On November 5th, 2022, the Global Schools Program hosted Oluwatoyin Ajilore for a professional development session titled, "Teaching as Research." She is a Lecturer at the University of Ibadan and a PhD student in STEM Education at Tufts University. She also leads the ONE Foundation, which provides entrepreneurial education, mentoring, and funding linkages to over 1800 entrepreneurs in Nigeria.
First, Oluwatoyin Ajilore set the discussion on the importance of talking about "Teaching as Research". She asserted that education can "1. No Longer Be Business as Usual 2. Education is Human-Centered 3. Real-Life Data is Key" and there are "4. Constraints on Academic Research for Teachers." Then, she discussed the difference between the "teaching-learning process styled as research" and "teaching as education research."
The second half of her talk focused on 3 education pillars on making learning accessible, empowering learners to access knowledge, and encouraging student exploration.
Finally, she discussed four aspects teachers could keep in mind when taking this into their classroom. First, she said that teachers should think of themselves as builders of minds and scientific explorers. Second, she noted that in school settings, teachers should create trust and openness. Third, she said they can strive to build skills such as active presence, active listening, and working on constant documentation of best practices so that they can be shared across the school and beyond. Last, she talked about tools such as inquiry, reflection, and technology.
The workshop was followed up by a brief Q&A session.
Global Schools thanks Oluwatoyin Ajilore for being a wonderful workshop leader and speaker, and for sharing her expertise with the Advocates and network. To watch the session, please click here.
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