Why students need to fail
Moira MacDonald, University Affairs, December 4, 2013
Interesting article on the design of a course that has students act as instructors, drawing their presentations from dense and difficult texts, in an environment that is challenging and often results in failure. The course, taught by Concrodia University professor Vivek Venkatesh, "was really about thinking on your feet," says Tieja Thomas, a PhD candidate who took the course. "You had to come prepared . . . It really was a deeper form of learning."
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The right to be teachers
In an online environment, teachers no longer need to be sole authority figures but instead should share responsibility with learners at almost every turn. Students can participate and shape one another's learning through peer interaction, new content, enhancement of learning materials and by forming virtual and real-world networks. Students have the right to engaged participation in the construction of their own learning. Students are makers, doers, thinkers, contributors, not just passive recipients of someone else's lecture notes or methods. They are critical contributors to their disciplines, fields, and to the larger enterprise of education."