SLC | S21W1: Developing a Learning Contract

As a university lecturer I was really excited know about this contest as I'm always very interested in learning new teaching methods to improve myself. Instantly, I decided to participate in this contest as I see this as a great opportunity to learn new things from other teachers in this community. Before sharing my ideas, I like to thank @miftahulrizky & @fantvwiki for bringing forward interesting discussion as a competition. Teaching was always my passion and I always enjoy addressing larger audiences and sharing my knowledge with them. So today I'm also going to share some of my experiences and techniques as a university lecturer and as a research supervisor.

Can you explain what obstacles a teacher may face in the classroom learning process?

Teaching is always a challenging process as we are teaching to different people, their mindset is different, the way they think and learn is different, their capacity to understand is different, so teaching is always very challenging as we have to teach every student in the classroom at the same time while they are totally different in many aspects. So according to my point of view, the most challenging part of the teaching is understanding the student properly. As teachers, by our experience we all know that every student is not always capable, but as teachers it's our responsibility to take every students to the learning objectives. So I always try to use more effective teaching methods to keep their attention throughout the lecture which is a very difficult task ( we all know how human mind behaves, it can travel million km's within 1 second. lol ). We have smart classrooms in our universities in Sri Lanka, where students have many ways to get the knowledge they need. So making the mindset in the student to selfstudy is my main objective and the most difficult part. After that he will touch the sky.

With my Students at Electrical Engineering Lab of Faculty of Technology, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
Plus Code :PQ8P+GQ, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka | Location

What do you think is the importance of learning contracts and how have learning contracts helped your teaching process so far?

Now this is a serious topic. Learning contracts is some kind of a mutual relationship between the lecturer and the students to achieve the specific learning objectives. Now my field is electrical engineering, some we have developed some sort of a teaching structure with the understanding of the skills of our engineering undergraduates. We pay attention to provide both theory based lectures and at the sometime workshop experience with real hands-on activities to our students. So the lecturer and the students should have a clear understanding and also lecturer should always pay attention to optimise the learning contract paying attention to the development of the students.

Practical Learning Process - Workshop 04 - Faculty of Technology, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
Plus Code :PQ8P+GQ, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka | Location

What important components should be included in a learning contract and explain why they are helpful to you?

The learning contract should be always comfortable to the student, not the teacher. One of the main strategy I use is allowing them to learn freely, there are no restrictions ( students can sit my lecture any time , they can leave any time , no restrictions ). I always try to make them interested in the subject. So I always include more practical sessions parallel to the lectures, also I arrange workshops from the industry where they get to know how the things they learn will be used in applications in real world. Actually that will make them to love the subject as they know why they are learning.

After completing some research activities - late night - Faculty of Technology, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
Plus Code :PQ8P+GQ, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka | Location

And as university teachers we always try to give them the opportunity to work with the latest technologies in the world. We work hard to get new grants, to get new equipments to our laboratories which will make our undergraduates best in the world.

Solar PV practical setups for undergraduates - Faculty of Technology, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
Plus Code :PQ8P+GQ, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka | Location

Electrical motor training unit for undergraduates - Faculty of Technology, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
Plus Code :PQ8P+GQ, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka | Location

What are your strategies for ensuring student compliance with the learning contract and how have the consequences worked so far, or do you have other ways of organizing the learning activities to remain effective?

One of the main strategy I use is being a lecturer that students can be approached for any thing to get clarified. When the students and the lecturer has a very good communication, it will ensure the student compliance with the learning contract as students can clarify any subject matter anytime with the teacher. Also I most of the time try to schedule my lectures in morning sessions which will help students to concentrate more on the subject. Also I use different multimedias ( videos, online workshops, live discussions with the industry resource persons etc.) to share knowledge through our smart classes. So these strategies will make students more interested in the subject and I always try to teach team in very slow phase making it possible for every student can understand the subject matters.

While conducting a workshop - Faculty of Technology, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
Plus Code :PQ8P+GQ, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka | Location

Thank you for going through my idea. I'm really happy to hear feedbacks from other teachers and students in this community. And I also like to invite my friends to participate this lovely contest : @vishwara , @a-lass-wonders , @pushpika

-Vimukthi Vithanage

About The Author :

_{Vimukkthi Vithanage (@besticofinder) is an Electrical Engineer and a Lecturer by profession , crypto enthusiast and a person who always values his freedom. He loves traveling , teaching and to spend time with his friends. A good reader and a good listener. He currently works in Faculty of Technology , University of Sabaragamuwa , Sri Lanka and also as a freelance SEO service provider. He writes on different topics related to his daily activities. If you like his writings , don't forget to show your love with an upvote and leave a feedback to show more love. And a resteem will be a great encouragement for his work. Feel free to contact him on discord anytime . He always love to make new friends.}

Check his latest research work : visit