The Trouble with Trads

Y Kuniyoshi, from Flickr CC

One of the brick walls that innovators hit is the assumption that traditional methods of teaching are 'tried and true' and somehow safer than trying something new.   Of course the research shows clearly that traditional delivery is now the risky form, we already know the cost in terms of retention and engagement.  In the collection Game Changers: Education and IT (available in print and digitally for free) Strader and Thille(1) give us a neat and useful list of 5 Problems with Traditional Instruction, of which boredom seems to be a recurring feature (hence Mr Kuniyoshi's expression to the right):

1) Many Instructors Teach to a Certain Percantile of the Class
It is impossible to pitch material to everyone, half are lost the others are bored senseless
2) Students Frequently Do Not Receive Immediate Feedback Crucial to the Learning Process
Waiting to test or be assessed means that bad habits get ingrained and assumptions can compound.
3) In All but the Smallest Classes, the Student's Knowledge State is a Black Box to the Instructor
What is going on out there in all those little learning worlds?
4) Degrees Favor Time Spent in A Classroom over Demonstration of Competency
Its the old factory approach to learning.  This does go some way to prepare students for a life of work which is also based on time spent being the meat in the room, but that's hardly a good thing.
5) There is Great Inefficiency in Creating Instruction within Higher Education
Every institution spends a great deal of time and energy creating pretty much the same coursework and activities.  We like to think that as great teachers our resources and activities are vastly superior to what everyone else is doing, but how true is this, really?

They go on to suggest some ways in which flexible delivery can help with these problems.  A worthwhile read in any case, but the list of 5 problems create a very neat and identifiable agenda for change.


1)  Strader R and Thille C (2012) 'The Open Learning Initiative: Enacting Instruction Online', in Oblinger D G (ed) Game Changers: Education and IT, Educause

Dropping lectures actually boosts comprehension!

"A study by Nobelist Carl Wieman published in Science Magazine in 2011, for instance, found that dropping the lecture component in introductory physics and using an interactive, peer-focused approach boosted comprehension by 20%. Students read the material ahead of time, come to class with questions about what they don’t understand, and the students teach each other under the guidance of the professor."

This is very consistent with what David Boud says about the lack of sustainability in current models which encourage students to become dependent.

Read more:

http://www.bigthink.com/ideas/42161

The Changing Face of Legal Education

It's always a little puzzling when people talk about 'traditional legal education' because legal education has always been in such flux, any equilibrium has been so temporary. It seems that those who like to use the term are a) complaining about something new being different from when they were at law school or b) use it as a straw devil, thinking that their fantastic new teaching idea is going to shake the foundations of the grey beards' orthodoxy. Take the long view and legal education as a collective effort has been changing and evolving, embracing new technologies and approaches as the law itself evolves. Common law method equips you with tools for change.