Stage 1C: Contexts in Learning
Contexts in Learning is the final stage in evidencing your RPL ESW Application Document. This part of the work is focused on showcasing your ability to personalise learning for your learners.
Personalising learning involves the following:
- Being able to empathise with the contexts your learners come from. This means understanding the learners’:
- physical environment
- intellectual environment
- socio-emotional environment
- any other aspect of their environment
and the impact this has on their growth and development.
- After a deep, empathetic understanding of the above-mentioned contexts that define who your learners are now, think about what learning contexts you have created to further your learners’ learning. Have you, for e.g., created any of the following contexts to inspire learning: Children learning through:
- Gamification of learning
- Design thinking projects (DTP)
- Real world experiential learning – like, through internships in hospitals, stores, labs, industry, museums, wildlife parks, startups
- Simulations
- Project-based learning (remember this might not have all the stages as DTP). For e.g. setting up a small business for fundraising, building a section of the classroom to be an ideal reading nook, preparing a model planning blueprint for a sustainable village.
- Or any other context…
- Discuss how the learning context impacted your learners’ desire, and motivation to learn. For e.g.:
- Did they collaborate deeper?
- Did they begin to explore more readings and resources?
- Did the context augment a research mindset?
- Did they enjoy practicing their inherent creativity?
- Did they learn to ask more open-ended questions?
- Any other impact…
- Study critically your own journey as an educator. How did this deep introspection and reflection on personalising help create a better educator in you? Discuss critically the impact on your philosophy and persona as a leader of learning.
Now, prove to the university the above. How can you do that?
- Recalling & Collecting evidence
Step 1: Understanding contexts
- List the various contexts in learning you are familiar with
- Become familiar with Data collection tools: surveys, interviews, observation, records, questionnaires.
- Analyse and identify contexts, needs
- Choose a learner or a learner group – identify the context in which they learn [the socio- economic, time, generation, age, cognitive, psychological environment, technology.]
- Analyse the learner needs [physical, cognitive, psychological, spiritual]
- Observe the impact of the learning context
- Draw correlations between context and learning
- Present your findings
Step 2: Using contexts skillfully
- Show clear evidence in Lesson Plans of using information from the context-analysis
- Showcase the new context that your have created and the reasoning
- Choose differentiation / personalization strategies to teach effectively to improve learning in students from different contexts
- Show evidence of students’ learning (at Knowledge, Application and Competence level, for example)
- Reason for the kind of assessment strategies used to collect information on learning
- Reason for how you used feedback to personalise learning, and further learning. Give evidence.
- Evidence how you used assessment data to inform your future teaching decisions.
- Evidence reflection and new action.
- Starting to write
- You must demonstrate your achievement for the following Learning Outcomes (LOs):
| a. Evaluate the extent to which the context has influenced the learning of your learners (s) |
| b. Critically analyse evidence of learning and progression |
| c. Critically analyse the impact of your teaching on outcomes for your learner (s) |
| d. Adapt or suggest adaptations, for your professional practice, justifying these with reference to wider reading and research |
- Let’s start with LOs a. and b. Toward that follow these recommended steps:
| Details | Word count (strictly) | |
| For LO a. | ||
| i. | Identify a learner/group of learners that you would like to use in the studyExplain how their context impacts their performance [remember, this is focused on the impact of the past or certain factors from the present that you cannot possibly influence]Explain the context|s you create to inspire learning. To what extent is your learners’ learning and progression now impacted? [Remember this is focused on your impact on their learning. It is focused on the present and the likely impact in the future.] | 200 words |
| For LO b. | ||
| ii. | What is the evidence of learning and progression in your learners? (Evidence learning using observation records, journals, assessment data, feedback reports, confidence in your learners’ performance etc.)Explain/discuss critically (with literature review references) | 200 words |
IMPORTANT: Any turn in after this hour will have to be considered as non-submission. We will not be able to review this part of your work. Therefore, you will not be able to receive feedback on 11th October 2022, 1600-1700 hours. This is likely to influence your application status.
- Towards LOs c and d:
| Details | Word count | |
| For LO c. | ||
| iii. | Reflect (we suggest you use the ALACT cycle’s step 3) What did you do? The impact of your teaching | the new context on your learner (How did it change your learner?)Was there a challenge or a positive discovery in your experience?What is the impact of this? What will you do now? Write briefly as you will be developing this further in LO d. | 150 – 200 words |
| For LO d. | ||
| iv. | Essential aspects (ALACT step 4) Mention the area of change (any two) and explain why & how do you think these interventions/teaching/decisions will impact learning further?What alternate methods do you see (solutions or ways of making use of what you have discovered). Use literature review to think|write insightfully.What do you think will be the advantages and disadvantages of bringing this change? Think of impact on your immediate and distant work environment – the school, the society, the future of your learners etc. Bring in wider reading to support your views. Remember to keep your focus on personalising learning through creating suitable contexts. | 200 – 250 words. |
IMPORTANT As always, any delay in turning in or any work with (inadvertent) plagiarism is treated as non-submission. We use the highest UK university norms in teaching, mentoring, and assessing your work.
Withing you great learning!
