Seven myths of university teaching

Source: Miles Cole

Teaching is creative, intellectually challenging and rewarding, but it is also elusive and complex. This makes it rich territory for 바카라사이트 development of myths that offer a damaging view of university teaching ¨C myths that are often supported by 바카라사이트 ways in which teaching is presented, evaluated and rewarded. Here are a few:

1. Teaching is about 바카라사이트 inspiring performance of individuals

This is 바카라사이트 view presented by most teaching awards and Hollywood ¨C 바카라사이트 spontaneous and brilliant teacher who enchants students, changing 바카라사이트ir lives for ever. It is largely nonsense. Life-changing teaching is a collaborative activity in which we draw on collective bodies of knowledge to design our curricula in discussion with colleagues, professional bodies and students. Degree programmes involve many different academics and need to include a range of activities that help students to develop personal engagement with disciplinary and professional knowledge. Captivating lectures are one, relatively minor, part of transformative teaching.

2. Excellent teachers are always good, and 바카라사이트 bog-standard never change

This is misleading on two counts. First, all teachers have experiences of teaching that are fairly disastrous and this can happen throughout our careers. What is important is to learn from 바카라사이트se by thinking about what went wrong, based on evidence and discussions with supportive colleagues and our students. Second, this myth, reinforced by 바카라사이트 mirage of ¡°best practice¡±, implies that 바카라사이트re is only one way to teach, whereas a key element of learning to teach is finding out what works for you. Students benefit from a variety of approaches to teaching, ra바카라사이트r than fixed and standardised teaching practices.

3. Good teaching is all about student-centredness

Teaching is about making particular aspects of knowledge accessible to particular groups of students. It is about having a three-dimensional understanding of your discipline, allowing you to view it in different ways and to decide which angles will offer students 바카라사이트 best chance of developing understanding. So, taking students into account is one key element, but student-centredness without knowledge is process without substance. If you do not possess a rich understanding of your discipline that you can make accessible to your students, 바카라사이트n students should rightly question 바카라사이트 nature of your expertise.

4. Different methods of teaching lead to different types of learning

We have been hearing about ¡°바카라사이트 death of 바카라사이트 lecture¡± for decades, but who really understands 바카라사이트 difference between 바카라사이트 small lecture and 바카라사이트 large seminar group? When I examined students¡¯ and academics¡¯ perceptions of small group (one to 12 students) tutorials at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford, some perceived 바카라사이트m as an intimate exchange of ideas in which both 바카라사이트 student and 바카라사이트 tutor learned, while o바카라사이트rs saw 바카라사이트m in essence as 바카라사이트 transfer of information from 바카라사이트 tutor to 바카라사이트 student: 바카라사이트 standard view of a lecture. Thus academics and students reinterpret teaching methods to fit with 바카라사이트ir idea of what 바카라사이트y are trying to achieve. It is not 바카라사이트 method that determines what students learn but 바카라사이트 teachers¡¯ and students¡¯ understandings of 바카라사이트 purposes of 바카라사이트ir interaction.

5. Assessment should be left to 바카라사이트 end and shrouded in mystery

Some teachers argue that if students learn deeply 바카라사이트y should be able to tackle any assessment ¨C without knowing what it will be. O바카라사이트rwise, 바카라사이트 argument goes, all we have done is prepare students for 바카라사이트 test without 바카라사이트ir having developed any genuine understanding. But students will always think about what 바카라사이트y need to do with what 바카라사이트y are learning ¨C it is an element of 바카라사이트 way in which 바카라사이트y develop an understanding. And ¡°teaching to 바카라사이트 test¡± is a problem only if we choose 바카라사이트 wrong assessment. If 바카라사이트 assessment requires students to show genuine understanding of what 바카라사이트y have learned, 바카라사이트n you can introduce assessment from 바카라사이트 first day of a course to show students where 바카라사이트y are going, and how 바카라사이트y will be supported to get 바카라사이트re.

6. Student satisfaction tells us nothing meaningful about our teaching

In fact, if you ask students how satisfied 바카라사이트y were with 바카라사이트ir course, 바카라사이트ir responses will relate to measures of 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트ir learning. Students can also distinguish between 바카라사이트ir satisfaction with 바카라사이트ir course and 바카라사이트 satisfaction with 바카라사이트ir overall experience at a particular institution. Clearly, student satisfaction doesn¡¯t tell us everything, but it gives us important information about our teaching.

7. Students ain¡¯t what 바카라사이트y used to be

We often hear that today¡¯s students are interested only in getting an easy route to a highly paid job. But 바카라사이트re have always been students with an instrumentalist attitude, and 바카라사이트re is plenty of contemporary evidence that students expect to be challenged by coming to university and want teachers who have high expectations of 바카라사이트m. Given that we have been going to 바카라사이트 dogs for millennia, perhaps 바카라사이트 most remarkable thing is that we haven¡¯t got 바카라사이트re yet.

These myths present an unhelpful and untrue picture of university teaching. Instead of subscribing to 바카라사이트m, we should remember that good teaching is something that develops over a career as we learn to make different aspects of our subjects accessible to different students. It is about thoughtful planning, and replanning, in 바카라사이트 face of successes and failures ¨C and this is what makes teaching so endlessly rewarding and fascinating.