الوسط التعليمى

الوسط التعليمى تعبير له معنيان مباشران. الأول بمعنى البيئة التعليمية من المدرسين و الزملاء و المجتمع. الثانى، هو المعنى الذى نقصده، و هو الوسائل التى يتم عن طريقها تبادل المعرفة بين الأطراف

الوسط الأكثر شيوعا على الإطلاق هو الكتب و المطبوعات. يلى ذلك فى الأهمية، الوسط التعليمى التقليدى و هو الفصل الدراسى. يجتمع المتعلمون و المعلمون فى الفصل الدراسى لتبادل المعرفة. الفصل الدراسى يظهر فى أكثر من صورة من الإجتماع فى مسجد إلى الكتاب و الفصل المدرسى و المدرج الجامعى إلى الإجتماع الإفتراضى على شبكة الإنترنت

فى الفصل الدراسى يتم تبادل المعرفة بين المتعلمين و المعلمين، عادة، فى صورة درس يلقيه المعلم ثم تدور حوله بعض المناقشات و التوضيحات التى تساعد فى تثبيت الأفكار الأساسية لموضوع الدرس. عادة ما يقدم الدرس كجزء من موضوع أكبر يسمى بالمقرر الدراسى و الذى يخدم أهداف التعليم فى البرنامج التعليمى ككل

يحتوى الفصل الدراسى عادة على وسائل توضيحية للإستخدام فى توضيع الدرس كالسبورة و الصور و الخرائط و أجهزة العرض الضوئى و المجسمات و التى تستخدم جميعها، أو بعضها، فى خدمة توضيح المادة العلمية موضوع الدرس

من هنا تتضح ضرورة توفير البيئة المناسبة فى الفصل الدراسى لدعم المعلم فى توصيل المعلومة و تهيئة الجو المناسب للمتعلم فى الإستفادة من المعلم

من الوسائط التعليمية المستحدثة فى العقود الأخيرة، لا يمكن تغافل دور التسجيلات المرئية و المسموعة التى تتيح للمتعلم مشاهدة عرض المادة العلمية فى أوقات مختلفة إلا أنها تفتقر للتواصل المباشر بالأسئلة للمعلم

فى المقالات القادمه، إن شاء الله، سوف نتعرض لبعض المشاكل الموجودة فى نظام التعليم المصرى مع مقترحات جزئية و شاملة للتغلب عليها. يلى ذلك عرض للوسائل التعليمية الحديثة المعتمدة على شبكة المعلومات و ما قد يستتبع ذلك من تغيير فى نموذج التعليم السائد منذ قرون

العودة للرؤية

محاور العمل

 فى هذا المقال، سأعرض للمحاور الرئيسية للعملية التعليمية فى كل مراحلها، قبل الجامعى و الجامعى و بعد الجامعى


العملية التعليمية تحتاج إلى ثلاث أركان أساسية

الأول: المتعلم

الثانى: المعلم

الثالث: الوسط التعليمى

لتطوير العملية التعليمية، يجب بحث المحددات لكل من هذه المحاور  

المتعلم
المتعلم هو الركن الأول فى العملية التعليمية. لو لم يوجد من يريد أن يتعلم لما وجد المعلم و لا مكان للتعليم. المتعلم يمكن تعريفة بكل بساطة على أنه: كل من يريد الإستزادة من المعرفة 
أهم ما يميز المتعلم هو الرغبة فى التعلم و الإستزادة منه. من هنا يأتى المبدا الأول فى العملية التعليمية: ترسيخ الرغبة فى التعلم المستمر فى نفوس المتعلمين. يمكن العمل على ترسيخ هذا المبدأ منذ المراحل الأولى من التعليم عن طريق تشجيع الطفل على إستكشاف البيئة المحيطة به و تدعيم هذه الرغبة عند كل إكتشاف أو إستنتاج يقوم به الطفل

المعلم
المعلم هو من تتوفر فيه الأركان الأساسية من: العلم و الرغبة فى التعليم و القدرة على التعليم. لا يمكن أن ينجح المعلم بدون واحد من هذه الأركان إلا أنها جميعا يمكن تدعيمها عند أغلب الناس 
العلم لدى المعلم يجب أن يكون ذو شقين أساسيين: المادة العلمية المتخصصة و العلم بأصول علوم التربية و التعليم. بناء على ذلك فإنه من الضرورى على المتخصصين فى العلوم الراغبين فى التعليم أن يمروا بمراحل تعلم لأصول علوم التربية و التعليم و بالعكس
كذلك فإن الرغبة فى التعليم يمكن تنميتها عن طريق خلق البيئة التعليمية الجاذبة للمعلمين عن طريق رفع الأجور و تحسين ظروف العمل 
أما القدرة على التعليم فلها شطران هما القدرة الطبيعية و المهارات المكتسبة. و عليه فإن التطوير المستمر لقدرات المعلمين عن طريق التدريب و الدورات التعليمية فى كل المراحل يجب أن يكون من المكونات الأساسية لأى عملية لتطوير التعليم 


سوف يكون لنا حوار حول الوسط التعليمى فى المقال القادم إن شاء الله

العودة للرؤية

أعداء البشر: الجهل الفقر المرض

قيل قديما أن أعداء البشرية هم الجهل و الفقر و المرض. و لطالما فكرت فى هذه المقولة معترضا فى أغلب الوقت! إن العدو اللدود للبشر هو الجهل، فإن الجهل يؤدى للفقر و الجهل يؤدى للمرض

بالطبع المرض يصيب الجاهل و العالم و الفقر كذلك، إلا أنه لا يحتاج المرء إلى كثير من التفكير لإدراك أن الجاهل أكثر عرضة للفقر و المرض

لذلك فقد أحسست بالمسؤولية التى يمليها على موقعى كمعلم أن أنشر العلم و الوعى منذ أن إبتلانى ربى بهذا الموقع، و لطالما تدبرت الحياة العلمية فى مصر و العالم من خلال تجربتى الشخصية و من خلال قراءاتى فى هذا المجال، ولطالما درست حلولا للمشاكل المختلفة التى يواجهها المجتمع التعليمى فى مصر و لكنى كنت دائما و مازلت مقتنعا بأن الفكر لابد أن يقوم به "مجموعة" حتى ينضج و يصير فى صورة ذات فائدة تعم الجميع ذلك أن رأى الفرد، مهما كانت رؤيته واسعة، يظل قاصرا على علمه و خبراته فقط

و سوف أقوم من خلال هذا المنبر، الإلكترونى، بعرض الأفكار و السياسات التى أستقرئ فائدتها و أنتظر ردودكم و تعليقاتكم عليها بالتنقيح و النقد و التعديل حتى نصل جميعا إلى تصور ناضج و قابل للتنفيذ فى مصر لنشر العلم و الوعى فى كافة المجالات

Course Projects - Part 3

Nowhere (Net-ware) Project Family
In this family of projects, the students were intended to reproduce the course notes they take during the lectures in a form that may be posted on the internet for their colleagues, and everyone on-line, to access it.

1. NIXTY project. (Slide-show) This project presented the classical course authoring tools. (MOODLE-like). The group used the on-line course authoring website http://www.nixty.com. The content was produced in presentations and documents formats then uploaded to the NIXTY website and the http://Slideshare.com website. (Slide set #1, Slide set #2).
2. Website Project. Another way of classical course material delivery is the use a website. The group prepared slides and documents that were posted on Slideshare, and Scribd websites. Thhe though, the main content was prepared and presented on the website that they developed on Weebly web-server. Also, many links were provided to external material available on the internet.
3. WIKI project. (Slide-show) The WIKI idea is based on that everyone can add and edit any page. This provides a powerful tool for collaborative work of students.
4. BLOG project. (Slide-show) The BLOG project presented another way of course material on-line delivery. The students worked quite well on this project. they even created cooperation with other project team and invented an extra section for difficult problems that they proposed for their colleagues to try to solve.

In general, the Nowhere project family explored new ways of on-line course delivery and opened a great field in that direction for the students to innovate and improvise!

Part I - Part II

Course Projects - Part 2

Software Projects
This family was intended to provide the students who make them with experience in programming, meanwhile, the students who use it will have the opportunity to use a tool that helps them solve their homework problems as well as checking their results. The students' choices were:

1. MATLAB project. (Blog)(Slide-show)In this project, the students were intended to produce a graphical user interface application that is built using MATLAB for the purpose of solving the course problems. They spent a lot of time learning the tools of the MATLAB environment, but their product came up in a good way.
2. Visual Basic project. In this project, the students were intended to make a similar project to that of the MATLAB one using the Microsoft Visual Basic application. The project did not come out in a good way since the team did not spend enough time learning the tools!
3. MAXIMA project. In this project, the students decided to use a symbolic manipulator to provide the problem solving tool. MAXIMA provided a great platform for that project, however, the outcome was disappointing!

In general, the software project family did not come up with the full outcomes intended from it. In the coming semester, better plans will be created for the project development, and better outcomes will be expected.

PartI - PartIII

Course Projects - Part 1

On 29th of December 2010, all my students for the course Structural Analysis I (Aero103) assembled to give presentations of their work on the course project. It was a real celebration for me.

When I decided to offer a course project for the students, I though I got myself in a real mess ... these are first year Aerospace Engineering students, who have no experience in, practically, anything ... and I am required to give them ideas about what they should do for their course project that will be weighed for half their semester work grade ... what a mess am I in!!!!!!

Someday, I got the idea of offering them different types of projects so that they may chose what best suits their own taste! The idea was to offer them three different "families" of project:

1. Hardware project. In this family, the students may prepare some devise or apparatus that presents an experiment that presents an a structural problem. (Tension, torsion, bending, ...)
2. Software project. In this family, the students are required to use some software tool to prepare a "problem solver" for their different topics so that it may be used to solve the homework problems by their coleagues.
3. Nowhere project (Net-ware project). In this family, the students are required to prepare the course notes they take during the lectures for presentation on the internet using one of the available free tools (Websites, WIKIs, Blogs, Online course authoring tools).

 Hardware Projects
Five different projects were proposed by the students in this family:

1. Hook's apparatus. This project presented the simple Hook's apparatus where you hang a spring then hang some weights and measure the elongation of the spring. For measuring the deflection, the students used a simple laser pointer that moved on a ruler! The pointer's beam could not be pointed steadily on the ruler, so the students used a magnet to stick a long needle horizontally, so that when the beam moves, the needle can still indicate its level.
2. Twisting apparatus. In this project, the students designed and implemented a device to perform twisting experiments on shafts of different materials.
3. 3-Point Bending Apparatus. (Slide-show) This device was designed to perform bending experiments on different specimens of different dimensions and materials. The deflections were measured using a dial micrometer.
4. Sound Detection apparatus. This device was designed to detect noise by fixing a magnet to a flexible membrane that will vibrate when sound falls on it. A coil is fixed to the outer frame of the membrane such that the magnet moves relative to it creating induced current in it.
5. MR Brakes apparatus. In this project, the students created a device that utilized the properties of MR fluids to break a rotating disk.

Part II - Part III

1.  

The Mission

The open academy of knowledge should set its mission very clearly in order to create the community of learners and educators who will build such a huge organization from scratch.

The academy should not be influenced by the current education paradigms. The models upon which the education, worldwide, is  built, are proving their inability to accommodate for the growth in the learners community! Well, the community has not really exploded with people, rather, the whole world of learners and educator have come together in one place, at least virtually.

The Mission
The Open Academy of Knowledge will provide the community of learners the facility to communicate knowledge  by using the latest technology of the time as well as assisting the learners to develop their knowledge at their own pace and in the direction that best utilizes their capabilities and potentials.

In order to fulfil its mission, the founders of the academy will need to discuss and set plans for the following issues:

1. Identification of individuals
2. Assessment of knowledge, skills, and abilities of individuals
3. Creating the network of knowledge modules
4. Assembling the necessary expertise for the creation of the organization
5. Continuously identifying the available technology and its potential in knowledge communication
6. Sustainability
7. Continuous evolution
8. ....

The above list  is far from exclusive, thus, your input is vital for the continuation of this idea, and the realization of the dream.

To get started, I suggest a number of on-line meetings, discussion forums, WIKI pages. etc... The organization of a conference to get the people who believe in this dream might be another idea for the development of an action plan that can fulfil it.

There exists, currently, a WIKI named Open Academy of Knowledge http://openacademyofknowledge.wikispaces.com/ which maybe used as one of the communication platforms.

Your input and ideas is still needed!

Open Conference!

The open conference concept, as other ideas in this WIKI, is not any innovation of mine. The concept involves the online submission, review, and publishing of papers. It also involves the logical gathering of people interested in a certain subject.

The point now becomes to the questions:

1. Are you ready to publish your current research in an open conference?
2. Are you willing to become one of the conference organizing committee?
3. Are you willing to attend the conference from the luxury of your living room?

I know that I am. I know that you might be too! The question is, how many others are?

The Open Academy of Knowledge

The Open Academy of Knowledge



Imagine a place where you can go to acquire a new peice of knowledge, attend a regular class in a course, or even getting a certification of what you have lready learned ... most importantly, for FREE

Imagine going to teach your class, give a seminar, or presenting your latest research to people who maybe anywhere and who may attend it anytime ... most importantly, for FREE

Imagine publishing your research in a peer reviewed community where you get the instant feedback from your reviewers and get cited instantly by those who are interested in your work ... most importantly, for FREE

OK, don't laugh, I know that you know how to do all that, the technology is all out there, and you have already used different parts of it, if not all ot it.

My point is that you and I need to get our heads together and form that sort of community together ... YES, there are a lot of issues, people are working on different types of projects that make up different pieces of the puzzle, but virtually no one of them believes that it can be reliable and trustworthy as attending "The University of XYZ" that is ranked #xyz on the world, and they would prefer to teach in "The Academy of BUGGY" that pays them Gazilion buggys ber year, and most importantly, they would prefer to publish thier research in the "International Journal of Nowhere-ism" that has an impact factor of 10^-25.

Now you realized that you are one of those! How to get out there and convince yourself, first, and others to contribute in the founding of this type of academy? An academy that charges no one any fees nor pays anyone any sallaries! Most importantly, an academy that could only, at best, provide you with a virtual lab to conduct your experiment.

I am SURE that many others out there have thought of this idea and many of them have written such a blog, letter, note, or even a paper. If you know any of them, help me getting them together, and give me the honor of joining them in realizing this dream, THE OPEN ACADEMY OF KNOWLEDGE

Open Science Journal - A White Paper!

Have you ever sent a paper for publication in a journal?

If you did, then you realize that the most dramatic part is the time you need to wait for the paper to be reviewed! It is really scary imagining that your paper might need sometime between 6 months and 3 years to get published!!!

Some of you have experienced writing a blog, a note on facebook, a wiki page, or something of that sort. Wouldn't it be nice if you could publish your research in such and easy, quick, and swift way?

Definately, the issue of quality assurance and scientific credibility have to be managed.

I am proposing the idea through this blog, and want to start an open discussion on the issue to cover topics like peer reviewing, intellectual property rights, editorial board, etc ...

My initial idea is:

1. The creation of a WIKI for the Journal
2.  Anyone may post their paper
3. The members with similar background and scintific experience may post their review coments
4. The Author replies or edits the paper accordingly
5. The paper, as posted by the author, is considered the contribution and may be referred to in further work or by other authors

What do you think?
Contribute with your ideas!