I realised my motivation to learn evolved over time and as a Western Herbal Medicine practitioner, a natural progression for me was to pursue my passion to teach. Teaching can be really challenging without a basic understanding of adult learning theories and contexts and so the Academic Contexts and Professional Identities is a subject built into the Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching offered at Torrens University (Torrens University, 2020). This subject was the catalyst to start my journey and has given me insight into the world of teaching. I have gained so much knowledge from theories to models, approaches, strategies and in turn to incorporate these key aspects, for my future within the teaching cohort.

Essentially, to be a good teacher you need to be a good learner. This can be achieved by collaborating with my fellow peers, who a practicing educators and to gain knowledge including life long experience through their eyes. Therefore, sharing knowledge and skills with peers, forming a community of practice and hence without even knowing that this was a form of collaboration with my fellow peers (University of Waikato, 2011). What I do realise is that I am authentic, enthusiastic, encouraging, motivating, driven, approachable, and adaptable person, so these traits will assist me in becoming a good teacher.

Subsequently, this course has allowed me to further enhance my skills and knowledge, to be further educated in my future field of teaching. In addition, I have learnt that certain aspects of the learning context have a name and this particular one is called my professional identity, as it describes how a person carries out their work with knowledge and skill rather than the specific kind of work they do (Caza & Creary, 2016).

So, what is a Community of Practice (COP)? As discussed by Smith (2003, 2009), COP is a group of people who share a common passion for something they learn, how they can share this knowledge and a way to interact with each other on a regular basis. The term COP was coined by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger who developed the concept (Smith, 2003, 2009). The general idea is that students are able to share  information and experiences with fellow peers to learn from one another, whilst developing on a personal and profession level.

In addition, Wenger noted that COPs are a community of people who are passionate about the relevant issues to their practice and who deepen their realm of knowledge by interacting on a continuous basis. A component of a COP is where members help to interact, engage, share activities including information and consequently progress to building relationships, which enables students to learn from each other (Smith, 2003, 2009).

So in stating this, a COP provides a discussion forum for students and fellow peers, to exchange concepts and put forward their concerns related to their studies and future profession. Within this platform technology is a tool and can remove the various constraints encountered by face to face teaching, by providing a convenient and interactive arena which is a COP (Wenger & Traynor, 2015). In my case the digital tool is called Zoom or Teams. For me this is a gradual process to develop and share my experiences as I am not teaching at the moment, but I can include personal stories, practical and useful tools to put forward in my COP.

Furthermore, educators who are experienced and for those who are not, a COP can present challenges that are difficult for those who are not prepared for this digital forum and an example would be not knowing how to use a particular digital technology as the educator has not experienced online teaching before. Subsequently, in my instance technologies not working or functioning correctly and using other devices to communicate with. Though, if these challenges are overcome, the COP engages teaching and allows learners and academics to experience insightful progression.

There are a few really important theories that I would start applying immediately as a Teacher, due to the practicality of the learning content. I would assume that I would be involved in Connectivism developed by Siemens (2004) using digital technologies in learning and teaching, but would consider myself as a Social Constructivist coined in 1934 by Vygotsky where students do rather than observe, which would be my preference of teaching and would be inclusive of students being able to be self-directed, a Heutagogical approach. All approaches discussed, go hand in hand in a blended environment, integrating online and classroom activities as active learning, which encourages students to engage in subject matter (University of Queensland, 2017) due to the nature of the Complementary Medicine cohort.

Let’s start with Connectivism, which was coined by Siemens (2004) and is a Pedagogical theory of learning and teaching, which aims to provide a model using digital technologies for the digital age. Connectivism was developed as a result of a belief that there was a necessity for a theory of learning which incorporated the changes of society, resulting in the use of new technologies of the digital age as a resource or tool (Siemens, 2004). An important note to add is that connectivist model of learning can be actioned within the classroom and also online due to digital technology. This connects students via COP to continue their discussions after class or after hours when it is convenient for them to connect (Siemens, 2004).

As mentioned by Lalande (2012) the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), is a key concept developed by Vygotsky and is designed to inform educators as to how far they can push themselves of what is known, when helping others. It is social interaction that facilitates how student’s best use the tools available to them. The ZPD are various capabilities that a person performs with assistance and not able to perform on their own. This is called proximal, as the person has not mastered the skills but require guidance and further training to perform these skills autonomously (Lalande, 2012).

Now if we delve into constructive alignment, we start with the outcomes proposed for the student to learn, align teaching and assessment methods to the particular outcome and the content or subject matter before teaching takes place (Biggs, 1996). These methods are then designed to achieve the best outcomes (Biggs, 1996). Furthermore, learning activities are designed for the students and in turn not what the educator can do. In addition, the assessments are all about how well the learner achieves the intended outcome, not how well they deliver this information back to the educator (Biggs, 1996).

The Bloom’s Taxonomy was created by Benjamin Bloom in 1956, and helps to map levels of understanding that can be imbedded within the intended learning outcomes, design the assessment rubrics, and develop online courses (Lalande, 2012). In one sentence, Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical ordering of cognitive skills that can assist teachers with how they teach, how students will learn and this model can be applied to most methods (Lalande, 2012). Many teachers use Bloom’s Taxonomy because, it gives them a train of thought about their method of teaching and to further develop their teaching methods for their students, providing a system for cognitive behaviours (Lalande, 2012).

As noted by Bloom (2015), the theory of Transformative Learning, was developed by Jack Mezirow and described as being a constructivist framework, where students interpret and reinterpret their experience which is important to their learning. Through reflection students have a better understanding of themselves so that they can achieve a better learning outcome.Therefore, transformative learning is useful for teachers and students in supporting the repositioning into higher education and one that the learner must assess critically developing their beliefs, values and way of thinking.

Transformative learning also allows teachers to engage with their students in suitable and challenging ways, where students adopt critical thinking strategies to succeed in their course and life in general (Bloom, 2015). At the same time, it challenges students to adopt critical thinking strategies to achieve success in their course and in life (Bloom, 2015). So you could say that my learning experience has been transformative.

To be perfectly frank, I didn’t realise the impact of this subject and how it has raised my level of awareness particularly my personal identity, how to interpret learning and teaching content, an increased knowledge of this field due to collaboration in COP and how this course has impacted me on becoming a good teacher. Teachers of today are dealing with rapidly changing learning environments, pedagogical knowledge and the diverse forms of communications using different technologies. These changes demand exceptional professionalism, various skills, knowledge and in turn encapsulates a lifelong learning process.

References
Biggs, J. (1996). Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment. Journal of Higher Education, (32), 347-364. Retrieved from https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/courses/compsci747s2c/lectures/teaching-through-constructive-alignment.pdf

Bloom, N. (2015). Conversation at Home with Jack Mezirow. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEuctPHsre4

Caza, B. B., & Creary, S. J. (2016). The construction of professional identity. Cornell University, SHA School. Retrieved from http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/articles/878

Lalande, M,A. (2012). Aiming Higher: Bloom and Vygotsky In the Classroom. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjUOHhFvR4k

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Smith, M. K. (2003, 2009). Jean Lave, Etienne Wenger and communities of practice, the encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved from http://infed.org/mobi/jean-lave-etienne-wenger-and-communities-of-practice/

Torrens University. (2020). Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching. Retrieved from https://www.torrens.edu.au/courses/education/graduate-certificate-learning-teaching

University of Queensland. (2017). Active Learning. Retrieved from http://www.uq.edu.au/teach/flipped-classroom/active-learning.html

University of Waikato. (2011). TDU Talk. Exploring Your Teacher Identity. Retrieved from http://www.waikato.ac.nz/tdu/pdf/tdutalk/SepOct11.pdf

Wenger, E., & Traynor, B. (2015). Introduction to Communities of Practice. Retrieved from http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/