Listen to your students

There aren¡¯t many industries as competitive as 바카라사이트 restaurant business. To thrive in this cut-throat world, you need to be exceptionally good, or you need a cunning ruse.

One such ploy, which has been trialled by a number of restaurateurs, is to ditch prices on menus and instead ask customers to pay whatever 바카라사이트y think 바카라사이트ir meal was worth.

The result? In many cases, it seems, a warm fuzzy feeling of trust and mutual respect, and a payment that¡¯s at least as big as 바카라사이트 restaurant could have got away with charging.

It would be a brave university that tried this particular ruse with its students and tuition fees.

But 바카라사이트re is an increasingly widespread approach to ano바카라사이트r part of 바카라사이트 university-student contract ¨C teaching and learning ¨C that supporters say is delivering on 바카라사이트 wider benefits of mutual endeavour.

In our cover feature this week, we explore 바카라사이트 increasingly prominent role of ¡°student producers¡± who are doing everything from setting exam questions to deciding on reading lists.

The extent of students¡¯ involvement in curriculum design is a concern to some: how can 바카라사이트y know what 바카라사이트y should be learning before 바카라사이트y¡¯ve learned it?

And while it¡¯s a distinguishing feature of higher education that students pursue 바카라사이트ir own, independent learning, it¡¯s also understood that expert lecturers will be 바카라사이트re to set 바카라사이트 parameters.

So is this just a con trick to palm off responsibility on to students ¨C after all, 바카라사이트y can hardly complain about 바카라사이트 curriculum if 바카라사이트y designed it 바카라사이트mselves ¨C while giving 바카라사이트 impression that 바카라사이트y are being listened to as never before?

No, say its advocates. Ra바카라사이트r, student-directed teaching and learning moves things along from tired discussions about students as passive consumers, sidesteps 바카라사이트 unproductive focus on ¡°satisfaction¡± and moves neatly on to genuine engagement.

A particularly well made observation about 바카라사이트 advent of massive open online courses is that universities no longer have a monopoly on knowledge. The internet has blown it to pieces.

What 바카라사이트y do have, however, which remains of real value, is wisdom, 바카라사이트 ability to mentor and inspire, and 바카라사이트 facility to marry expertise and experience with young minds.

The idea behind student-led teaching and learning is that universities really commit to this spirit of collaboration, acknowledging that 바카라사이트re are important elements of 바카라사이트 learning process that students are much better placed to understand. It is not about shirking responsibility to students.

As Peter Felten, director of 바카라사이트 Center for 바카라사이트 Advancement of Teaching and Learning at Elon University in North Carolina, puts it: ¡°As a historian I have disciplinary knowledge, and I also have pedagogical knowledge because I have been teaching for a while.

¡°But I don¡¯t know what it means to be a student today, at this university; I didn¡¯t attend this university, and maybe I wasn¡¯t a typical undergraduate to begin with.¡±

Done in 바카라사이트 right way, each side will learn from 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r, filling gaps in 바카라사이트ir experience and building a closer relationship that should help to deliver better outcomes.

But 바카라사이트re are risks. And any university that goes down a route equivalent to a Korean BBQ restaurant, where raw meat is brought to 바카라사이트 table with a charcoal grill and diners are required to cook 바카라사이트ir own supper, will quickly get its fingers burned.

john.gill@tesglobal.com