Reflection: Task 1

My learners are part time students studying the Self Management 1 module in the Public Management department. These learners are first year students who the majority of the work on a full time basis. A small number of them are recently passed grade twelve in the last two years. However, the majority have been in the working environment for many years.

The issue of studying part time poses many challenges to the students. Many have transportation issues that prevent them from attending classes as often as required. Some of the students attend on both campuses depending on what campus is more convenient on that day and based on where they worked on that day. Although this practice is frowned upon by the department, the cross attendance does not remain constant in one campus; it frequently changes from campus to campus. This on its own means that the interaction with the lecturer is limited. This interaction is crucial as it affords students the opportunity to interact in a classroom environment regarding the concepts taught in class.

Many of the students do not always have the materials issued in the classroom due to this frequent absenteeism and attending on different campuses. More than lacking the materials, the students need additional materials that lecturers have to develop in addition to the prescribed textbook. The students need to be guided in terms of where they go to look for information.

This was evident with the assignments and test written in the first term that the students are not engaging well with the textbook. In the second term, I made use of additional materials and this I believe helped the students tremendously as they feel more confident going into the exams.

This additional help came in the form of using various tools to enhance learning. These tools are tools such as Facebook for keeping in contact, email where the students can email me anytime they please, as well as the use of the I-drive for making sure that all the students have access to the notes.

I believe that keeping the students in constant interaction with the subject will encourage them while combating the notion that many of them have, which convinces them that because they have been out of school for so long, they are not going to pass the subject.

Platforms like Facebook and keep the students in touch with the lecturer. The lecturer may use various other platform to ensure that students have the relevant information regarding the subject. Hence the use of online platforms seems to promise some form of remedy for the Self Management course.