal and professional rewards of teaching (www: b).

Objectives as a teacher

I have the following objectives as a teacher:

 

For students:

 

􀀥 My students to learn the fundamental content of the course that I teach (primary objective).

 

􀀥 But beyond the above point, I hope to foster critical thinking, facilitate the acquisition of life-long learning skills to the student.

 

􀀥 To communicate subject matter in a way that is meaningful and relevant to the students.

 

􀀥 To encourage students to question accepted “truths” from every angle.

 

􀀥 To provide and developed learner competencies required by industry/ profession.

 

􀀥 To encourage learners to put forth an honest effort consistently in order for them to be successful learners.

 

􀀥 To challenge, motivate, and inspire them to think, probe, and explore the subject matter in an active and stimulating manner (www: d).

 

􀀥 To monitor and grade their progress.

 

􀀥 To determine students requirements and expectations for the course.

For Industry and Administration:

 􀀨 To provide industry with better and appropriately qualified persons.

􀀨 To maintain SERTEC files and to participate in student selection procedures.