Digital Portfolio

Find my thoughts about learning and teaching here. 

 

Start with my Pecha Kucha presentation where I have collected my learning history. The presentation includes 20 slides and 20 seconds comments for each slide (whole presentation 6 min 40 sec). This was also an interesting learning tool how to be effective, inspiring and personal with only pictures and little time.
Enjoy!
My Learning History with Pictures
(Please download the presentation and you can hear the audio, too. And start with the slide number 1)


•My most memorable learning experiences
I think my most memorable learning experiences are from abroad. As a young university student I spent one year in Germany and got to know different learning environments and styles there compared to those in Finland. I was happy to get this experience because I believe that this experience has influenced me also as a teacher. In Germany they used much more group work methods than we were used to in Finland. The teachers also encouraged us students to analyze the learnings, to be creative and to be very active in the lessons.

In Finland I was used to mass lessons where the main thing was to listen to the teacher and no dialogue or communication occurred. As a student I could see my own positive development during my exchange year. I became more spontaneous and I found it interesting to be active in the lesson. I was not anymore so much afraid of if the answer is correct or not because the discussions and communication were the key things.

Another learning experience I got later from the Netherlands as I was in a teacher exchange period. Dutch students were from my Finnish point of view very social, communicative, inspired and active. My memorable learning experience from this period is that the teachers really paid attention when creating an atmosphere and learning environment where this kind of social learning was possible. I also realized that learning results were great, too, and the students learned a lot of different skills.

•My formal studies & learning history (classroom and virtual)
I have started my studies at University after high school. I started with German language and culture but changed later my major to be marketing. I have BA degree from German language and culture and Master´s degree from Marketing.

I have participated in different business courses in my previous work place, i.e. As a Product Manager in the Company and Vocational Qualification in Sales.
I have not have own studies in virtual environment but I have myself organized some international courser and we used moodle platform

•My personal teaching history
I have been working as teacher of marketing 2004-2008. I worked at Business College Helsinki-Malmi. I had different marketing courses like Basics of Marketing and Customer Service, Marketing Research and Marketing Planning. I also had some marketing courses for tourism students. I was also responsible for some project courses, i.e. fairs and events. I also worked as tutor teacher for students doing their final papers.

•How do people learn the best in vocational settings?
I believe that the best vocational education combine both theoretical and practical aspects. But I would say that the focus should be more on practical frameworks and working life. I also think that vocational education should have not so much traditional lessons where the teacher is telling the students the right things and truths. Because the students should be able to work quite soon in practice, the school should provide them knowledge and skills which are useful in real life. If they don´t get any training and practice already in school, the success in working life is not guaranteed.
I also believe that vocational education should contain quite a lot group work and communication training. These are also the skills that are really needed in today´s working life.

•My preferred learning styles
I like different learning styles. My personality is quite spontaneous and creative and that´s why I think I like if I can vary my learning styles. I don´t like so much traditional learning styles (i.e. lessons with teacher focus) but I think that in many cases a combination of traditional and new ways is the best way to proceed. I like group work methods a lot because I think that in that way people can learn not only the content things but also communication etc.

•The traits of effective teacher
 I think an effective teacher knows himself / herself quite well. She knows what are her strengths and weaknesses and like to challenge herself. She also knows the framework within she is working and she is not overloading herself with unrealistic aims and hopes.

From my point of view an effective teacher is also eager to learn from colleagues, students and people in general. In this way she can all the time learn something useful and develop herself. She also communicates in an open way and is making own working and cooperation easier in the working community.
 
•How the curriculum directs the development of studies?
There are many ways of seeing curriculum in teaching. I think the most traditional one is about seeing curriculum as a written document that tells the teachers what should be taught to students. For me curriculum is much more and even if it can be a bit boring texts I think that behind there are great ideas and frameworks for effective and inspiring teaching and learning. One of my favorite descriptions of the role of curriculum is something like this: “Curriculum is the experience of learning something you didn´t know before. Engaging learners in exploration of something that matters to them.” Stephen Murgatroyd, 2011.
 
I find it very important that teachers are interested in curriculum work and want to be part of the developing process. Only in this way teachers can be sure that their important knowledge from school work will be part of the curriculum in the future, too.

•What methods of assessment can I use and in which contexts?
I know that there are a lot of different methods to do assessment. I have used quite a lot teacher centered methods but I´m more than eager to learn more about other methods, too. Sometimes I have used also peer evaluation or group evaluation but I think that I haven´t had enough background information to have success with these. 

I think all kind of assessment should be planned very well and the students should be aware of the criteria of the assessment. I also think that students should always have a possibility to discuss the feedback and assessment even if it would be written.
 
•How do I use technology in my field of pedagogy?
I like new technology and I think it should be an essential part of my field of pedagogy because it´s so natural for many people. I have used virtual learning environments in international context and I have found it very inspiring and useful both for teachers and students. 

Of course the new technology is not always easy tool to use and you should prepare things very well. It´s also important that you know enough about your students´ ability to use the new technology and you make a clear difference between entertainment and serious things.

One thing I like a lot with new technology is the social environment it can offer. You can get much more communication and easygoing dialogue in this environment. In international context it´s also great to get different aspects from different cultures. I´m also looking forward to using mobile technology in my lessons.

•Analysis of my competences in teaching.
Competences in teaching is a complicated theme with many different fields. I have analyzed my competences in my personal study plan. I hope you have the possibility to have a look at it.