Three Ts of Teaching
Teaching requires learning. Faculty must continue to be learners in their disciplines to remain current with the latest findings. It has traditionally been expected that teachers be lifelong learners in their academic specialty. So the first T of teaching is having knowledge of the Topic being taught. But being an expert on a particular subject is no longer considered enough to be an effective teacher.
The second T of teaching expertise is Teaching. Faculty must extend their learning curve to include developments in teaching methodologies. There has been increasing emphasis on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Reliance on lecture as the sole methodology used to teach is becoming increasingly unacceptable. Teachers are having to become familiar with active learning, integrated learning, accelerated learning, action learning, constructivist classrooms, learner-centered teaching, transformative learning, mentoring, service learning, alternative assessment, neurobiological learning, cooperative learning, interactive lecture, emotional intelligence, multiple intelligences, learning styles, teaching styles, constructive-developmental pedagogy, andragogy, self-authorship, self-directed learning, integral learning (yes, this is different from integrated learning mentioned earlier in this list), collaborative learning, multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, etc., etc., etc. It’s enough to make a teacher’s head spin. Now it is not enough to research one’s topic, a teacher must also study the latest developments in how to deliver that scholarly knowledge to students.
But wait! There is a third T—Technology. Teachers must now become adept in the use of computers, digital cameras, instant messaging, blogs, podcasts, videocasts, course-casting, screen-casting, fly-casting (woops, wrong blog), RSS feed, wikis, social bookmarking, aggregators, alligators (sorry, wrong blog again), URL, Furl (ready to hurl yet?), digital, virtual, links, blinks and a whole lot more I don’t have a clue about. And you thought you were doing well having figured out PowerPoint and Blackboard. The use of technology in teaching is not about merely adding flash (no, I’m not using this word in the techie sense) to your courses. Technology shapes how we think, learn, and relate. To prepare students for today’s world we must use the tools of today. We would not find a buggy whip useful in driving a car. Likewise, we must employ more than textbooks and chalkboards to convey information to our students.
The upshot of all this is that faculty must pursue three tracks of learning. If we are to serve our students well as teachers, we need to commit to keeping abreast with our disciplines, with the methodologies to engage our students with those disciplines, and with the tools to communicate subject matter to our students. The mantra for today’s professional teacher is, “learning, learning, learning.” Learning about our topic; learning about teaching, learning about technology. That should keep us all busy. Happy learning.
The second T of teaching expertise is Teaching. Faculty must extend their learning curve to include developments in teaching methodologies. There has been increasing emphasis on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Reliance on lecture as the sole methodology used to teach is becoming increasingly unacceptable. Teachers are having to become familiar with active learning, integrated learning, accelerated learning, action learning, constructivist classrooms, learner-centered teaching, transformative learning, mentoring, service learning, alternative assessment, neurobiological learning, cooperative learning, interactive lecture, emotional intelligence, multiple intelligences, learning styles, teaching styles, constructive-developmental pedagogy, andragogy, self-authorship, self-directed learning, integral learning (yes, this is different from integrated learning mentioned earlier in this list), collaborative learning, multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, etc., etc., etc. It’s enough to make a teacher’s head spin. Now it is not enough to research one’s topic, a teacher must also study the latest developments in how to deliver that scholarly knowledge to students.
But wait! There is a third T—Technology. Teachers must now become adept in the use of computers, digital cameras, instant messaging, blogs, podcasts, videocasts, course-casting, screen-casting, fly-casting (woops, wrong blog), RSS feed, wikis, social bookmarking, aggregators, alligators (sorry, wrong blog again), URL, Furl (ready to hurl yet?), digital, virtual, links, blinks and a whole lot more I don’t have a clue about. And you thought you were doing well having figured out PowerPoint and Blackboard. The use of technology in teaching is not about merely adding flash (no, I’m not using this word in the techie sense) to your courses. Technology shapes how we think, learn, and relate. To prepare students for today’s world we must use the tools of today. We would not find a buggy whip useful in driving a car. Likewise, we must employ more than textbooks and chalkboards to convey information to our students.
The upshot of all this is that faculty must pursue three tracks of learning. If we are to serve our students well as teachers, we need to commit to keeping abreast with our disciplines, with the methodologies to engage our students with those disciplines, and with the tools to communicate subject matter to our students. The mantra for today’s professional teacher is, “learning, learning, learning.” Learning about our topic; learning about teaching, learning about technology. That should keep us all busy. Happy learning.
posted by Mitchell Alegre at 8:41 AM
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