When I brief my colleagues on POMI in a simple word, most of them will take it as a very “common” approach. Some of them claimed, “Yeah, we implement it in our class.”
“Stop a while and asking and answering question, we did it in our class”
“Ahaaa.. we did it, but we did not ‘brand it’ as like this approach “
I just smiled and nodded. Okay, it’s good because it is not something new, and hopefully we keep it that way so that our students do not “sleep,” burn out, or feel bored through our lectures.
What the difference my POMI with the common approach that they are mentioned?
- It is well planned and structured for each lecture week
- No lengthy-lectures – It is packed and solid deliverable
- Creative Class Activities
- Student are encourage to answer questions (I am using the Wheel of Names website to pick specific student)
- A LOTs of questions and exercises
Before we go any further, let us have a brief introduction to POMI.
POM + I = = Pomodoro + Interactive
As I mentioned in my previous posting, POMI is inspired by a task management. The Pomodoro Technique chunks the time into 25 minutes of doing a task and a 5-minute break. Therefore, I am implementing this approach in my teaching and planning my lecture.
As students, we used to experience a lengthy, nonstop lecture for two hours. There is a time break; however, non-participating students make the class too boring, and the lack of class activity makes us feel like it is too much to absorb. Furthermore, particularly when the lecture notes are uninteresting and the lecturer simply reads the slides until the end of the class. Some lectures have a class activity, but only in the early weeks; from the middle of lecture week until the end, most of the class starts getting bored.
When I am a lecturer, I am experiencing the moment of the lecture where I intend to rush-finish the slides and skip activities and questions because they will consume time. When we conduct a lecture, we call out students to volunteer to answer questions, but there is no response. At the end, we give the answer. The interaction totally failed because we ran out of time to finish the slides for the week.
Reflecting from both points of view, I believe that a well structured teaching approach is needed. The learning outcomes have to be achieved through the topic outcomes, not just by finishing the slides. Besides, a lot of exercises and discussion through the answer help a lot with student understanding.
The e-learning tools help much in designing a fun learning class activity, and they are freely accessible in our LMS (Learning Management System), Putra Blast. A creative class activity makes the POMI learning environment more fun and interactive. Students are more engaged and actively participate, sharing their thoughts.
Therefore, POMI is not as simple as taking a break and lecturing. It is a well-structured framework, a well-planned activity and a well-designed teaching approach that can be customized to any learning outcome and course.
The following is a short presentation details out POMI approach:
Copy of POMI: A Time blocking & Interactive teaching approach by Nuur Alifah Roslan
