Activity 1.1 - What is it?

For the very first learning activity, please read then follow the instructions below. Notice the blog icon!

Have a think about the following question and prompts. Record your responses in your personal blog.

What do you think invitational education is?

• Take a few minutes to quickly brainstorm what you think is meant by Invitational Education. There are no right or wrong answers just your ideas.
• If you're struggling, click here to view a Word Cloud that shows the key terms associated with Invitational Education.
• Think about your own experiences of being a student and teacher. Think about what might be the opposite of Invitational Education.
• At the completion of this course we will complete this activity again. It will be interesting for you to compare the two brainstorms. You will be able to see how your understandings and ideas have changed as a result of completing the course.
• Feel free to copy/paste the image below into your blog to help organise your brainstorm.

Activity 1.2 - Definition

Read these brief definitions of Invitational Education:

[Optional] Click the book icon to read more.

The link will take you to the Library database where you can download the PDF article. It gives a summary of Invitational Education (see page 28) and why it is important (see the first page).

Think about the above definitions and record your thoughts in your blog.

• Think about how the definition points might relate to your own teaching practice.
• Think about what they might mean from the perspective of the student.
• Can you think of any specific examples?

Read through the assignment requirements

Access them from either the Module Information Booklet on the 'Home' page or under 'Assignment Information and Submission' on the 'Info and Assignments' page.

For Assignment 2 - Part A you are required to write notes about your teaching over the time of the module. So you need to start now and continue as you learn more about what it means to 'be inviting'.

Think about how will do this. Will you...?

• record yourself teaching (we have cool little devices that can help if you ask me)
• take photos
• ask someone to do an observation
• get student feedback
• write notes during the break and after a class while the experience is still fresh in you mind...

You may want to create another page/section in your blog for storing these notes. (OneNote lets you attach various types of media and is great on your mobile device).

I can provide suggestions and assistance with all of this so please don't hesitate to talk to me on Wintec Extension 8573.

Activity 1.3 - Four Assumptions

Invitational Education is based on four assumptions that give consistency and direction for putting the theory into action.

Click the book icon (<~ to the left) to download the first reading.

This is a case study on a school that has done particularly well at implementing Invitational Theory. Jump to the Findings section (page 268) to read their definitions of the Four Assumptions and skim through some of the examples they give of each.

Then, click the arrow icon (<~) to participate in your first online activity.

This will test your understanding of the reading and should take 5 minutes.

Record your thoughts about your own attitudes and assumptions in your blog.

That's the end of this session. Click to go to Session 2