The lecture theatre: where chaos and

order meet

Gillian ArendseiThemba LABS, Cape Town

Belmont Square, RondeboschBack to Basics Imbizo 2011

29 November

Frank McCourt

In a face to face communication, meaning is transmitted through three channels.

WordsGesturesTone

Gestures 55%

Tone 38%

Words 7%

Teaching is about creating opportunities to learn. Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.

•Organizing the content•Selecting teaching methods•Assessment (what are they learning)•Evaluating effectiveness of teaching (my teaching practise)

TEACHING4 CHALLENGES

Leaky pipeline

Bill Gates WISDOM …

“If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you meet your

boss.”

“Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS

NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll

give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t

bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.”

Bill Gates WISDOM …

“Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.”

Bill Gates WISDOM …

Joe Clark (Morgan Freeman) Lean on me

Discipline is NOT the enemy of enthusiasm

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being”

- Goethe

“As I have grown older I have come more and more to the conclusion that there is no teaching in science, only inspiration to learn …”

WFG Swann

Traditionalist Boomer Generation X Generation Y

Training The Hard Way (exams and all)

Too much and I’ll leave Required to keep me Continuous and expected

Learning style Classroom Facilitated Independent Collaborative and networked

Communication Style

Top down Guarded Hub and spoke Collaborative

Problem solving Hierarchical Horizontal Independent Collaborative

Decision making Seeks approval Team informed Team included Team decided

Leadership style Command & Control Get out of the way Coach Partner

Feedback No news is good news Once a year Weekly/ Daily On demand

Technology use Uncomfortable Unsure Unable to work without it

Unfathomable if not provided

Job changing Unwise Sets me back Necessary Part of my daily routine

Different Set of Expectations

Creative teachingMaking connections where they

don’t seem to exist…

ObservationInquisitive

OBSERVATION

Making connectionsMaking connections

Seeing what others don’t

Seeing what others don’t

# F’s

FEATURE FILMS ARE THE RESULT OF

YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH

THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

Fred dies, leaving an estate of

17 horses.He leaves instructions that his

friend George is to split the estate as follows:

Wife One half - 1/2

How does he do it?

Son One third – 1/3

Daughter One ninth – 1/9

He brings his own horse and “lends” it to the estate.

He now has 18 horses.He gives the wife 1/2

Which is 9He gives the son 1/3

Which is 6He gives the daughter 1/9

Which is 2

Total 17 horses

He takes his horse back, and goes home!

INQUISITIVE

SAAMEE

Enhancing student success through student

development in the early years

Raymond Landis

ENVIRONMENT

Not expecting that students know how to go about studying the day they arrive.

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and

you feed him for a lifetime.Attitudes and behaviours

5 KEY AREAS

Community buildingProfessional developmentAcademic developmentPersonal developmentOrientation

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Students make up a supportive learning community

•Know each other•Sense of group – support• Interact in positive manner

PROFESSIONAL DEV.Students are motivated by a clear understanding of future

career•Motivated through understanding of

rewards and opportunities•Essence of career – what is …•Ethics and professionalism•Aware of industry sectors

•Value of participating in student organizations

ACADEMIC DEV.Students put into practice

productive behaviors•Time-on-task (mastering content before

the next period)•Making effective use of peers•Making effective use of faculty•Utilizing campus resources

•Time-on-campus (immersion in environment)

PERSONAL DEV.Students have good understanding of self

•Understanding self (learning styles)•Self-confidence and self-esteem•Self-assessment (weaknesses and

strengths)•Wellness and stress management•Management of personal life

ORIENTATION

Students understand how the college works; taking advantage

of resources available•Understanding of organizational structure, facilities, resources and

regulations.

“Stroll down the corridors of a typical college, and glance in some of the classrooms where

freshman courses in physics are being taught. Chances are you will see something like the

following: Instructors in front of their captive – but rarely captivated – audience extolling, with various degrees of enthusiasm, the virtues of

physics and solving problems of the week. Seated obediently in uniform rows facing their

leader are the students ...”

Gautreau, Am. J. Phys. 65 (5) 1997

Talk and Chalk

TALK AND POWERPOINT

“I think a school should work like hell to help young people with the

“potential”- whatever that is. It should be a liberating rather than a narrowing place where curiosity

is encouraged and fostered.” Frank McCourt

“It is what students do, rather than what teachers

do, that ultimately determines whether

changes in their understanding really take

place.”

CONFUCIUS

•Tell me and I’ll forget•Show me, and I may not

remember•Involve me, and I’ll understand

If I can have quality time with a group of students, I can create a major life-changing

experience for those students – one that will significantly enhance their success.

How many of you would give yourself an A+ on the amount of time and energy you devote to

your studies?How many of you master the material presented

in each class before the next lecture?How many of you study on a regular basis?

How many of you seek one-on-one advice from your professors?

How many of you spend as much time on campus as possible?

REFLECTION

INTERACTIVE LECTURES

multimedia

assessmentdemos

participation

engagement

THINKING ABOUT THINKING

What are YOU doing?

Why are YOU doing it?

Will it help YOU?

My husband’s age is represented by the figures of my own age reversed. He is

my senior, and the difference between our ages is one-eleventh of their sum.

What are their ages?

“A teacher affects eternity; he/she can never tell where

his/her influence stops.”Henry Adams