Chinese university teaching is different to that in British higher education. Class discussion and questioning the teacher are rare and often discouraged. Exams are very important; group-based activities and course-work hardly feature. Memorizing and regurgitating text matter a lot; use of other source material and critical thinking skills, especially at undergraduate level, are minimal.
Economist, March 29, 2003
It appears that we (in the West) are making some progress over the medieval models of lecture, memorization and recitation. But the madrasas and yeshivas still follow that traditional model. And I'm not sure that most PowerPoint shows represent a significant improvement.
posted by Frank at 9:54 AM
"Learning cannot be designed. Ultimately it belongs to the realm of experience."
Etienne Wegner
Wegner's
Communities of Practice is an exceptional book; its influence will only grow as people become more aware of it, if they are willing to wade through the sociological jargon and categorizing.
". . .
teaching does not cause learning: what ends up being learned may or may not be what was taught . . . Learning is an emergent, on-going process, which may use teaching as one of its many structuring resources. In this regard, teachers and instructional materials become resources for learning in much more complex ways than through their pedagogical intentions.
"Institutions are largely based on the assumption that learning is an individual process, that it has a beginning and an end, that it is best separated from the rest of our activities, and that it is the result of teaching. . . . As a result, much of our institutionalized teaching and training is perceived by would-be learners as irrelevant, and most of us come out of this treatment feeling that learning is boring and arduous, and that we are not really cut out for it.
"It is more important for students to have experiences that allow them to take charge of their own learning than to cover a lot of material. A curriculum would then look more like an itinerary of transformative experiences of participation than a list of subject matter.
I would like to pose those propositions to all new college faculty, asking them, in traditional fashion, whether they: ( ) strongly agree ( ) somewhat agree ( ) neither agree nor disagree ( ) somewhat disagree ( ) strongly disagree.
And then I'd be tempted to put anyone who didn't agree on probation, in need of careful watching and coaching. But perhaps those insights come out of actual experience and reflection. It is too easy to think that a good lecture, engaging the rapt attention of students, is good teaching. Momentarily entertaining, perhaps, but resulting in an increased in competencies? For a few, perhaps--but for most, highly doubtful
posted by Frank at 9:13 AM
Education, according to Robert Frost, is simply hanging around until you get it.
A poet can get away with that definition, but an educator or instructional designer cannot. Yet there is much truth in Frost's quip, as we are beginning to understand the role of participation (hanging around) in tacit learning, which is essential to so many competencies--perhaps even more than the explicit learning that instructors and developers package and deliver over the web. If there is a leit motif for this weblog, that comes about as close as I can get.
posted by Frank at 1:02 AM
