Definitely! Perpetuating horrible lectures is not going to fix any problems or win any converts to the lecture style. I also think it’s interesting that many college professors start out with little teaching experience (which is often because there may have been little chance to do so during a PhD, not necessarily because they didn’t want to) or else poorly-informed teaching experience (they don’t know a whole lot about education to begin with), whereas elementary and high school teachers are more likely to have a degree in education, where they learned how to teach (and lecture) more effectively.

I agree that balance and moderation is generally a good rule of thumb for most things, including learning. I also think that the combination of authentic and traditional assessments is the best route to pursue, instead of entirely relying on a single method. I also liked how you talked about tests as kind of an assessment for the professor as well–if the students all do badly on a particular question, the professor may see that he/she needs to better explain that concept. Thanks for the post!

I am also a big fan of note-taking the old-fashioned way, with a pen/pencil and paper. I too have noticed that students seem less and less able to take good notes, especially when the need to do so lessens (slides being posted online, etc.), so maybe it is a skill we need to encourage. However, I have also read about research that actually discourages note-taking (as an avid note-taker, this sort of advice makes me nervous, and I will probably never fully be a convert). In any case, some scholars think that it’s more important to listen attentively to a lecture, without taking notes, and then jot down notes or reflections afterwards. While this may be true, I think note-taking is a good way to keep students minds focused and “present” during a lecture (as in, the assumption they will be attentive is unrealistic), and I think it is also doubtful that students will run home and jot down notes after a lecture has ended. Just interesting that there are other views on whether note-taking is good or bad. Thanks for the post!

We certainly do not want to subject students to unnecessary suffering! I also tend to think that our short attention spans are a by-product of constant stimulation in the digital age (just my own ponderings, definitely a point to be discussed), so even though I would argue that we were never meant to sit around all day, I think we do have the ability to focus for longer than we think. Of course, as you point out, we should remember to be compassionate to our students and take their current attention span into account, so even though some lectures can be useful to them, maybe not every class, every day, all the time.

That is a great example of a bad lecture! It amazes me how that format (reading word-for-word off of slides) continues to survive.

I guess after my experience with the T.A., I would just say to be consistent with the assessment style. If you are looking for specific details or formats in an assignment, that’s fine, just say so up front with specific instructions. Life includes times when you have to be exact (I’m thinking formatting guidelines to publish an article–heaven forbid you mess up a citation–but journals also provide extensive documentation on how to format a manuscript). If you’re not as concerned with these details, and you plan to grade based on overall quality (given that work is shown and any assumptions or choices are defended), then maybe precise instructions or a rubric aren’t necessary.

Interesting take on the issue! Your post reminded me of peer-reviewed articles and “publish or perish.” I wrote a paper about “publish or perish” last semester, and I found a lot of articles about how the emphasis on publishing has many negative consequences, but one positive side that I hadn’t really considered is similar to what you described–previously, academia was kind of a “good old boys” culture that depended more on who you know rather than what you know. Thus, many people were happy about the switch to using publications as a metric because it was objective. Thanks for the post!

As a pilates instructor I am already a big fan of your piano teacher. Pilates is all about proper form–doing five crunches properly is way better than doing twenty sloppily! So mindful basics are a definite. But I guess I tend to think of basics not necessarily as less important but rather more important–before you branch out and do your own thing, you need to make sure you can do these things. I always think in terms of scenarios outside of education, so I thought of skiing when I read these articles. When a ski instructor has a class of first-time skiiers, everyone learns pizza wedge and french fries, which, as I mentioned in another comment, is definitely not how Olympic skiiers do it. Following the logic of Langer, why would we start out learning the pizza wedge then? Pizza wedge and french fries make sure that the skiiers have control, so they don’t injure eighty-year-old patrons who also share the slopes, and also gives them confidence by helping them stay upright (I know because I rocked a pizza wedge for quite some time). Just because you start out with these basics doesn’t mean you can’t become a master, it just means that you progress to that goal in what is probably a much safer way.

Let me know what you think of Make it Stick! It’s especially interesting when talking about assessment, since the authors whole-heartedly promote frequent testing (the testing effect).

Thanks for the comment! You’re definitely right about how the basics vary by discipline. In a more liberal arts vein though, I also think that background or “the basics” in other subjects outside of your field can be useful. For example, I knew I didn’t want to study English literature in college, but I think my English classes in high school helped me tremendously with the writing I have to do for science (different style, but still constructing an argument, organizing thoughts, etc.). Now, what exactly “the basics” consist of or should consist of is, indeed, problematic. As Renu mentioned, many simple life skills should probably be part of these basics but are not. However, in some contexts, I feel “the basics” serve their function pretty well. To use an example outside of education, I used to work at a ski resort, and the good old stand-by for ski instructors teaching first time skiiers is pizza wedge and french fries. Now, Bodey Miller does not ski by making a pizza wedge and french fries with his skies, so, following the vein in the Langer article, one could argue, “why am I learning it this way if the Olympians don’t do it that way?”. These basics help the skiiers control themselves so they don’t hurt themselves or others on the slopes but also ups their chances of staying upright longer, so they have more fun. I was thinking of this analogy when I read the Langer article–just because you start out learning pizza wedge and french fries doesn’t mean that you can’t become Bodey Miller, and for the grand majority of first-time skiiers, it’s not all that bad a place to start.

And I do tend to be more practical/job and real-world related than probably most people in the class, but it takes all kinds =D With my discussion of trade schools, I brought this up because I think that people should do what makes them happy and what they love–I tend to think that the world would be a little bit better if people focused more on that then what they think they should do. The examples I gave are all based on some of my friends, and I assure you they were not thinking solely of economics when they decided on that path. Welders can make a lot of money, but my friend that is a welder is an artist and earns money getting commissioned to make wrought iron railings, gates, etc. She makes less money that I currently do as a graduate student, but she loves what she does. Another friend decided to go into massage therapy because she is interested in the human body and wants to help people overcome pain, to the extent possible, without mediation and surgery. I was a raft guide for seven years, mainly because it was fun and I got to be outside every day, and I made between $7.25 and $8.50 and hour and lived in a tool shed, so definitely not for the money. There are many viable paths through life, and I guess I think that if a particular job rather than school gets you closer to your goals and makes you happy, then you should do that!