I read chapter 2 Teaching according to how students learn from ‘Teaching for Quality Learning at University ’ by John Biggs and Catherine Tang.
Below are some key points I have noted and were very relevant to me:
There can be different levels of thinking about teaching.
Level 1 – Focus what the student is – there are many differences in students. Good students who do all their work, listen carefully, take notes in lectueres and read recommended texts etc. Then theres the poor student who does not do any of the above things on their course, It is the students responsibility to attend lectures and do the above things.
Level 2 – Focus: what the teacher does – The responsibility for “getting it across ” now rests to a significant extent on what the teacher does. Learning is seen more of a function of what the teacher is doing than a function of what sort of student one has to deal with.
Establishing clear procedural rules at the outset, Ensuring clarity and eye contact with students while talking. These are all good points but this is not to do with facilitating learning its comes across as more management.
Level 3 Focus: what the student does – this is a more student centred model of teaching; the purpose of teaching is to support learning.
Teaching is not just a about facts, concepts and principles to be covered and understood but also requires us to be clear about :
What students are here to learnand what are the intended or desireable outcomes of learning.
What kind of teaching/learning activities are required to achievethose stipulated levels of understanding.
I am also reading more on how students learn and the psychology of learning…more on that soon !
I have also been reading parts of the text Learning to Teach in Higher Education by Paul Ramsden.
I made notes on Part 3 Evaluating and improving the quality of teaching and learning :
Feedback is information given to the learner about the learner’s performance relative to learning goals or outcomes. It should aim to (and be capable of producing) improvement in students’ learning. Feedback redirects or refocuses the learner’s actions to achieve a goal, by aligning effort and activity with an outcome.
