Theoretical Underpinnings of My Teaching

¶ … Theoretical Underpinnings of My Teaching Philosophy

Constructivist learning approach

Audience Analysis and Considerations

Instructional Strategies and Delivery Methods

Lesson Plan Analysis

The lesson is Database Systems. The course covers the fundamentals of databases systems, database management, and database design as well as database architecture. The principles and methodologies of database design as well as the techniques for database system development are also covered. The goal of the course is to provide students with very basic understanding of the database systems while preparing them for the more advanced courses in database design and development.

The students are expected to gain knowledge of various database concepts as well as be able to Design database system, analyze needs for data processing, Develop conceptual enterprise data model: entities, relationships, attributes, the concept of database administration, distinguish between physical as well as logical design and be able to write basic SQL Scripts. The fact that the lesson is being designed for adult learners means that it has to be as logical as possible in regard to the instructions. As Knowles (1984) pointed out, there is a difference in the way that children and adult learn. The adult learners desire to be self-directed as well as be able to take responsibility for their own decisions (Atherton, 2002).I therefore ensured that the lesson that I designed were sensitive to these adult desires.

Stolovitch and Keeps (2002) summarized the four principles that are important for adult instructions into the following:

Readiness: The training must be able to clearly address the needs of the learners in order to prepare them for learning

Experience: The training must be able to respect as well as build on the different life experiences that the adult learners bring with them into the lesson

Autonomy: The training must be able to invite the learners to effectively participate in the shaping of the general direction, activities as well as content of the learning experience.

Action: The connection that exists between the training as well as the application of whatever is learned should be very clear as pointed out by Stolovich & Keeps (2002)

These principles therefore meant that I had to employ various teaching strategies like case studies, simulations, role playing as well as self-evaluation. I therefore had to assume a facilitator's role as well as that of a resource as opposed to that of a grader and a lecturer.

The theoretical underpinnings of my teaching philosophy

The theoretical underpinning of my teaching philosophy is based upon my own experience as a courses teacher while working as an assistant professor in the undergraduate university. As a teacher I regard every individual is equal and I therefore provide my a hundred percent to each and every individual's problem. I have confidence in the abilities of my students. I believe strongly that that they have the ability to categorically perform well in order to achieve success. For this particular reason, I try my very best to increase the level of creativity among my students, by teaching in a practical manner by giving them examples of real life situations/scenarios. This, I realized, makes it quite easy and interesting for them to comprehend and grasp the underlying concept. I always strive to create a good relationship with my students as well as express to them the importance of education and the learning process. In my quest of providing an environment for learning, I always give my students the freedom to think as well as discover the different things in ways that they want. It is quite important to realize that each and every individual is unique and each and every individual has his or her own strengths and weaknesses. I therefore make efforts of encouraging them to give all forms of suggestions, criticisms as well as opinion on various aspects. This technique/philosophy provides me with a great idea on how to effectively deliver my lectures lecture as well as the content that should be effectively prepared for them.

Personally, I am a friendly person. I prefer this to being authoritative. This is because I believe that being authoritative tends towards not producing the favorable results. I therefore continually evaluate as well as analyze my student's performance via their performance in order to effectively monitor their progress. This also helps me in the analysis of the things that I must take care of during my lectures so as to produce very satisfactory results. My analysis indicates that this approach will go ahead into creating a comfortable learning environment that is based / founded on respect. We must therefore strive to learn with each other in a cooperative fashion that will ensure that the level student's confidence in my teaching is upheld highly and thus helping to create a suitable learning environment as noted by Kasachkoff (2004).

I give utmost priority to my students' needs, and I am very aware of the fact that not every individual possess similar communication. I therefore make efforts of preparing my lectures in a manner that that addresses most of the issues that affects my students. I also make sure that my students are able to fathom the concept in a better way. I also encourage them to ask questions on whatever problems that they have as well as any doubts so as to clear all of their problems and doubts. This I realized makes them to work harder and increases their motivation for learning. As an instructor, always strive to provide guidance to my students so that they may be able to take care of the many problems that they face. I also strive to transfer my entire knowledge to them. This way, I believe I manage to serve them better.

Becoming a teacher was has always been my dream since I love to provide mentorship as well as guidance to others in solving their problems, I got motivated. This feeling led to the creation of my interest becoming a teacher. Additionally, as a teacher, I plays a very critical role in the development of the society. Society can therefore learn as well as develop from the experiences that are imparted by the roles of a teacher as pointed out by Kenkmann (2009).

As a teacher, I try to fulfill my goals and aspirations. I am open to learning and creative suggestions as a teacher. I also would involve myself in educational and social activities that not only develop students as individuals, but also serve the society. I am now willing to complete my training for teaching course, and I will also be attending various seminars and conferences that will improve my skills as a teacher and trainer. I also plan to prepare other teachers once I complete my training courses and conferences.

Constructivist learning approach

The learning approach which I prefer is the constructivist learning approach. This is due to its strong success rate with independent adult learning. It is quite important for us to comprehend fully the cultural environment within which the learning is to take place. Merriam and Caffarella (1999) opined that adult learning even though is self-directed, should have an input from other external influences. This should be implemented through social interactions, investigations as well as the engagement or exposure to more formal learning environments.

The constructivistic learning technique involves the educator effectively designing the school curriculum around the individual student's experience. This is what I do. Constructivists believe that the engagement in a an instructional classroom which is leaner-centric leads to the strengthening of the commitment as well as involvement of learners who are self-motivated due to their extremely high level of individual interactions. The weaknesses of my learning philosophy are that it assumes that each and every student is an average student possessing average experience, a prerequisite for constructivist learning process. The philosophy can be revised by the application of technology and some elements of behaviorist teaching techniques.

Contextual learning

As an educator for adults, I have learnt to recognize that the process of relating the instructional content to certain specific context in the lives and interest of my adult learners serves to motivate them towards learning new ideas as noted by Dirkx and Prenger (1997). I therefore strive to integrate the academic content with various situations as well as issues that form a meaningful idea to the students. I believe this helps them tremendously in acquiring more skills at a more rapid pace as opposed to the approaches that only rely on a sharp focus on a given subject. This is what I mean by contextual learning. A learning which incorporates elements of recent research into cognitive science while recognizing that the process of learning is a complex one that involves a lot of details than the behaviorist approaches that merely emphasize practice and drill. As suggested by Sandlin (2000), I often take a more critical approach to employing contextual learning in my lessons.

Contextual learning is a learning technique which is deeply rooted on the constructivist approach to learning and teaching (Brown 1998). Constructivist learning theory on the other hand postulates that individuals normally learn via the construction of meanings of various ideas through the direct interaction with as well as interpreting the environment itself. The works of Borko and Putnam (1998) expressed the contemporary perspectives to the concept of contextual learning. Situated recognition (uses both social and physical contexts),social cognition (uses an individual's construction of a given knowledge) as well as distributed cognition which employs or relates to both the social and situated nature of cognition (Clifford and Wilson,2000). While employing this ideas, I emphasize on problem solving, recognition of the fact that teaching as well as learning must occur within multiple contexts, assist my students in the process of learning, anchor my lesson and teachings on various diverse real life context of my students, encourage my students to learn from one another while also employing an authentic assessment technique.

Audience Analysis and Considerations

The audience basically comprises of adult learners who are either interested in advancing their careers or leaning of better ways of running their own firms. Their learning style is based on their past experiences. They also prefer learning by example.

Learning Objectives Analysis

The learning objectives are to be able to

1. Explain the difference that exists between data and information

2. Describe the different type of databases as well as the need for them

3. Explain the concept of database design as well as it importance

4. Explain how databases evolved from the files as well as file systems

5. Explain the differences between database as well as file systems

6. Explain the concepts of data models as well as their importance

7. Identify the various business rules for designing databases

8. Create a basic data model

9. Describe the advantages as well as the disadvantages of data models

The objectives were determined after a close analysis of the industry standards and basic theoretical requirements. Their appropriateness were gauged from responses received from the industry via symposiums, professional bodies as well as general research.

The resources I will need to teach my course (including any learning technologies).

10. For Explain the difference that exists between data and information

Rob, P., & Coronel, C. (2006) (p.6-7)

Hoffer, J.A., Prescott, M.B., & Topi, H. (2009) (p. 6-8)

Describe the different type of databases as well as the need for them

Rob, P., & Coronel, C. (2006) (p.7-9)

Hoffer, J.A., Prescott, M.B., & Topi, H. (2009) (p. 9-11)

Explain the concept of database design as well as it importance

Rob, P., & Coronel, C. (2006) (p.9-10)

Hoffer, J.A., Prescott, M.B., & Topi, H. (2009) (p. 13-18).

Rob, P., & Coronel, C. (2006) (p.26) and answer questions 1-4.

Explain how databases evolved from the files as well as file systems

Rob, P., & Coronel, C. (2006) (p.10-18)

Hoffer, J.A., Prescott, M.B., & Topi, H. (2009) (p. 11-13, 27-29)

Explain the differences between database as well as file systems

Rob, P., & Coronel, C. (2006) (p.10-18)

Hoffer, J.A., Prescott, M.B., & Topi, H. (2009) (p. 11-13, 27-29)