Project Engage

When it comes to learners learning on their own it’s often considered by teachers to be a bad idea. They often fear that learners will not actually learn, but will resign themselves to procrastination and negative learning practices. This is already occurring in our schools today, with teachers who are unable to engaging and inspiring learners to learn. However learners have proven that they can learn on their own, especially with the Independent project. Yusef Waghid stated that “people are free moral beings who attempt to influence each other’s opinions by engaging in a public dialog”, which I believe to be the key principle that the independent project is trying to utilise.

The independent project utilises the communication between learners that come together, to generate dialog where they can exchange and discuss ideas. The learners do not simple study (memorise) material or facts to build their knowledge, but actually explore the facts, more so than they would in a classroom atmosphere. This is not the fault of the teachers, as they have large groups to inspire and at the same time a set curriculum they have to complete before year end or exams. This often means that learners who require a bit more attention slip through the cracks. The beauty of this program is that it removes the restrictions of the classroom (such as isolation of the learner from the world) and allows the learners an opportunity to inspire each other, learn what interests them, and to learn the same information presented in the classroom in a way that relates to them (like study the probability math associated with poker).

One of the key elements of/contributors to the success of this form of education is the use of internet. The internet provides a global network of learning through communication, social networking, and search engines and provides information to the fingertips of learners studying in these forms of communities/programs. The advantage of the independent project is that it is constrained by the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) literacy standards presented in the classrooms that limits the learners and teacher’s ability to engage with each other using digital technologies, whereas such interactions are encouraged in the Independent project (to expand the knowledge and the community).

The project also provides a sense of independence from the classroom dynamic. The freedom from the classroom teaches learners to teach themselves, to gather information, to test and finding new methods of learning through accessing different resources available to them. Any learners who might be academically strong or weak may partake and help each other, challenge each others attitudes to learning, and ultimately encourage each other’s thirst to learn and partake.