Staff Learning Days
Teachers explored Blended Learning and Differentiated Instruction during a two-day college-wide professional development event. Find out how these sessions equipped teachers with practical skills to better meet students' learning needs.
Staff Learning Days – Back to the Classroom for Teachers
On 4th and 5th February, teachers returned to the classroom as students to gain deeper insights into Blended Learning (BL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI). This was the first college-wide professional development event for 2021.
The 2-day programme focused on BL coupled with ICT-enabled learning and DI to demonstrate how BL can be made even more effective in meeting students’ learning needs and styles. To demonstrate how teaching strategies could be employed effectively, sessions were conducted using the BL approach which included asynchronous readings, online reflection, and mixture of online and face-to-face activities.
The first day focused on e-pedagogy and ICT-enabled learning. Senior Teachers Mr Yeo Wi Sze (Mathematics Department) and Mr Mohamed Osman B Rahamat (Humanities Department) presented an overview of e-pedagogy and used a Geography blended lesson to illustrate its key principles. This was followed by concurrent sessions conducted by our own teachers. On the second day, Ms Tang Swee Noi, an expert in DI from the National Institute of Education, was invited to refresh teachers’ knowledge of DI and address queries from teachers. A series of activities followed where teachers examined case studies, designed a blended lesson with DI elements and, in the spirit of learning from one another, presented the lesson plan to another department for feedback. Two History teachers, Mr John Yeo and Mr Lim Weili, also presented a DI lesson as an exemplar.
This event was welcomed by teachers who shared that the sessions deepened their understanding of e-pedagogy and DI. They also found that the sessions were practical enough allowing them to apply the new knowledge and skills in their classrooms.