In the fifth week we had a very interesting trip to the Haaga-Helia
campus in Porvoo. The fun started in the early morning in the bus in our way to
Porvoo. We had a chance to talk and know our each other more since we didn't
have that chance anywhere else. Then we arrived to the beautiful campus of
Porvoo. The structure and design of the campus itself was a new experience for
us. The idea of an open space was to some extent very nice even though I don't
agree with it completely. I think learning is sacred and can't be fun all the
time. Learners have to value learning and differentiate it from having fun. Fun
comes from within ourselves. Learning can be fun but not transferred completely
to a fun game. The campus of Porvoo may provide a very lovely and warm place
for learners, but I am not sure about the process of learning.
The professors in the Porvoo campus don't have private offices rather
they have only lockers. I don't see it as a good strategy to follow since
carrying stuff and hand bags on a daily basis is not convenience at all. Also
professors should feel they belong to the place they work on. In general there
was a lot of work has been done in the campus, and it is very nice new strategy
to apply and test in real life. I am sure at the end there might be a study to
evaluate such campus and its new learning methods.
After the campus tour we had a city tour
to see the lovely old historical city. We had the chance to know more
about Finland. We enjoyed the trip and the time we spent there. The way back to
Helsinki was more fun. We were singing in Arabic and exchanging jokes. It
really was a very lovely trip that will stick in memory for a long time.
It was refreshing to read also a little bit more critical comment on Porvoo campus, the feedback sometimes seems to be overly enthusiastic! I agree that learning is not only fun, it's also hard work. But even so, bright colors, peaceful study corners, rooms for independent and group work etc., make even the more tedious parts of studying and learning more enjoyable. Nevertheless, I really hate the idea that in one of the classrooms the only "chair" the student can choose is a bean bag! My sons have a couple of those, and staying in them any length of times just kills one's back! Plus it's very hard for older people to get up from them. It seems to be soooo fashionable nowadays: if you want to have a youthful and relaxed image, you bring in the bean bags!!
ReplyDeleteAlso the huge studies for teachers are a bit alarming to me. I think that if I want to get some reading and writing done (like today), I have to stay at home and do it. At school in my six people/room study there are too many distractions! We joke about it, Merja and me, that we have "Flipped work" , where work is done at home while socializing with colleagues informally takes place at work. (to understand the pun, you have to be familiar with the term Flipped classroom, which basically means that students study at home e.g. watching Youtube videos, and do their homework=assignments and other study activities at school!
- Irmeli