Teaching and learning part 5
Today college students are active; they do not stay still and easily get distracted by text messages, emails, and other social media activities. To be effective, teaching method must change from passive to active to keep student engaging in learning. Imagine a class where students come and ready to learn then class time would be much more productive and enjoyable for both teachers and students. Instead of passively listen to a long lecture, students are actively engage in discussions where they are participating, learning, analyzing and applying what they learn to develop their skills. However to have students come to class and ready to learn is difficult because for many years they used to be passive. To start with the active learning method, teachers need to explain to them about the new way of learning. Of course, some students will raise their concerns but by addressing each of their concerns, teachers can convince them to accept this new method.
When student says: “I rather learn by listen to a lecture.” Teachers could convince them by let them trying on a simple experiment. For example I challenge students to find a place that they never been before by giving instruction: “Go to X street, turn left, after 100 meter, turn right, after 200 meter turn left then go to Z street, turn left then pass a coffee shop then turn right ….etc. I ask them to find that place just by following the instruction. The fact is most students will listen to the instruction to get the overall idea but they only find the place by making mistakes several times. They will make wrong turn, get into the wrong street but eventually they will find the place by learning from their mistakes. Once they find the place, they can go back there at any time because they have learned it well. I explain that listening only give them the idea but they only learn by doing, by making mistake and that is the best way to learn. The same thing can be applied to computer programming, students do not learn to write program by listen to lecture on data structure and syntax but by actually writing the code, make a lot of mistakes, and learn from them. When they learn well, they will never make the same mistake again.
When student says: “Why don't you just teach?” Teachers could explain to them that class time should be better used for discussing information not transmitting it. Most students are familiar with the passive teaching of listening to lecture, so they confuse “teaching” and “lecturing” and not comfortable with teachers who do not lecture. I often tell them: “I can lecture in class, then you will have to learn everything outside of class; or we can make the information available for you prior to class, and spend class time explaining the difficult parts, answer your questions, and discuss them to help you understand better. We do not have enough class time for both. Which one would help you to learn?
When student says: “Why do I need to learn by myself?” Teachers could ask: “Why are we here? You cannot learn everything by yourself that is why you go to school. You should learn the basic concept in preparation for class, then learn how to apply it in class. It is important to learn everything in depth rather than just in the surface by memorize few things. You cannot apply the concept if you only memorize things, you must apply them; analyze them so you can build your skills. Today memorization is no longer necessary because most information is available in the internet, in reference books but you need to know how to apply them and use them. You must have in depth knowledge to do the work so teaching method should change to help you develop the needed skills. Time in class should be used to develop skills not just transfer the knowledge. You are not empty vessels where teachers can pour knowledge in. You are not a memory chip for teachers to program.”
Sometime student may be angry: “We are paying you to teach.” Teachers can say: “I am teaching you now and the purpose of higher education is to help you to be knowledgeable so you can develop your own skills. We are here to prepare you for a career, support you on your personal growth, and get experience so you can be useful contributors to society. We want you to succeed in your career, in your life, in acquiring the skills that you will need to get a good job. Today the whole world is changing, you need all the help you can get to be able to adjust to these changes and teaching method must change to help you to succeed. We are no longer in the agriculture age where knowledge is share within a family from father to sons; we are no longer in the industry age where knowledge is taught by memorize facts to pass exams or get degrees; we are in the knowledge age where skills are the key factor to help you to succeed and the only way to develop these needed skills is to learn by doing, by actively learning and continuous learning.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
