We criticize students for their surface learning approaches and yet I see a lot of surface learning when it comes to teaching. Our infatuation with teaching techniques—the tips, tricks, and gimmicks that can make our teaching dance—yes, they’re important, but so are the assumptions and premises on which they rest. We quest for “right” answers to what we think are simple questions. “Should I call on students or let them volunteer?” The answer depends on a host of variables including; how you call on students, who you call on, when you call on them, and what’s the motivation behind calling on them. Thinking that good teaching results from having right answers trivializes the complexities that makes teaching endlessly fascinating.
Doris Reeves-Lipscomb on 13 Jan 17Maryellen Weimer writes for faculty in educational settings and is focused on when collaboration crosses into cheating and how to know when students have really learned vs. mimic answers they had to real part in developing. Raises questions for me about the mindset that people carry from education into the workplace...wasn't there research on how research papers get credited with the most senior or male person first and those that followed (graduate students, less experienced faculty, women) did not get the same respect?