No Pain, No Gain

“No pain, no gain” strikes me as a masochistic philosophy; sadistic if we impose it upon others. Yet it appears to be the philosophy behind some common educational practices. An example is what I wrote in my last entry about the tortures of reading boring textbooks. There is also the ordeal of sitting through interminable lectures. Then there are the “dim and dose” PowerPoint presentations (the instructor dims the lights and the students dose). Burdensome homework assignments that lack relevance or learning value are another form of torture. Pointless and embarrassing class activities are also a way to harass students. There are many more ways to make students’ lives miserable. I find it necessary to regularly examine the impact on students of my own teaching methods. Are there course requirements and practices that I impose that have no educational value to the students and may even hinder learning?

I do believe in challenging students. My experience is that students want to be challenged. To challenge is to engage students in the subject matter. It is to encourage the students to stretch beyond what they may initially think themselves capable of doing. To challenge is to promote growth. Students not only come to know more, they become more. Moving students beyond their current limits can generate enthusiasm and energy for learning. I don’t believe education was meant to be an endurance test.

Soliciting feedback is critical in determining if we are teaching or torturing our students. There are many ways to do this. Written evaluations are an option. These are usually completed at the end of a course. Unfortunately, the resulting feedback does not benefit the students who just completed that course. Distributing questionnaires at mid-term, or even more frequently, can alert faculty of any problems and identify what students find helpful. I will ask during a class if an explanation or exercise was helpful and useful. I have found meeting with students individually several times throughout a semester an effective means for soliciting and receiving valuable student feedback. This requires much time when there are forty students in a course, yet I find it well worth the effort.

Students will balk at doing work that is tedious. When challenged, though, I have had students do more than what I asked for. They took the initiative for their own learning. They have proven to me that there can be gain without pain.