The triangulation of Open Teaching.
To understand the concept of the Triangulation of Open Teaching, we must first understand the general guidelines used to produce traditional teaching material used in classroom across the world.
In discussion that follows, we use ESL (English as a Second Language) as an example, but the same principles could be applied to any school subject. 1
So, in the case of ESL, the curriculum would include:
- the grammar of the English language
- vocabulary
- conversation
- composition
- etc.
The curriculum is represented here by a blue dot:
But then, the various parts of the curriculum must be adapted to the student's level and ability to understand that aspect of the curriculum.
For example, if we want to teach the present continuous, we could use the following examples:
- The presidential candidate is delivering her nomination acceptance speech.
- The two parties are negotiating the terms of a truce to end the conflict.
- Suppose a train of length L is moving along a straight track at a relativistic speed and enters a tunnel, also of length L...2
However, it is obvious that such examples are not adapted to a beginner. The present continuous is obviously taught in a beginners' class. The following examples would be more appropriate:
- The boy is eating.
- The girl is singing.
- The dog in running.
While it is obvious that the present continuous should be taught at a beginner level, there are many parts of the curriculum that could be taught at any level. For example, being able to introduce oneself in front of a classroom (or in front of a cheering crowd) is a useful skill.
A beginner student would introduce himself thus:
Hello.
My name is Paul.
I am a boy.
I am 12 years old.
I like music.
I have a cat.
Thank you.
While a somewhat more proficient English speaker could introduce herself thus:
So, in addition to the curriculum, one must also consider the level of the students being taught. The level is here represented by an orange dot:
The way the curriculum is taught must adapted to the students' level.
Now, it is only a matter of putting the two together. It is a matter of presentation or packaging. The teaching material can be packaged in different ways. It could be:
- a simple handout.
- a video
- a story book with reading comprehension questions.
- a full workbook published by a professional editor.
- simply the teacher writing on the blackboard from prepared notes.
- etc.
The presentation is here represented by a yellow line connecting the level to the curriculum:
In the presentation of traditional teaching material, one could have stopped here. However, there is one more, critical element that is usually never considered but that is very much present nonetheless. The topics and examples presented in the school book or teaching material are more often than not representing the social status quo. The material implicitly condone all the current social values. ESL text books would put in play regular social events such as meeting friends, having parties, live in school or in the work place, etc. but at the same time reinforce ideas such as car ownership, consumerism, careless attitude towards some of the biggest ills of this world.
In short, we are not dealing with a line between curriculum and level, but with a triangulation between those two and the social status quo, represented here by the black angle:
To be fair, more and more ESL material incorporate progressive ideas. Many intermediate to advanced textbooks include articles related to the environment and related issues. Even story books for young beginners more and more regularly put in play children of different ethnic origins as well as children in wheelchairs in order to fight against racism and discrimination.
But this is still the exception rather than the rule, and such material is still mixed with more socially conservative ideas.
Here at OpenTeacher .info, we make it a rule to create material that is socially aware, only promoting ideas and behaviour that should be promoted. Our awareness of social issues is represented here by the green angle:
As in traditional teaching material, we must package our triangulation of level, curriculum and social issues in a convenient way for delivery in the classroom. As before, the presentation of the teaching material is represented in yellow, but instead of being a line connecting two dots, it is the surface of our triangle:
The teaching material developed here at OpenTeacher.info depart from traditional teaching material in two ways. Not only do we aim to produce teaching material that is socially aware, but we make everything available under an Open license, the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License represented here by the official CC logo:
The model of the Triangulation of Open Teaching presented here allows the contributors to communicate clearly and efficiently as they discuss the production of teaching material.
By ensuring that we have all three angles (curriculum, level and social issue) set right, and by choosing the proper presentation material, we can ensure that the material produced is of the highest quality, and, above all, relevant to the society and adapted to the classroom needs.