I really appreciate this example and break-down of the components of successful teaching! The ever-popular picture of a professor that is a great researcher and poor teacher obviously lacks the human-interaction component.

While it falls on us to do our part to add human-interaction capacity to our classrooms, I feel we shy too much from an equal expectation of the student. Especially at the university level, the students should bridge the gap between knowledge and application + retention as well. If we meet in the middle, success is all but guaranteed. Students seem to come to university less and less able/prepared to do this each year it seems, and praxis needs to change in the K-12 level certainly. However, a good student or a good instructor should be able to bridge the gap themself (though, again, it should be a two-way street).

Again, thanks for the great example!

It’s been said in the previous comments already, but I agree that there is much about teaching that is a performance. Teaching in the classroom should not be a show in itself (that’s a seminar), but the instructor should prepare and illustrate their passion for the subject much in the same way as a performer does. Flare is also a handy toolset as you purvey information to the class–why not put in extra effort to make the delivery device as interesting and fun as possible?

I really appreciate your professor’s advice about why students didn’t show up that week and hope you have gained much more from them since then! Thanks for sharing!

Do you view video game integration as more of an impetus earlier in the learner’s life, or as a tool to subsidize learning. I agree in your analysis of its potential, but question its use in general higher education. Maybe it’s just because of my subject area, but I am not yet convinced. We are an interesting generation, indeed.

Yes, balance. And I share trepidation about video game integration in university courses. I commented in another blog that our generation has potential to successfully implement this transition because of our unique timing bridging technology and tradition. Here’s to using our skepticism well!

Your stance seems quite healthy and balanced–not forsaking tradition and convention, while simultaneously acknowledging contemporary methodology. I say we need more of this, and maybe that will be the greatest contribution of our generation. The preponderance of discussion about going full-force into technological classrooms is certainly worrying for me and my field of study, but we need not fall behind either.

Exactly! I echoed these very sentiments in my post as well. Our discussions on grades put them at the pinnacle of achievement, but the reality is they should only be one aspect of a student’s portfolio. In the few years I worked in the field before coming to VT for a PhD, as well as my current conversations with my advisor, this is how GPA/grades are treated. So I am unsure why so much attention is being paid towards the negative aspects when reality seems to tell a balanced story. There is much to be changed in the grading system, but throwing out the process altogether seems unwise.

Thanks for your very clear parable of grades!

I appreciate your distinction between poor utilization of assessment and appropriate use. There is much to be addressed in general education, and grading is one such issue, but to throw out the practice completely removes a viable tool that benefitted you in your second example. I would love to hear feedback from such instructors and feel they should be lecturing on successful pedagogical practices more so than the theorists because, like you, I have had the bad and the good, and take away so much from the professors/instructors that utilize educational tools (e.g., grades) in appropriate and beneficial ways.

I appreciate your view of the anti-grading movement from an administrative perspective. It has been difficult enough for me to move beyond the implications for the students, their careers and lives beyond school that I have not worked up the ladder within the education environment itself. These are great questions.

As I argued in my post, grades are merely one part of a healthy and descriptive portfolio for the student, and after reading your post, they are certainly one part of a healthy and descriptive portfolio for the instructor in question and the institution as a whole.

As a parent of a 2-year-old, I can absolutely vouch for my son’s ability as a member of the R&D department of humankind. Reading your post makes me think of varying theories in parenting, particularly the hands-off approach. Somehow my wife became involved in a playgroup of moms that believe parents should in no way influence their kids’ thinking. They go so far as to never so much as draw a picture for their kid because it has the potential to limit the child’s creativity.

As in everything, I believe in moderation. This goes for parenting and teaching as much as with everything. As parents or as teachers, we have the task to foster healthy development. This involves guidance and support, not limitation. Both are equally important for health and productivity, just as weeding and fertilization are equally important for a healthy and productive garden.

It seems that the drive to foster creative, autonomous thought is merely replacing our former method of information delivery without accounting for truly different learning types. My personal learning style is to copy an existing method, then tailor said method to my needs. This to say that I believe both approaches you mentioned have their place.

In the classes I have taught/TAed, this has been my approach. In addition, I believe collaboration further solidifies ideas and fosters creative problem solving. Therefore my students rarely, if ever, perform these activities in isolation, with me pairing them in complementary pairs/groups based on observed learning styles (usually via surveys).