My reflection on the article Emergent Design and learning environments: Building on indigenous knowledge by David Cavallo

I found this article very insightful and quite enlightening. What it really reminds me is that there is no such thing as best practice, in the truest sense of the term. What works in one environment may not work for another environment. This is true in my case when I teach the same subject matter to different classes- in certain classes I have to use a more didactic approach while in other classes, I have to use a more discussive one. As Richard Lester puts it his book, the Productive Age there is no such thing as grafting a decontextualised best practice into existing organisation and hope to produce results. In our present school situation, based on the SEM( School Excellence Model) we are using in assessing our organisational excellence, we need to benchmark our school practices with best practices implemented by other schools. We must not just employ the best practice wholesale. We should in fact tread carefully, look at the practices and adapt them to the specific situation in our school, ie we need to contextualise it, basing it on exisiting structures. and try to come up with an 'emergent design', our 'brand' of the approach.
In the later part of the article, Cavallo suggests that in the case of learning environments there should be 7 principles that we should adopt: constructionism, technological fluency, immersive environments, long-term projects, applied epistemological anthropology, critical inquiry and emergent design.
How can these principles apply in our everyday teaching? On reflection constructionism is being practiced when we tried to assign the Sec 2NT to the project of organising a mini 'Grand Prix' in school. We made them construct their own remote controlled cars and the tracks for the cars to race. In doing so, they learn how to use recylce materials, organise an event and use their technical knowledge to build cars. In these constructing sessions, they manage to construct new knowledge, like how to organise the event.. based on existing one.
Technological fluency is a must nowadays..as teachers we should not remain as tech dinosaurs, as we are dealig with the digital natives, our students. But we definitely should not bound by technology, it is a means not the end. I was experimenting with Second Life with one of the classes in school. In the midst of the lesson, the students became more interested in changing clothes of their avater, teleporting them, than using the portal as a means to discuss the subject matter. At that point in time, it was a failed experiment, so I decided to abandon the project. Technology almost strangled me with her claws.
Immersive environments is crucial for critical learning to take place. In many of classes that I teach, I find it difficult to create an immersive environment so that learning could be accelerated. There is a lack of culture in most classes to enable me to teach my subject area. Many of the students are not interested in what I am teaching, as economically it is not worth their while spending time on this subject. I am still working on how to mediate meaning (MLE) in the delivering of the subject area, if I am able to do so, I will soar to some pinnacle of success.
All is not totally lost, I managed to bring in current affairs to class and discuss these events based on the topics being taught. In doing so, I hope to create an immersive culture.
This year, my school organised an ASEAN week. Before the week, students were to research on ASEAN landmarks, leaders etc. This project gave more depth to the topic of ASEAN, and by now many of my students would be able to relate to the Myanmar's uprising better, recognising the important role Aung San Suu Kyi play. This long-term project helps the students to grasp the issues better.

In many ways, what we have experimented in school is just the beginning of a emergent design of a conducive learning environment for our students. We have our little successes coupled with some let downs. As I want to reiterate, there is no such thing as decontextualised best practice; all 'super' practices must be carefully studied and wisely adapted to suit the school, more importantly the class context. We are teaching individuals who are so different. Last but not least, we must not end up by lamenting that whatever methods employed will never be appreciated by the students, let alone work on them. We must come to realise that they have potential to succeed and leverage on their existing knowledge.