This week we have upped the anti in the Open Learning Space. The projects have been designed to allow students a certain amount of freedom and ownership within their learning. As many of us know and often discovered, that with this freedom comes much responsibility; A key term that students will hear time and time again throughout the year. So how have they adjusted to this new way of learning and freedom?
Well at first many felt overwhelmed on receiving the tasks that were set for the week and the deadlines that were indicated. Some took it in their stride and set to work. Deadlines are something we can all expect to experience throughout our lives and especially in our working life.
Skills students are beginning to adopt and develop are being able to prioritise their work. By breaking tasks up into smaller chunks make it more achievable in the time allocated. It allows for great control with less stress.
There has been a huge improvement in the attitude of most students towards their work this week and they are on task to complete the end assessment on Friday. One of the keys to this has been ‘time management’. A challenge to most is how to effectively manage their time in the classroom to allow them to complete the work they have to do. The tasks set required a large amount of focus for extended periods of time, which many are still adjusting to.
To try to assist them with the management of their time a check sheet was given to all that visually allows the student to keep track of where they are in terms of their work and what they have to do next. Day one we found these littered over the open learning space! Day two, as they were realising the importance of these and with much encouragement from the teacher, students were referring more and more to them. Today all task check sheets were safely in their work files ready for tomorrow so they can use them to check where they left off today and where they need to begin tomorrow!
The working environment feels far more calming, dedicated and focussed with some superbly presented pieces of work that the students have been working on. To effectively manage your time and wisely choose the activities that you engage in throughout the lesson actually changes the environment you are in to a more purposeful and constructive place for learning to take place. It will still take the students some time to fully appreciate this concept and put it into practice each day but with encouraging words from staff and with the support from team members I am sure that each student will feel the benefits of being able to manage their time more effectively.
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