Let's say your doctor has treated you for X several times. Each time, his nurse had you relax in a chair with your head back and she placed slices of lemon on your forehead. It has helped and when you left, you weren't as bothered. Now, research has shown that slices of lemon are far more effective if they are placed on your belly button. When you next go for a bit of relief from X, you are very surprised at the change in routine and at being asked to expose your belly. That is simply not the way treatment for X is done!
I only go through that silly scenario to point out the next step after a positive improvement in research results. That next step is implementation, which will often involve different and strange procedures. If the medicine man or a religious official or a politician or even a neighbor is outraged or offended by the strangeness or the impiety of uncovering your belly button for treatment, you might not get that best possibility.
It was a decade or more ago when a college student said,"I could get so much done if I didn't have to come to class!" When knowledge transmission depended very much on spoken words, coming near the teacher and listening to what the teacher said was a pretty good recipe for learning what the teacher taught. Today, we have many alternatives to listening to the teacher talk. Having students listen to what you are saying can be a boost to one's ego so teaching in a way that emphasizes other methods can be less fun for the teacher. Assembling web pages, web sites, animations, video and audio recordings takes time and the delivery systems can break down. Still, just as textbooks are physical and material but can still figure largely in the teaching/learning process, so can web pages and other digital tools and methods.
One of the longest running debates in American education has been about activity in the classroom. If the students are silent and looking at the instructor, it is easy to assume they are paying attention to what is being said. I personally have found all my life that if I do listen carefully and intently to what an instructor says, I can often scoop up more knowledge per minute of trying than by other means. However, having a knowledgeable and articulate teacher talk is not always possible. Many educators believe that having the teacher talk is the least valuable way of teaching and in many cases, it is. If the teacher is incoherent or out-of-date, if the material to be learned needs to be memorized, if the subject is one of many where manipulation of objects, including computers and keyboards, if the subject is one of many where student speech and student discussion are superior activities, teacher talking can easily be a poor choice of activity.
When the student is supposed to read or watch and then explain or react, in speech or in writing but especially in writing, web pages and email or class discussion displays can accommodate more students and allow a much wider range of student learning speed and efficiency. I enjoy the company of students. I can understand the caution they can feel about being told they might do as well or better not to come to class but to learn and demonstrate that learning in better equipped places than a student's desk in a classroom. No doubt about it, though, getting together with others to create a short presentation on their position or their findings can be fun and motivating. That is another sort of activity that can be more valuable than sitting and listening to a teacher.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
