A Century of Learning & Teaching

In 1909 university education was for the privileged few. Sons (usually) of the aristocracy and wealthy merchants attended our historic seats of learning based on their family’s ability to pay and not on any inherent aptitude or intelligence. Whilst there they were lectured in small groups and received tutorials in even smaller groups often one to one. They were taught - some might say spoon feed - by the professors and secondary information was scarce.

By 1959 things had moved on a little, although places at university were still largely dependent on ability to pay rather ability to think. Newer universities were being formed and the beginnings of a new ethos and attitude were seen – and the University of Wales was in the vanguard of much of this new wave. It was during the 60’s and 70’s that the phrase “Reading for a degree” entered the public consciousness – largely due to a T.V programme called University Challenge.

The last 50 years have seen tremendous changes, and although nobody would argue that  cost is no longer a factor – rather everybody agrees it is still a daunting factor for most students (both UK and International)- there has been a fundamental shift towards entry based on “ability to succeed” rather than “ ability to pay”. This has lead to a massive increase in student numbers attending a larger and larger pool of “old” universities, “new” universities, “franchise” colleges, private colleges et al. The old ways to delivery, of teaching students and students learning have had to change.

Over the last 10/15 years lecture sizes have increased beyond the imaginings of our 1909 professor (or even his 1959 descendant) and one to one sessions have been replaced by seminars of 15 , 20 and sometimes 25. We even measure the ratio between staff and the students they teach through the imaginatively named “ Staff Student Ratio”. Thishas become a major ratings factor in many university league tables. As with all ratios the “devil is in the detail” and less doesn’t always mean better.

In response to the explosion in student numbers University investment in libraries has increased massively. It could be argued that this has also caused an increase in output by academics and authoring a text book is no longer an exclusive club.

But even more profound than the increase in numbers has been the maturity of Internet from a small, elite data sharing facility to the behemoth it is today. This has spawned changes that have been nothing short of earth shattering. – Most universities are now “wi-fied” throughout enabling Internet access from the refectory, the student union and even the grounds. Libraries are not the only places to get the precious data. Many have invested in “e libraries” (again here University of Wales is in the vanguard with over 11,000 overseas having free access to our on-line library) and information  is everywhere and the children of the Internet are the independent learner, or to use the most up to date terminology Active learners. Still “reading for a degree” but no longer just reading books. The danger for our active learners is how to sieve through all the material available to get that which is most useful and appropriate. Panning for gold is easy by comparison.

In many places we read that the challenge of the next 10 years is giving students the skills and abilities to use the omnipresent (although not omniuseful) information, and to be honest I agree, that is a major challenge. But I’d also like to suggest that an equally important challenge faces the field of learning and teaching in the age of the active learner.

We – the lecturers- need to become more active ourselves.  As far back as 1991 Bonwell and Elison ^[1]  argued for “Creating Excitement in the classroom”.  And as students are expected to be more independent and active learners the time lecturers have with them must be more wisely utilised. What about the responsibility to be “active lecturers”?

In practically every module descriptor I have ever read (across a range of universities) the module tutor defines ( as guidance to the active learner):

•  the aims of the module – what they will be able to do at the end
•  the learning outcomes – what they will have learnt
•  the indicative content – what areas of knowledge will have been imparted (and hopefully absorbed)
•  Work load – In the case of the University of Wales a 20 credit module represents 200 hours of study. Typically 40 hours will be class contact with the tutor and 160 hours will be “student centred” – hence the importance of students becoming active learners.

But how critical are those 40 hours class contact? If students are undertaking more and more self learning using the Internet as a (the?) primary data source then the role of the lecturer in guiding this learning within those contact hours becomes more crucial.

Within the aforementioned module descriptors we lay out the destination and the route map. Lecturers in the 21 ^st Century must, more than ever, before inspire, enthuse and engage students with their chosen areas of studies. Because why would anybody put effort into actively learning something if the guide on the journey doesn’t make the destination and the journey seem worthwhile.

references

^[1] Bonwell, Charles and James Elison, Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom . Washington, DC The George Washington University 1991