Assessment, Learning & Teaching Reflections |
Monday 28th November
A teaching paradox: the more we talk the less we teach; the better we teach, the less we talk. This is the challenge we face as teachers and communicators. I’m heavily involved in teaching at first year level on a large course: I prepare teaching material for 14 tutorial groups each week and deliver two lectures to the same student cohort. So I’m very aware of the hundreds of thousands of words I’ve already pushed out at our new student intake since they arrived in September. Yet is talking the same as teaching? Do my words make sense to my students?
By final year, the balance has been reversed. We deliver fewer lectures and hold fewer group tutorials, but much more gets done. Our dissertation and communications audit students are by now doing all the work; we simply direct their studies. This is much more satisfactory for all parties, but relies on the students having to become independent learners. So the question becomes, how can we ensure that school leavers and others are inquisitive and autonomous learners? To this end, the DfES is promoting progress files and this university has introduced a module called Personal, Academic and Career Effectiveness (PACE).
Richard Bailey
Senior Lecturer in Public Relations
