©2006 richard watson todd empowering students to change the real world richard watson todd kmutt

©2006 Richard Watson Todd

Empowering Students to Change the Real World

Richard Watson ToddKMUTT


Evaluation at universities

Typical situation For teachers, think of a course you teach: What percentage of the students’ scores come

from exams? What percentage of the students’ scores come

from controlled assignments?


Reasons for controlling student evaluation

Large numbers of students Giving priority to score reliability Quality control Courses with more than one teacher Practical issues in marking


Problems with controlling student evaluation

Controlled evaluation stands in contrast to principles of student empowerment

Why bother with empowering students?


Reasons for empowering students

Dearing Report (UK): “To inspire and enable individuals to develop their capabilities to the highest potential levels throughout life”

Learning should not be an academic exercise in remembering

Learning should be lived and personalised Thai National Education Act of 1999 emphasises learner-c

entredness and lifelong learning Thai culture has uneven power distribution and large hierar

chical gaps between different levels of society


Empowering individuals in a learning organisation

Individual empowerment is a key characteristic of a learning organisation

Individuals need to be empowered at all levels

At universities, empowering students is as important as empowering staff


How to empower students

2 case studies Compare to find insights into

individual empowerment in learning organisations


The situation

MA in Applied Linguistics at KMUTT 2 courses:

– Teacher Development and the Management of Innovation (TDMI)

– Testing and Evaluation (T&E)


Case Study 1

Assignment on TDMI Project proposal Example proposals

– Karaoke facilities in the Self-Access Learning Centre

– Signs for secondary self-access Students initiate innovations BUT assignment was imposed on students and

controlled by teachers


Case Study 2 Student-initiated extra work on T&E Derived from student dissatisfaction with existing

evaluation procedures Students challenged by teacher to make changes Example projects

– Letters to newspapers– E-mail discussion list for teachers– Workshops for schools

Students initiate innovations Changes in power originating from students


Comparing the 2 case studies

Effects of initiatives on the real world Both successes and failures in terms of the impact

of the innovations No observable differences between the 2 case

studies


Comparing the 2 case studies

Effects on student empowerment Both case studies resulted in pride and awareness

of ability to initiate change Case study 2: awareness of own independent

ability to initiate change


Implications for empowerment

Meanings of empowerment Transfer of decision making Raising position in a hierarchy


Empowerment as transfer of decision making Types of decisions that can be transferred

– Classroom decision making

– Evaluation decision making

– Truly transformative decision making Relatively straightforward to achieve Limited impact


Empowerment as raising status

Assumes hierarchical structure to societies 2 approaches: Taking on roles associated with higher levels

– e.g. students becoming teachers/teacher trainers– Possible, with medium-term impact

Reducing gaps between levels– Difficult, long-term impact


Methods of empowering students

Easy to implement Transferral ofdecision making

Small-scale impact

Taking on roles ofhigher positions in a

hierarchy

Difficult to implement Reducing the gapsbetween levels in a

hierarchy

Large-scale impact

©2006 richard watson todd empowering students to change the real world richard watson todd kmutt

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