Lecturing in the age of multimedia

John Jackson Iwata is a teaching and learning facilitator at Moshi Cooperate University. After High School, John pursued a bachelor of education at the University of Dar es Salaam and a Master’s degree in information studies. He shares his choice of career with Success.

How do you start your day?

There is the Swahili saying that siku njema huonekana tangu asubuhi, meaning that the way a person starts a day signifies the way in which their day will end. Basing on that, as a Christian I normally start my day by praying. I do this early in the morning so to thank Him for protecting me the whole night, giving Him praise, asking Him to give and fulfil my needs for that particular day and for the future as well.

I actually can confess here that in every day of my life prayers have been something very meaningful and significant. I can say all the success I am experiencing in my life today is because of not only my prayers but also prayers of my family members and friends who have been helping me.

I then go on to plan my work for the day by deciding what to focus on including appointments, meetings and so on. Doing that I normally figure out what are the most important tasks and appointments for me to undertake.

What motivated you to establish a career in education?

Actually, my career in education started in church. After my ordinary level education the church elders in the parish council nominated me to become a Parish Sunday school teacher. I was very happy teaching children the word of God. Before I knew it people in the village started seeing me as a teacher and my heart accepted the title and I felt the need to go for a certificate in education. But my parents advised me to go for an advanced level of secondary education before I joined the teaching profession.

Therefore, after my ACSE, I went to the University of Dar es Salaam and took the education programme. After my first degree, I changed a little bit from education to information studies knowing that pursuing my MA in that field would lead me on my path of educating and disseminating information to people.

Can you tell me about a successful behavioural management strategy you have used to engage students?

Although giving a course outline for a particular subject is mandatory, I however, have been using it as one of my behavioural management strategies because the course outline can be used as a contract between me and the students.

I normally use the course outline to explain the do’s and don’ts thus, helping in shaping students’ behaviour in my class.

However, creating good friendships with all my students and treating them the same is also a good strategy that I employ.

If you’re faced with problem X, how would you solve it; how do you teach (lecture, group work, multimedia classrooms); which texts do you use and why on an average day?

I like and I have been using and would like to recommend other teachers to use multimedia methods of delivering knowledge to students.

It is really an enjoyable method that helps students to quickly grasp the message.

I actually like to see students participating fully in the learning process, thus, I have been using a combination of methods that is why even during lecture hours where I am supposed to use lecture methods, I will use a combination of methods such as lecture and, question and answers.

However, during seminar hours I use discussions with my students and have arranged students into groups whereby I give them different assignments and topics to discuss and present in front of others.

About which texts I assign to students; I normally use required and recommended text books as proposed by the university curriculum design team committee. The reason behind this is that the university curriculum design team as a committee are responsible for researching and proposing a certain training based on the needs of the market and the community proposes the texts that suit the needs for acquiring skills of a particular subject. Thus, each subject has a list of required and recommended texts to be used in the class.

After having finished a particular topic or module, I normally provide students with an assignment to conduct either individually or in groups depending on the topic itself.

Most of these assignments are based on wrapping up the taught module. Such assignments aim to do the following two basic things: Measure students’ memories and mental ability of capturing points during lectures and later retrieving them. Test their application of the learned materials in solving various social, political, economic and academic problems that may arise in their day to day lives.

What advice do you think should be given to students regarding their career path?

Students should identify and concentrate on their interests. They shouldn’t be carried away by interests and needs of others. They have to listen to their hearts, because the voices from the inner parts of a person’s heart is the voice of God’s spirit.

I’m not saying they shouldn’t listen to anybody or should fefuse any advice from others, rather am saying that they should listen to what others say , digest the opinions so given and ultimately decide for their own benefit. They should not do it for the sake of making others happy.

For example no one can deny the truth that it is very enjoyable dealing with studies that they enjoy learning and are naturally good at.

There is a common belief in our society and family structures that if a secondary school student performs well in their final examination then they should end up choosing a particular degree programme for a bachelor degree, particularly the one they most excelled in. However, this does not always spell success in the long run.

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