In recent months I've realized that despite having nearly 14 years of experience, much of my past teaching left much to be desired. This is not to say I was an inadequate or ineffective teacher, only that I could have been a lot better. By this, I mean…I could have gone beyond "delivering my content" to offer students a richer & more socially relevant experience.
To be sure, good teaching is not just transferring knowledge & expertise to learners. We recognize more and more that effective teaching is just a start, and students won't benefit much unless they are connecting material in each course to other fields of study, their personal & professional lives, the nation, and the world. Furthermore, their experience in a given class should not be the start and end of engagement with that content. Compared to the past, knowledge acquisition in the 21st century is much more ever-present (we are bombarded with it on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, websites of all kinds, cell phone apps, etc.) and constantly changing. It is unrealistic to think we can transfer "all of the knowledge" to students in a single 16-week course or even double that time.
Instead, courses must now function as robust and well-contextualized starting places for ongoing inquiry & exploration, both outward and inward. To that end, educators must round out the aspects of their courses that are "knowledge transfer" with what is widely known as "significant learning experiences."
This entails:
- Foundational Knowledge – what are the basic concepts, ideas, & perspectives that students need to know about this subject? Some of this may be facts & information; some may be widely accepted viewpoints and theories. Courses tend to start with this, and by the middle, ask students to apply & create.
- Application – Students need to do something with the information and knowledge they take in. This "doing something" may be an actual hands-on or physical activity. It may, in many cases, be critical, creative, practical thinking, or the managing of projects. (With critical thinking, ask students to judge, evaluate, analyze. In creative thinking, ask students to put X with Y, Z, A, or B and develop something new. For practical thinking, ask students to apply the material to a real-life personal, professional, social, or global problem).
- Integration – Students should consider the course content in connection with other fields of study. Ask students how any of the ideas or concepts they are learning in your course can relate to1 or two other courses they are taking and explain that connection. Also, how can one connect ideas & concepts in Unit 4 of your course back to those in Unit 1 or 2? How can ideas/concepts/information in your class be connected to students' school, work, and/or family life?
- Human Dimension – Learning isn't just information acquired. At its best, learning empowers us to empathize and connect with others and ourselves. Give your students opportunities to reflect on how what they are learning in your course changes their self-view and their view of other groups of people. Ask them how their understanding of others and self (behaviors, thoughts, & attitudes) is deepened or made more complex. No matter what your subject, it is likely that intentional reflection will draw this out.
- Caring – New learning experiences often change the degree to which we care about something—a social problem, a group of people, an emerging trend. We may attain new feelings, values, and interests. The course content may have raised further questions that evoke our deepest (& previously unknown) concern. Even if some students feel nothing has changed for them in terms of outlook on society, life, culture, explaining why that's the case is an excellent cognitive exercise that still reflects on values & attitudes and how they function for us.
- Learning How To Learn – Being a "lifelong learner" can sometimes be an empty platitude that we bandy about without much thought. As educators, we want to avoid just telling students to be lifelong learners. They're more likely to become lifelong learners, or just better students while in college, if you ask them to put new knowledge into practice during the course itself. To that end, consider asking students to reflect periodically on their learning & studying processes—what did or didn't work for them while completing a project or preparing for an exam, and why. The act of putting it in writing crystallizes realizations for students. You may also ask them to compile a short annotated bibliography of readings/resources they want to explore after the course is over.
