what is the teacher's role in SDL and CL?

After completing my KWLQ framework, I came to realise that the entire point of my blog post is this - what role does the teacher play in SDL and CL? Intuitively it seems, the teacher's role is very much diminished when students are involved in such projects concerning SDL and CL. However, I came to realise that this was untrue. the teacher plays an even more active role in the classroom, as mentor/facilitator/guide/quality control etc etc. What do you think?

-------------------

K – Based on the videos I watched before the lesson, I roughly understand what SDL and CL are. SDL is about the development of an idea/plan/project without guidance from the teacher. For example, the team that did the project on Japanese American history later on launched an awareness campaign in their neighbourhood. The whole exercise was fully inspired by the team itself; their teacher did not have to prompt/guide/teach them.

In CL, the entire class was split into different groups; each group contributed to different aspects of one single project, which was to save four astronauts from the moon.

It seemed to me as if the teacher was more involved in CL as compared to SDL, because the CL project required more sophisticated skills such as designing programmes that would aid in rescuing the astronauts.

W – I agree with Fatma on this aspect. I always believe in executing effective/efficient lessons and would like to learn more about time management when setting up projects that involve SDL and CL. Perhaps in this case, the teacher will have to play a more active role in designing basic guidelines, deadlines and to provide tips on effective time management.

L – From the lesson we had last Tuesday, I learnt that collaborative learning and self directed learning occur simultaneously in a given project/task. For example, when my group was contributing to the concept map, other groups were similarly editing and contributing their ideas to the same map. Technology placed a significant part in allowing us to see changes being made in real time, which was, for the lack of a more suitable word, very COOL! At the same time, some members of my group were very excitedly clicking away at the sidebar, and experimenting with the different icons and font sizes/colours available. From what we learnt later on, this latter activity was a rough idea of that SDL is about.

Q – How do we ensure that the students actually learn from SDL or CL? How can we ensure that all members of a group participate or contribute to the project? In every classroom, I think teachers face 40 different and possibly very diverse personalities. How do we reconcile the differences? How do we ensure that both the boisterous and the meek contribute equally?

Looking forward to reading your comments :)

Jin Xun