At the beginning

May is always a pretty hectic period if you work for a school or educational institution. You make sure that your courses are marked and your students can graduate and at the same you prepare for the next busy period at the beginning of August, in order to be ready for the new and continuing students.

Last May had an extra task pencilled into my diary, as I was booked to meet my tutors and fellow students at OAMK’s ProPeda-course for an online orientation. I couldn’t believe what a multicultural group we had! I think we had representation from all over the world (no kiwis though!) and that certainly promised an exciting year ahead of us.

Prior to the online opening, we were given info on how to activate our OAMK IDs, course curriculum, and educational videos on competence-based learning. All in all a good set to familiarize oneself prior to the start of the studies.

Following the online session, we were instructed to start self evaluation and fill in the Personal Study Plan (PSP) prior to a personal councelling session with the tutors before the school summer break. I had mine at the beginning of June and it was great to talk to Riikka and Kimmo personally. They were very supportive and also suggested I start filling in the notes in Ossi, which I did prior to the contact days in Oulu.

 

First contact days in Oulu 28-29th August

While all SeAMK students got together for the start of their studies in Seinäjoki, I also officially kicked off my ProPeda studies in Oulu. I was excited but also slightly nervous ahead of the contact days. While we had all met in the online session in May, it was unclear how many of us would make it to Oulu. It was also quite a mystery what the contact days would offer, as it was clear that the AOAMK’s ProPeda-course would not offer traditional lecturing on pedagogical themes.

Our tutors Kimmo and Riikka welcomed the group into Oulu and OAMK and guided us quickly into a grouping activity, where each of us would introduce another student to the rest of the group. I shared the table with Radu, so I had the privilege of introducing our Romanian-Finnish participant to the rest of the group. Introductions were great and at the end there were 18 of us from 16 different countries, if I counted correctly.


OAMK Propeda2022-2023. Photo: Carlos

During the first day, we also got further experience on what is competence-based learning and how to assess this. We had a small group activity where we had to think what defined competence in cycling (though thinking of active verbs that describes this). Following this, we were given a self-assessment of a cyclist and had to decide based on that what his competence was and whether any further proof were needed for assessment and in which way the cyclist could prove this. A great practical learning task!

At the beginning of the second day we discussed the Finnish education system. I think it came as a quite a surprise to many, how late kids in Finland start school and how they only start getting numerical assessment at the age of 10. Personally I love the flexibility of the Finnish style. What ever your path is, there always seems a way forward. Great especially for those going though tough teenage years or those who need new skills at work later on in their lives.

We were divided into 4 groups and the plan is that all the future assignments will be worked in these groups. We also had our first little teaching session to plan and to present. Our topic was "Why study with a team/community on a personalised study path?". We had just 30 minutes to research the topic and plan the teaching session. I am very proud of my team as I feel we worked nicely together and came up with a good plan. I felt that the actual teaching session went well, but feedback from other students was that we should have activated the students more and lecture less. Something we need to keep in mind for future pedagogical scripts.


Group 4: Carlos, Tiina, Myryam, Veronica. Photo: Carlos

I left Oulu after day two as due to work commitments I was not able to stay for the third, technical day. Good news is that our Teams-environment has all the necessary stuff from webinar dates and group rooms, so starting work with the first assignment has not been too challenging. Obviously finding a mutual time with three other people (especially Carlos being in Mexico!) won’t be without its obstacles but so far so good!


Kommentit

  1. Jin Bae7. syyskuuta 2022 klo 6.29

    I think it was really practical start up days!:-) and great group pics too!

    VastaaPoista

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