Curricula

Objectives

The purpose of the study unit

The purpose of this course is to develop your reflection skills as a part of the teacher identity development. You will set personal goals related to teacher education and your own professional development. You will monitor and evaluate your own study progress and the development of the competence. You will participate in the learning circle group work, and at the end of the studies you will analyse the results of you have achieved.

Study unit competeneces

In this course, you will promote and develop your reflection skills, agency skills and interpersonal skills.

The objective of reflection skills is that you will be able to assess your pedagogical principles and working methods as a facilitator of learning. You will be able to realistically assess your own learning and competences, as well as, set new goals as a facilitator of learning.  

The objective of agency skills is that you will be able to systematically develop your professional competences as a facilitator of learning. You will be able to develop pedagogically meaningful learning environments in cooperation with other staff members.

The objective of interpersonal skills is that you will be able to take into account learner diversity and learners' personal goals both in planning and implementing learning sessions, and in guiding and evaluating learning processes.

Learning objectives

You will be able to systematically develop your professional competence as a facilitator of learning. You will be able to assess your pedagogical principles and working methods as a facilitator of learning. You will be able to realistically assess your own learning and competence and set new goals as a facilitator of learning. You are also able to work in a constructive manner with your peer students.

Content

Tasks related to a personal competence development plan (CDP), reflective learning diary, peer and self-evaluation, participation in small group (learning circle) work, portfolio work.

Time and location

The study unit starts at the very beginning of your studies and lasts throughout the studies.

Teaching methods

At the beginning of this course, you will design and continuously update your personal competences in the competence development plan (CDP). You will also monitor and reflect the development of your competences by compiling a portfolio and keeping a reflective learning diary.

Participation in guided tutoring days and learning circle activities with your fellow students to receive and give peer support is considered as one learning assignment

In the final phase of your studies, you will write a summative self-assessment to assess your competences as a learning facilitator and have a final evaluation discussion with your teacher educator.

Alternative completion methods

Acquiring competence
During this course, you will acquire the targeted competence by setting yourself objectives related to teacher education and making progress accordingly, by documenting and evaluating your own learning process, and by giving feedback to your fellow students to support their learning. Participation and collaboration in learning circles’ group activities as well as tutoring sessions is very important. The tutoring sessions are designed to support personal development as a facilitator of learning.

Demonstrating competence
You can demonstrate the competences by completing the learning assignments that comprise the CDP, the portfolio, participation and contributions to the learning circle group tasks and tutoring days as well as the final assessment discussion and the material related to it.

Student workload

This study unit is 6 credits and it consists of 162 hours of students’ work. This means that you are given 162 hours for working with different tasks (planning and maintaining a personal learning plan, feedback and evaluation discussions, working with peers). It consists of reading, searching for materials, reflecting on and working on learning assignments independently and with the learning circles.

Further information for students

The assessment is qualitative and is based on the learning aims. The assessment methods of the learning process, include giving and receiving feedback and self-assessment. Competence-based assessment is criteria based and the assessment decision is made by the teacher educator once all the learning tasks have been completed. The assessment materials consist of the CDP, the portfolio, participation in and contributions to learning circle group work and guided tutoring days, as well as, the final assessment discussion.

Evaluation scale

Pass/Fail

Evaluation criteria, pass/failed

The criteria for assessing the approved level are as follows:

Reflection skills
- You assess your own learning process and competence based on the learning objectives defined in professional teacher education.

Agency skills
- You will set goals for yourself that are related to teacher education, develop your own professional agency based on your own starting points and set new goals for your professional development.

Interpersonal skills
- You will document your learning for others and provide constructive feedback for other students to support their learning.