Reflecting over My STEAM Journey

 

When I joined STEAM education as a part of my educational and professional career in August first week, it has been almost 4 months and I have collected many insightful experiences. I had joined STEAM despite hectic schedule of my daily life.

STEAM has given me new insight and has boosted me up with new vision and determination. In recent days my reading and writing activities has increased. I have got new insight in educational pedagogies. Every day has added some new layers of knowledge and I feel I am growing well during these days academically. My friend and social circle has broadened. I have got the opportunity to get mix up with some professors and professionals.

Some subjects like Innovative Pedagogies, Theory and Practice in Education-STEAM, Curriculum Leadership have polished my knowledge with educational principles making me more confident. I have really got the opportunity to gain more pedagogical knowledge in these subjects. I can perceive how these classes have already changed my classroom in the college. I have given up my conventional style and trying my best to adopt Constructivist, transformative and experiencial approach. These three subjects have shaped me nowadays as a different educator.

Furthermore, the way we are delivered the STEAM curriculum in our class, has given me new insight how the class should run nowadays. Group Discussions, Team work, Peer Work, Peer Evaluation, Learner centered pedagogy, using ICT in the classroom, giving assignment and feedbacks following the achievement of the students, appreciating culture, friendly and guardianship role of the teacher emphasizing problem slolving skills, critical, analitical, collaborative practices. I could learn these things as a student and now I am determined to practice all those learned skills as a part of my teaching pedagogy. Reflecting 4 months back, I did not have all these concepts. How I have evolved and transformed within 120 days of STEAM Class only I can assume!

Obviously, during this journey I faced many ups and downs. It was very hard for me come to tune with Kathmandu University culture. Regular assignment, compulsory presence in 3 hours class saving the time from my daily life is not easy. Assignment haunted me during days and nights. Some assignments were conceptually hard and continuation of conventional education. On the one hand STEAM has claimed the shifting paradigm of conventional practices and on the other hand students are overloaded with assignment which is content loaded. This dual practice made me sometime very hopeless and I even thought of quitting too! I had expected that after learning here in KUSOED, I would transform my institution immediately but the reality was different. The curriculum, obviously gives insight but it was not as per my expectation.

Some teachers overloaded us with assignment, talked about the assignment, showed the importance of assignment but have not gone through as per their words. As a student expecting feedback on time and good score are normal and these things motivate us to do better but with some subjects it remained unfulfilled. This even has demotivated me to some extent.

I felt that this course has not been designed to the professionals like me. As I am busy more than 12 hours in my daily schedule, it is very hard for me to manage 3 hours class time and assignment time. Almost 8 days are the classes with non-credit course. Definitely, they are fine but have added extra burden to me. I wonder why KUSOED did not plan 3 /4 days in a week instead of 8 days classes in a week.

Nowadays, apart from my professional jobs,  I spend most of time with Laptop, talking about the assignment with friends, thinking about the assignments. I have no social life. I have no family life, I go to the work early morning, return at 4 pm take class and spend time doing assignment and studying till midnight.  Under such hectic schedule, I have learned STEAM pedagogy. Nowadays, confidence has come I can do better in the pressure.