Teaching and Learning part 7
Many teachers believe that students go to class, listen to a lecture and learn. The fact is many students go to class but not learning much because their minds are somewhere else. If the class material is interesting, students may listen and learn something, but when the class is not interesting, students will find other things to occupy their minds. Some “pretend” to listen to the lecture but actually use a mobile phone to send text messages. Others “pretend” to be taking notes but actually drawing pictures. Most teachers know that but do not know what to do so they ignore it.
I believe that to get students to pay attention, the materials must be relevant to them. If they learn the skills because they NEED them, then they will pay attention. For example, software students must learn to program because they know that they will have to write code on projects or learn design because they need this skill to get a job. In fact, they will pay more attention if, at the beginning of the lecture, the teacher tells them WHAT skill they will learn and WHY they need it. Preparing students for the skills they will need after graduation is not an easy task, but I always start my lecture with the skills that will learn on that day to get their attention.
Among all the skills, I believe the “lifelong learning” is the most important skill that every student must have. At the beginning of the class, I explain: “Because technology changes fast, you need to continuous learning to survive and succeed, regardless where you work and what job you do. To develop this skill, you must start with a good reading habit and constantly read as much as you can. Today, there are many information available on the Internet from technical blogs to computer journals where you can access and read. But you should not only read technical materials but broaden your knowledge by reading international news, business news to know what is happening in the world. To encourage your reading skills, each week I will assign at least three articles, two technical and one non-technical article for you to read so we can discuss in class. I encourage you to bring any interesting articles or technical news to the classroom so we can discuss together.”
The second important skill that I believe all students must have is “Problem solving skill.” I explain to the class: “Today, most problems are complex and require people to solve them quickly. As society advances, so will the complexity of its problems and almost everything you do in the industry today will be solving problems. If you can develop effective solutions quickly, you will advance in your career. To develop this skill, you need to have an in-depth technical knowledge, and this requires a different learning style. Instead of memorizing things to pass exams, you need to develop the ability to think analytically, which includes comparing, contrasting, evaluating, synthesizing, and applying. You must learn and understand materials at a much deeper level to do this effectively. I think it is important for all of you to start developing this ability now by paying more attention when you are still in school to prepare for your career after the classroom. Analytic thinking is a significant part of problem-solving skills that every company is looking for when hiring graduates.”
Traditional education requires teachers to teach by following a standard textbook. To make sure that students learn these materials, many teachers put certain formulas and textbook paragraphs as questions in the tests. Students quickly learn to memorize these materials to pass tests, and eventually, education became a test of memory instead of knowledge. That is why traditional education systems produce many students who cannot remember anything from textbooks once the test is completed. Teaching from textbooks also has a disadvantage because it usually takes several years for the author to finish a textbook, and by that time many things may change. I prefer to use current technical journals and articles for students to read. To get students to learn, I like to use “case studies” where students learn about real scenarios where they must solve problems instead of answer questions based on the textbooks.
The third important skill is collaboration skill or teamwork. Today teamwork is important and students can be successful when they learn to work together. Collaborative learning environments encourage students to listen to others, to think for themselves, and to explain their thinking processes. By understanding how others think and willing to share ideas, they can learn more. Once they graduate, it will be important that students can work collaboratively. Traditional education system insists upon testing individual and encourages students to compete rather than collaborate. This is why many students have difficulty to work in the industry where teamwork skills are important. I explain to my students: “You do not compete with others but learn from them. You go to class to learn from others' ideas as well as mistakes and share your thought toward a common learning goal.”
When teachers teach, giving tests, and judge students' work as pass or fail, they will get a very different level of effort from their students than teachers who challenge students by asking questions, encouraging discussions, require the students to identify their own strengths and weaknesses to improve their skills. Teachers who take the time to get to know students can communicate well with them can make the teaching more effective and improve the successful rate of students. Teachers should KNOW that most students are capable of achieving much higher than the learning objectives, they can not only learn the skills but also develop the motivation to learn if the teachers spend time on encouraging their efforts instead of focus on judging them by their pass or fail on tests.
Although the issue of learning rests on the student, there are things teachers can do to help to keep them actively involved in their learning. For students to pay attention, there has to be sufficient need for that attention to be devoted to the material. That is why we need to engage the students by focus more on WHAT is important to them and WHY they need to learn in ways that make it difficult for them to pay attention to anything else.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
