teaching naked: technology for information delivery

In this fifth chapter, Dr Bowen advocates for using online technology to deliver first contact with the course material to students. He explains how there is ample content freely available online (and this is back in 2012!) that likely addresses the material to be delivered in class. A lengthy example of a 1st-year chemistry course is provided. Bowen argues that instructors need to see themselves as curators of content rather than delivery people or creators of content. Of course, if there is something that we are particularly good at explaining or exploring, then we should consider producing a podcast for the delivery of that content. But only if no one else has produced a better version freely available online. But Bowen does think that it is worthwhile to produce a short introductory podcast for each course section or assigned reading. And if not a podcast at least send an email that is archived on the course LMS. Something that explains what you hope students will get out of the reading or pre-class assignment.

I do this now on our LMS for each course section but not necessarily for each assigned reading. For example, this week after students complete their reading quiz for enzyme properties we will be considering enzyme mechanisms in class. I could, for example, the evening before write a short email detailing why I want students to know well the example of the serine proteases and how it illustrates the influence of amino acid residue charges on enabling transition-state and catalysis. Then in-class we could address student concerns and explore in detail the enzyme mechanism and perhaps even have time for an application of the knowledge. Sometimes I do include an overview explanation in my reading guides to provide context for the reading assignment and what we are learning in this section of the course. But mostly I rely simply on providing for students the learning objectives for that particular reading assignment.

I am not sure that preparing a podcast is better than preparing a reading guide. Dr Bowen makes the case that a personal podcast from the instructor is more inviting. But it is still a talking head. Is that better than text? Is listening better than reading? According to Bligh, talking heads are no better than text at conveying information. But Bowen is not arguing for using these introductory podcasts necessarily simply for transmitting information to students. I get the sense that this is more of an invitation to learning. Is that done better in a podcast than inside the classroom in real-time? But then again, this is the introduction to encourage students - to invite students - to prepare for the classroom so it needs to be done outside of class. I'll continue to provide overviews of the point of the reading assignment. Even if students don't read them, at least it provides me a point to refocus myself on why I am teaching the material.

One of the things that I am finding out about myself as I work through this book is that I tend to really focus on the cognitive domain and not so much on the affective domain of learning. And this may be what causes some of the resistance I experience when I implement active learning in my classrooms. We know that learning works best when students feel invited to learn, welcomed to learn, made comfortable while learning. Of course, learning is about effecting change in students' thinking - in how they conceptualize the world - and thus will require students to move out of their comfort zone. But are there ways/approaches/strategies/considerations that better support students as they enter the learning environment in which they may need to feel uncomfortable while what they are learning does not match their mental models of the world?

Resources

Bligh, D. A. (1998). Evidence of what lectures achieve. In What’s the use of lectures? (5th ed., pp. 10–23). Exeter: Intellect.

Bowen, J. A. (2012). Technology for information delivery. In Teaching naked: How moving technology out of your classroom will improve student learning, Chapter 5. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley. p 103-127.

is the criticism of the lecture a result of poor oratorical skills?

A recent article posted on The Atlantic website revisits the issue of lecturing vs active learning. Maryellen Weimer, Lolita Paff, Carl Lovitt and I discussed this at the Sunday plenary of the 2016 Teaching Professor Conference this past June in Washington, DC. Similar to Christine Gross-Loh, we suggested that good teaching requires a mix of active learning and lecturing dependent upon the needs of the student. A good teacher doesn't simply leave their students to forage for themselves. On the other hand, a good teacher also guides students to construct their own knowledge structure. As I wrote in my editorial for the 2016 volume of CELT, teaching is similar to tuning the dial of an analog radio between the two continuums of lecturing (teaching by telling) vs active learning (learning by doing) and this is dependent upon the intellectual level of the students. Actually, rather than being dependent upon the intellectual level of students, it might be better to say it is dependent on how developed students are as independent learners. The primary task of higher education is to train students how to learn. The best result of a bachelor's degree is the ability of students to research the answers to their own questions. As I have said elsewhere, the ultimate independent learner is a researcher - when the knowledge is unavailable to answer a question a good researcher will collect the data and produce the knowledge required to answer the question.

But I digress....

What Christine Gross-Loh suggests is that the problem with lectures stems from a lack of training of higher education professors in the skill of public speaking. This is a skill that was once taught and developed in colleges and universities but declined during the 20th century. If graduate students were taught to publically speak in an engaging manner (and this does not mean continuous exposition but rather speaking, discussing, thinking, active learning, and telling) then perhaps the lecture (broadly defined) would not be so maligned. Perhaps the wealth of data that indicates that lecturing (continuous exposition) is hazardous to students' grades is a result of the decline of training the professoriate in properly lecturing/teaching. Christine Gross-Loh would not be the first to suggest that this may be a result of increased emphasis on research at the expense of teaching.

Resources

Arum R, Roksa J. (2011). Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Bart M. 2016.Lecture vs. Active Learning: Reframing the Conversation [internet]. Faculty Focus, June 24.
Freeman S, Eddy SL, McDonough M, Smith MK, Okoroafor N, Jordt H, Wenderoth MP. 2014. Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(23), 8410–5.
Grow GO. 1991. Teaching learners to be self-directed. Adult Education Quarterly, 41(3), 125–149.
Gross-Loh C. 2016. Should Colleges Really Eliminate the College Lecture? [internet] The Atlantic, July 14.
Haave NC. 2016. Practical tuning - achievable harmony. Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, 9: iii-x.
Pocklington T, Tupper A. 2002. No Place To Learn: Why Universities Aren’t Working. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press.

why do teachers feel personally attacked when the lecture is critiqued?

A recent post in the New York Times by Molly Worthen has provoked a number of responses both for and against the lecture as pedagogical strategy (See Eyler and Franke below for two different responses). This is apparently not new as exemplified by Cath Ellis' post from 2010 reflecting on the response of Donald Clark's conference keynote on the pitfalls of the lecture. Indeed, those that call for the evidence which indicate that the lecture is not a great teaching strategy seem to be unaware that the evidence has been around for some time. As Cath Ellis suggests, read Bligh's 1998 book. In the first couple of chapters he reviews the evidence that lectures are no better than assigning reading for impacting student learning outcomes. And then of course there is the 2014 meta-analysis of the research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science which shows that active learning strategies have very real positive effects on student learning outcomes.

I think that for whatever reason lecturing vs active learning touches on people's sense of self identity. Teaching is such a personal act. What makes some teachers naturally good is that the teaching act meshes so well with their personality or that they have a very good sense of self. Thus a critique of lecturing or active learning is received as an attack on the self as teacher/person rather than a consideration of what produces the best student learning outcomes. In addition, I think Cath Ellis makes an insightful assessment that lecturing is the normative discourse in academia and thus its critique creates unease as the icon of university teaching is called into question.

However, as others have suggested, this really is a false dichotomy. It is not that instructors must choose between lecturing or active learning as their teaching strategy. Teaching is like science - we use whatever will get the job done. Sometimes that means that a particular class needs more lecturing than activities to help students understand a particular assigned reading. Other classes will use activities to help engage students in the concepts being considered to produce deep learning. What I aspire to as a teacher is to be able to read my class and be able to pick out of my bag of teaching strategies what will best deepen my students engagement with and understanding of the material and make their learning stick. Even those of us who use the most student-centered teaching strategy of all (IMHO), Team-Based Learning, still need to  make use of the mini-lecture.

The lecture is not dead. The lecture simply needs to make room for the other teaching and learning strategies which enhance student learning outcomes as shown by the published evidence. Perhaps what is really at stake is the understanding of who the class is for: is it for student learning or is it for instructor self-identity?

Resources

Bligh, D. A. (1998). Evidence of what lectures achieve. In What’s the Use of Lectures? (5th ed., pp. 10–23). Exeter: Intellect.

Ellis C. (2010). Tweckling, iconoclasm and lecturing as a normative discourse: reflections on two ALT-C keynotes. cathellis13, Nov 16.

Eyler J. (2015). Active Learning Is Not Our Enemy: A Response to Molly Worthen. A Life Time's Training:Thoughts on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Oct 20.

Franke D. 2015. Why Lecture Matters: A View from the Trenches. The Winds of War, Oct 18.

Friesen, N. (2011). The lecture as a transmedial pedagogical form: A historical analysis. Educational Researcher, 40(3), 95–102.

Weiman, C. E. (2014). Large-scale comparison of science teaching methods sends clear message. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 111(23), 8319-8320.

Worthen M. (2015). Lecture Me. Really. New York Times, Oct 17.

lectures can still illuminate

This article helps explain to me why, despite understanding the efficacy of active learning strategies, there are still some lectures that illuminate me. The best lecturers do not simply disseminate information; they interpret and make connections between different sources and different media. It reminds me of what Parker Palmer explained in The Courage to Teach of how some teachers are able to make the subject come alive by treating the material with respect while lecturing. There is a place for the lecture,  I think, mixed with the use of active learning strategies within the classroom. I think this is also what informs my understanding of the in-class experience as being synergistic and much more than the transmission of knowledge.

Resource

Friesen, N. (2011). The Lecture as a Transmedial Pedagogical Form A Historical Analysis. Educational Researcher 40(3): 95-102. http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0013189X11404603

Palmer, P. J. (2007). The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life (10th anniv.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley and Sons.