Teaching Students to Learn, Understand and Use Knowledge.

8/13/2019 Teaching Students to Learn, Understand and Use Knowledge.

1/21

Teaching students to remember, understand and use knowledge

0

TEACHING STUDENTS TO REMEMBER, UNDERSTAND AND

USE KNOWLEDGE

A radical proposal for teaching students in a way which coercesthem into memorising information, gathering data, solving

problems and preparing themselves for the job interview room and

the professional workplace

Written by Dr Malcolm Sutherland (LabSearch Ltd co-director)

MARCH 2013


2/21


1

CONTENTS

Executive summary 2

Personal background 3

A brief comment on university structure and management 3

The drawbacks with some common teaching methods today 4

Some proposals 8

Some more ambitious proposals 16

In conclusion 19


3/21


2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This document examines some of the problems with current teaching methods used in

Scottish universities (namely in UWS), and contains some proposals on new and better

teaching methods, as well as on preparing students for the workplace.

Some of the problems with teaching in Scottish universities include:

- lectures and labs being cancelled or rescheduled, and lecturers ignoring students;- very long lecture slotsand an overdependence on reading off powerpoint slides;- weak assessment methods such as clickerclass tests;- no tutorial sessions in some modules, and students not being probed and regularly

tested on how much they have learned;

- very long exams, and generous time limits for written coursework;- a lack of practical work (laboratory and field work) or its absence (with online

courses);

- a bureaucratic obsession with modules, and pass-rate targets; and,- lecturers no longer publishing work in books, and large journal publishers controlling

access to information.

Proposals to improve teaching quality and university standards include:

- restoring entrance exams, and small class sizes;- making students attend five days a week;- delivery of lectorials, whereby the lecturer sits with a small group of students and

asks them questions on what they have learned, and issues a shopping list oftopics and information the students must investigate for the next session;

- more laboratory and practical work, and allowing senior students to supervise labsessions for junior students;

- making students deliver presentations on their reports and essays, and defend theirfindings before a examining panel;

- replacing the 1st, 2:1, 2:2 and 3rdclass grades with a simple Pass or Fail;- trying to make students think of answers without using technology, e.g. make them

understand equations, or perform basic arithmetic, etc. so that they understand

what they are doing; and,

- find ways to keep students busy all year around, e.g. set up contracts and use thelabs during the summer months, whereby clients send in samples, and students can

process them when there are no classes.

The prime aim of any education course is to motivate a pupil or student to focus, to read

and write down information, and to memorise and understand it completely, before and

during practical work. Once a student has mastered the ability to concentrate, read, collate,

comprehend and remember information, then (s)he can start to think outside the box,

and begin to apply logical thinking, gather further information and deduce solutions to

problems.


4/21


3

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

I am writing this document, after having spent over 15 years working and studying at six

universities.

I started out as a catering assistant at the University of St Andrews in 1997, and worked at

the same institution as a security porter a few years later; on both occasions I observed (and

overheard conversations concerning) several social and financial tensions, which were

detrimental to some of the students studies.

I spent four years reading for a BSc (Hons) degree at the University of Glasgow, where I

worked hard, and yet forgot most of what I had revised for the exams. I then spent a few

months attending MSc classes at The University of Abertay Dundee, where MS

PowerpointTM

slides and 3-hour lecture slots had become protocol. I then spent another

five years completing a dubious PhD project involving poorly calibrated equipment, which

was led by a strange group of semi-industry academics who did not want me to publish

papers. Near the end of my PhD project, I spent seven months at Loughborough University,

in a publish-or-die post-doc position, and suffered a nervous breakdown.

During the past three and a half years, I have tried hard to make a living as a note-taker at

UWS Paisley, where I tried to work with colleagues to try and run various projects, all of

which were either derailed or didnt take off, owing more than anything else to an

endemic apathy and lack of vision among a majority of colleagues and students.

I have spent much of my adult life communicating with students and academics, includingmy father who has devoted over 25 years to working as a computing lecturer. I have made

friends with several students and lecturers over the years, as well as a few adversaries along

the way. Although I possess neither an enviable publication record nor a chair of faculty nor

a professorship, I believe that I can write this document in an authoritative tone, and that I

have enough experience of university teaching to understand why a radical upheaval in

teaching style is essential.

A BRIEF COMMENT ON UNIVERSITY STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT

I was brought up to believe that a university is an exclusive organisation serving the

intellectual elite. I am unrepentant in my view that a university is for the enlightenment and

training of smart people, to fashion them into professionals who can take this country

forward. It is not for everyone. Tutors should be senior, highly experienced professionals

with a track record of accomplishments both inside and outside the ivory tower. If every

student is stupid, then every student must fail. Neither money nor abstract targets should

compromise the difficulty and quality of courses. Research should be a means to an end: it

must address problems affecting the real world, and contribute to the teaching material, in

order to prepare students for the workplace and to assist the country.


5/21


4

I believe that a university should pay for itself. Every academic every researcher and

lecturer must pay his or her own way, either through raising fees, or securing grants.

Nobody should profit from the university. No state money or interference should infect its

function. Libraries, and laboratory facilities and equipment should be funded through the

necessary mark-up on fees or research funds. They should be further be used for

outsourcing work, whereby clients send in requests or samples, upon which staff and

students can work. The library should be accessible to the general public, and there should

be seminars to which everyone both within and outside the university is invited.

Students and scholars alike should share in communal chores and even with marketing the

institution. Students and academics should run the library, manage computer systems and

maintain equipment. The principalship should be a rotating portfolio held by one of the

professors, and passed onto another professor after one year.

Nobody else, save students and academics, should be wandering around on campus.

Provided an academic can justify the needs of his/her work, and can attract enough

students and pay for his/her own keep, (s)he should be answerable to no-one. Nobureaucrats should control what documents (s)he uses, where (s)he teaches, how (s)he

teaches (within reason), how (s)he sets out assessments, and how and when (s)he issues

exam/test marks and ranks a students progress.

THE DRAWBACKS WITH SOME COMMON TEACHING METHODS TODAY

I am writing this document, because (i) I fear that many of the Scottish universities which

exist today face a growing threat from various economic and technological forces, which arebillowing in the midst of the current recession; and (ii) because I believe that the current

teaching and assessment methods (especially in UWS where I work) are failing students, and

reaping a harvest of unemployable graduates who are disadvantaged in their search for

work.

During my three and a half years of service to UWS, I have been privy to a staggering lack of

enthusiasm, intelligence and dedication, exhibited by hundreds of staff and students.

Teaching which for many students was once a five-day-a-week race track of classes and

labs which ran for nearly 40 weeks a yearhas been reduced to two or three classes a week

for 25 weeks a year. There was a time when student life revolved largely around studies.Nowadays, studies more often than not revolve around the more vestigial trials of life.

Several students skip class and try to hand in late coursework assignments because of

domestic issues and having to juggle part-time jobs.

Lectures used to last one hour, and were once more frequent. Around 30 years ago,

students were expected to show up on time at a class and collect their attendance tickets

and complete all the necessary attendances at lectures, tutorials and lab sessions. I

remember when lecturers would lock the doors at five past the hour (this was around 12

years ago). Nowadays, many students are perplexed when questioned why they turned up

20 minutes late or worse. Todays registritis epidemic of lecturers barking at students tosign attendance sheets also seems to lack a certain moral dimension.


6/21


5

Around the mid-20th

century, most information was printed, handwritten, sketched into

diagrams and had to be memorised. If you failed a test, it was your fault. The professor was

supreme, and the lecturer was his own boss. Secretaries, clerks and auxiliary staff were very

few in number. The principal had a quaint apartment and a modest stipend. Until the

1970s there were only a handful of universities, and less than 5% of school-leavers ever saw

one. Students were the reason for the existence and activity of these once unique

institutions. These days are a distant memory.

Here are some of the deficiencies in the quality of teaching which I have witnessed (or

which were reported) in recent years:

Teaching is not a priority. It is not uncommon for many students to attend thecampus only two days a week. Scandals erupted in some English universities last

decade, where some arts students were only receiving a few hours of lectures and

tutorials per week. I have witnessed lectures being cancelled or rescheduled at the

last moment, and labs being annulled for administrative convenience. Stories aboundof absent lecturers who are never in their offices, who cancel classes or even remove

assessments from modules. I have been privy to some even worse practices, including

lecturers not answering any queries from their students, and not even issuing

test/exam marks. I have even heard some lecturers unashamedly state that they are

focussed on their research and would rather not be teaching.

The two to four-hour solid lecture slots. A one hour lecture can be tedious; threehours (even with short breaks) is simply counterproductive. I was also brought up in

the church, and I know from years of enduring lectures and sermons that the brain can

only absorb a slurry of information for about 30 to 40 minutes before short-circuiting.The marathon lecture slots crept into university timetables around a decade ago,

and they benefit neither the lecturer nor the students. After two hours, everyone is

fed up and wants to go home.

Powerpoint slides. It is difficult to convey politely why powerpoint slide lectures are anuisance. Here are my own reasons:

o I believe they are a weak substitute for someone explaining something andspelling out his thoughts on the black/white-board.

o Flagging up four bullet-points on a giant screen or pinching a diagram fromGoogle images just looks tacky and unimaginative. Drawing a diagram and

carefully annotating it is a necessary means for students to find out whether

or not they understand what is being said.

o I simply cannot tolerate the sight of several static powerpoint slides, withsomeone reading through them, and with nothing for me to write. As soon

as the session begins, I feel as if my body is being drained of energy. My

eyelids droop, my arms sag, my concentration dwindles and my ears draw

the curtains. I am certain many students would concur...


7/21


6

o ...as they whip out their mobiles and send missives through social networks.o I think its a waste of time. Why not just email the powerpoint files to the

students, and let them read these slides in their own time? Why do they

need to attend this strange sort of public meeting? I feel it was more

appropriate in the old days when information was contained in a few books,

and the lecturer unfolded his secret knowledge to the students, guiding them

on a mapped-out journey from first principles to complex solutions, through

the use of chalk and a long stick, whilst the students copied the information

onto notepad.

Mass clicker and multiple choice class tests. Oh how I would love the interviewer ina job interview room to ask me a question, and present me with four possible

answers, three of which are really silly! Multiple choice examinations almost defeat

the purpose of an exam. If you cannot recall the correct answer, or are incapable of

producing one, you deserve to fail. Two months after commencing my BSc course at

Glasgow, I sat a class test for which I had conducted no revision. I randomly ticked the

boxes, and scored 70%. Clicker class tests are similar, MS PowerpointTM

-based, and

even more absurd. The lecturer asks the class a question from the slide, and the

students click A, B, C etc on little digital clicking devices, and the class results are

produced on the screen. The intensity of being forced to recall what one has read and

understood is almost absent from this exercise.

No entrance exams, weak entrance requirements. There was a time when peoplehad to pass an entrance examination in order to matriculate into a university. This

was abolished many years ago, although my father sat his Highers in the mid-1970s,which were designated as university entrance exams. Even today, many university

course leaders may issue conditional offers to prospective students, in that they

must attain a certain number of grades A, B or C in order to meet the entrance

requirements. I have witnessed several cases of school and college dropouts who

failed exams and were still accepted onto university and FE college courses. Contrast

this with Oxford or Cambridge, where you must have scored four to six As at school,

and must pass entrance exams and attend interviews. I feel that those components

should be restored. I am sorry to write this, but I have encountered far too many

students who should have simply left school and taken a straight job.

Coursework. I do accept that students should demonstrate a proficiency in writingreports, essays and commentaries on relevant issues and laboratory results. However,

I am uncomfortable with the typical coursework assignment, whereby students are

given several weeks or months to gather some data (some of which is given to them),

and turn their findings into a 1500 word analysis and summary. In what way does this

casual, slow exercise demonstrate true mastery and a problem-solving mindset? By

contrast, a GP has to make decisions within minutes or hours. An engineer or lab

technician has to think fast, and cannot always rely on books.


8/21


7

The long (two to three hour) written exam with short and long essay questions. Once again, I must express my misgivings on this style of assessment. I do accept that

once a student has entered the examination hall, all books and notes are put away,

and (s)he is all alone with only a brain, a pen, some paper and a limited amount of

time to answer the questions without recourse. The problem is the length of time

permitted. I spent many a long exam on my BSc and MSc courses mulling over the

questions and scribbling short notes and organising my thoughts. I feel that this is not

adequate preparation for the job interview room or the workplace. Taking the

example of a GPs surgery, a patient doesnt provide a medical history, only to be told

to give the GP two hours to think about it. A senior manager or scientist might have

time to mull over a problem, but this is not always guaranteed. Information in the

head should be sitting there, ready to be dispensed. Just imagine if a barrister is

tongue-tied during a court session, and asks the judge if he could have two hours to

run outside and think of an answer.

The module system. Just as with powerpoint slides, I simply do not approve ofmodules. What exactly is a module? I do not deny that within a general discipline,

e.g. Computing, there are various sub-disciplines, e.g. C++ programming. I am not

against failing students who are good at some subjects, and completely incompetent

in some others. However, modules have become an administrative obsession, and

module points and credits have become false currencies. Employers could not care

less. Is the applicant competent and knowledgeable, or not? The answer of I

accumulated 220 UKAS points and passed six modules last session has mo re in

common with the price of fish. I do believe that if a student is struggling at a certain

stage in a course and is lacking the ability to process more advanced information, then

(s)he needs to be dismissed from the course.

No tutorials. In my judgement, tutorials are an essential icing on the cake of furthereducation. The lecturer gathers half a dozen students from the class in a room, and

probes them intensely on what they have learned and understood. This, in my

opinion, is one reason why Oxford and Cambridge are considered to be excellent

institutions. Sitting in a class of 100 people for a lecture is less inspiring; being closely

probed and criticised and tested by a lecturer for an hour will command more revision

and effort from a lot of students. A few weeks ago, I witnessed two lecturers at their

wits end, fed up asking questions to large classes and receiving no answers.

The rise of the online course. There is a frenzy of speculation over the rise of onlinedegrees and teaching methods. Several latter-day prophets and moguls predict that

education will soon be entirely internet-based, free (or cheaper) and distance-taught.

I am filled with foreboding at the thought. I acknowledge that The Open University

has existed for many years, and its students used to watch lectures on TV (indeed, I

used to watch them at 6am when I was much younger). However, I think there is a

two-fold problem with online education. How are students motivated into studying

hard? How does the examiner know the student isnt cheating?


9/21


8

Laboratory sessions and presentations. Another concern with online education is theabsence of real, co-ordinated practical laboratory work. This issue might not apply to

management or other arts subjects. However, in engineering, sciences and

computing, practical work is vital. Back in actual universities, I have noticed the time

allotted to practical lab sessions (especially chemistry and biological laboratory work

and fieldwork) seems to have diminished. Course leaders and university clerks

bemoan that running laboratories and conducting experiments (with lots of machines

and chemicals) is prohibitively expensive, and pose several H&S risks. I have attended

science classes, where no laboratory sessions have been provided. This is a sad state

of affairs, especially when science employers are baying for applicants with a long list

of practical lab skills.

Secondly, although many students deliver presentations to the lecturers and fellow

students, I feel this should be done far more often, by individuals rather than groups.

Im not suggesting that students should aspire to be TV presenters, and I know some

intelligent scientists and programmers who are very shy individuals who suffer stage

fright. However, a job interview is a sort-of presentation, and demonstrating your

ideas and work is part of almost any job.

The control over information. Over the past five years I have sensed that universitylibraries have lost pride of place. Many students known to me have never been to

one. The long rows of colourful academic journal periodicals are old and are receding.

Brand new textbooks are rare, and sit beside rows of dusty, peeling old books. The

commercial journal publishers have become the masters. They control access to

journal papers. Universities have to purchase online licences so as to let certain

students enrolled on certain courses access certain journal articles online. Only recent

articles are available online, and older ones are concealed. Textbooks, more often

than not, are now e-books, and are under the caprice of the source publisher or

webmaster. The Google Scholar Search often yields spurious, irrelevant web pages.

Another worrying symptom is that lecturers seldom write definitive textbooks, as they

toil over the redrafted redrafts of redrafts of papers they are trying to publish in

certain journals, which are owned by distant corporations thousands of miles away.

Another sad aspect is the source of information. How wonderful it would be to hear a

lecturer talk about what equipment she was using when she was working for the NHS

as a consultant last year, or another lecturer teach students to construct a programsimilar to the one he had written for a software house. On that note, I do greatly

appreciate the visits by some industry and NHS professionals to UWS to deliver

lectures.


10/21


9

SOME PROPOSALS

The Aim

I believe that the prime aim of any education course be it at school, college or university

levelis to motivate a pupil or student to focus, to read and write down information, and

to memorise and understand it completely, before and during practical work. Once a

student has mastered the ability to concentrate, read, collate, comprehend and remember

information, then (s)he can start to think outside the box, and begin to apply logical

thinking, gather further information and deduce solutions to problems. My proposals may

be described as constructivist. Indeed, many of them are not entirely original.

You think, but do you know?

My advisor of studies at the University of Glasgow challenged students with this question

regularly. Geology students would tell him they had found some information, or speculated

that the answer was in a certain book, or suggested a lab method for analysing a certain

property of a chemical or rock formation. Dr Allison was never impressed. He would

interrogate us, and identify whether or not we had actually learned anything, and whether

or not we had actually read books or knew what we were doing.

Today we are distracted by all manner of new technologies: online journal resources, search

engines and citation databases; apps for producing, storing and uploading/downloading

data; online class test systems such as the clicker multiple choice questions; desktop

publishing and presentation software; internal university software for collating andpublishing timetables, assessments and exam marks; communication systems including

social network websites and mobile phone apps for group collaboration...the list is

exhaustive.

As a former chemist and unenthusiastic computer user, I just take one look at all those apps,

programs and web pages, and ask a simple question: Will this new device make students

transfer information into their brains? How much more information does the brain absorb

today when we have all these mobiles, apps and websites...compared with 40 years ago

when it was held in lecture notes and books?

It is my opinion that in many Scottish universities today, lecturers and students waste far

too much time playing with software, and not enough time actually absorbing and using

information. There is only one way to remember information: write it down, cover it up,

and recite it in your head and chant it back, and keep on doing this until you can remember.

This may be a Stone Age technique, but it still works.

Technology must simplify and accelerate a process. Sadly, software and apps are often

enforced upon staff and students for their own sake, and can often complicate and prolong

what used to be a simple task. Using a technology must help a student learn more about

the subject, and not just about learning how to use the technology.


11/21


10

Figuring it out: example 1

It is amazing what our brains are capable of when we put our gadgets to one side. A few

days before writing this, I was attending a science lab where the students were asked to

calculate the standard deviation of their pipetting volumes. For years, I used MS Excel to

calculate the standard deviation, not really thinking about what I was doing. I stood at the

corner of the laboratory, bored (as a notetaker, I had almost nothing to do), and then began

to ponder on the standard deviation. Is this a measure of the average deviation of values

from either side of the mean? Of course I had long forgotten the equation, but I began to

apply my thoughts logically as I saw an example of some values, the mean and a standard

deviation value on a handout:

0.120 0.121 0.130 0.116 0.112 0.123

Mean = 0.1203 Standard deviation = 0.006

Obviously a calculator is needed to produce the mean value. However, I guessed that the

standard deviation is the average deviation of the values away from the mean value. Some

values are below the mean, so there will be some negative deviations. However, if we add

negative deviations to some positive deviations, they cancel one another out, and the

mean deviation would be almost 0. I was beginning to remember that the equation

included the square of (valueMean)2...of course! I recalled that this was divided over n- 1

(the number of values - 1). And of course, all those squared deviations, once divided by n,

needed to be square-rooted. I had figured out that long-forgotten equation:

Then I looked closely at the values, and figured that I could add and subtract them using

only my head and a pen. I imagined that there was no zero or a decimal point, and so I

treated the values as if they were somewhere between 1160 and 1300, and so:

0.1200 0.1203: 1200 1203 = -3 therefore -0.0003

0.1210 0.1203: 1210 1203 = +7 therefore +0.0007

0.1300 0.1203: 1300 1203 = +97 therefore +0.0097

0.1160 0.1203: 1160 1203 = -43 therefore -0.0043

0.1120 0.1203: 1120 1203 = -83 therefore -0.0083

0.12300.1203: 1230

1203 = +27 therefore +0.0027

Then I squared the numbers. Squaring decimal numbers is quite easy if you write the

(number x 10-x

) as (-x) becomes (-2x). Some numbers (e.g. 97) were easier to square using a

calculator, but here goes:

-0.003 is -3 x 10-4 32= 9 (-3 x 10-4)2= 9 x 10-(4+4)

+0.007 is +7 x 10-4 7

2= 49 (7 x 10

-4)2 = 49 x 10

-(4+4)

...and so on until I had produced the following values:

9 x 10-8, 49 x 10-8, 9409 x 10-8, 1849 x 10-8, 6889 x 10-8, 729 x 10-8


12/21


11

I then imagined these as whole numbers and added them up:

9 + 49 + 9409 + 1849 + 6889 + 729 = 18934

...then reconverted the answer back to (x 10-8

):

= 18934 x 10-8

or 1.8934 x 10-4

I then divided this by (no. of values 1), or 5 (admittedly, using a calculator), to obtain a

value of 3.7 x 10-5

. The standard deviation is 0.006, or 6 x 10-3

. The rest is easy:

62equals 36...and 3.7 x 10

5is also 37 x 10

-6. 37 is almost the same as 36, and so the square

root of 37 x 10-6

must therefore be close to 6 x 10(-6) 2

, which is 0.006.

Figuring it out: example 2

This concerns proportions. In another recent class, I had to use the Ideal Gas Law, PV = nRT.

(Pressure x Volume) is equal to (no. of moles of an element (e.g. carbon) x a constant x

the temperature). I was having a task trying to convert various values into Fuel-Air ratios,

masses of fuels (e.g. propene) and masses of air involved in a combustion reaction. This

sounds hideous, but for now just focus the mind on the gas law. The volume of a gas is

directly proportional to the moles (or amount) of a gas, and directly proportional to the

temperature, and inversely proportional to the pressure. If you raise the temperature, the

gas inside a balloon expands. If you pump more gas into a balloon, it expands. If you

increased the pressure around the balloon, it shrinks. It is very simple! I didnt need to findthis on Google. I worked it out in my head.

Logical thinking does not always save the day

Real life is complicated, and real data is often muddled, detailed, and cannot always be

categorised and simplified. There are times when one has to write down everything and

just keep reading it and memorising it. My suggestion is try to memorise everything first,

and then try to batch and condense the data later. Sometimes it may not even be possible

to memorise everything.

On the same day when I worked out the standard deviation backwards, I also noticed a large

poster on the wall which listed all the dozens of white blood cells, lymphocytes and other

cells in the lymphatic system (which fight bacteria and viruses). The table looked horrific. A

few months earlier I was attending some immunology classes, and I was struggling to

understand all the different terms, the different cells and their functions. Nothing seemed

to match. The only thing I managed to understand is that some of these cells meet the

antigens (which could be bacteria or viruses) inside little strands in the body called the

lymphatic system; some other cells are chemical messengers signalling to some more

types of cells which fight the little beasties. These are complicated processes, and theinformation has to be memorised in its entirety.


13/21


14/21


13

Students are awarded marks for punctuality, answering questions correctly, andshowing an interest by asking further questions:

o Each student is asked perhaps two to four questions, and is marked asfollows (out of 3):

Good effort, a detailed and correct answer: 3/3 A modest effort, but with some flaws in the answer or a lack of

detailed information: 2/3

A poor or incorrect answer: 1/3 Uh, dont know = 0/3

o Students should be given bonus marks for asking questions and contributingto further discussion. Questions should be relevant and pertinent. Enquiries

such as what time does this class finish or when do we get our marks for

last weeks class test or wheres the loodo not qualify.

o Attendance should form around a quarter or a third of the marks for eachlectorial. If attendance is marked out of 2, then:

Attendance before the start of the lectorial: 2/2 Slightly late attendance (up to 10 minutes into the session): 1/2 10 minutes into the session, the tutor should lock the door. Students

who turn up more than 10 minutes late cannot enter the room, and

lose both attendance and lectorial marks.

If students score less than 50% in a lectorial, they cannot progress onto the next one.They shall have to re-take a remedial lectorial assessment, and if they fail a second

time, they shall have to withdraw from the course. This seems harsh, but I have

encountered a similar system in the past. In the mid-1990s I sat some Scotvec

modules at school, where I had to pass each class test or be discharged from the

class. I failed one Scotvec Biology module and had to resit it (with a different set of

questions). I failed a Scotvec Economics test and failed it a second time, and so I had

to leave the classroom. I know it wasnt nice, and I had revised, butthe simple truth

was that I couldnt understand the subject.

Lectorials should form at least a third of the potential marks awarded for a subject orto use the dreaded wordthe module. For theoretical subjects (e.g. management,

social sciences) the value of the lectorial sessions should be even higher, maybe

exceeding 50%.

Essays, reports and presentations: Dragons Den-style

I believe that students deserve marks for the quality of their writing style and grammar, and

the precision and neatness of diagrams, tables and graphs in written reports and essays.


15/21


14

However, I also believe that once they have written a piece, they should stand in front of a

panel of examiners and defend their work. In my judgement, this is good preparation for

the job interview room and the workplace.

Again I must emphasise that students should present their work individually in front of the

examining panel, even if they worked in small teams. A good example was when I worked

with three students in my MSc class to design a water treatment plant: we each had certain

aspects to investigate and design (e.g. removal of grit and dirt; heating and electrical

power), and each one of us had to present our own findings and designs, and take questions

from the floor. Students who ask questions should even be awarded bonus marks for very

clever questions. (This marking system was used in the Dundee Institute of Technology back

in the 1980s.)

Fast class tests, Old Driving Theory Test-style

In 2000 I was one of the first people to sit the computer touch-screen driving theory test. It

was a joke. I had to answer 35 multiple choice questions, and when I reached the end of the

test, a screen appeared, showing me how many questions I had answered correctly: if I had

answered less than 30/35 correctly, I had to navigate back and revisit the questions until I

reached 30/35 within the one hour time limit. A year earlier, one of my friends was among

the last people to complete the test using pen and paper. There was no software to indicate

how many questions he had answered correctly. In fact, he failed on the first attempt, and

so he revised hard, and passed the second time round.

I do believe students should sit class tests and exams. However, students must be able toperform calculations and demonstrate a clear understanding of their subject within a short

duration. Again, the aim here is to try and mimic the job interview situation, where an

interviewer asks a question, and the applicant must provide an answer on the spot.

One idea may be to set a 15-minute class test, where each student must answer a science or

mathematical question, or a certain number of questions. The students should be able to

remember the relevant equations, and be able to write out their working quickly within the

time limit.

As with lectorials, if a student fails a short class test, (s)he cannot progress further, and maybe given a remedial class test, and if (s)he fails the remedial, (s)he has to withdraw from the

subject or module. I would suggest at least one fast class test per month at the very least.

One-on-one short verbal exams

Doctor in the House is probably one of the greatest and most influential films featuring

student life. Near the end, the medical students must sit their exams. These include being

interrogated by examiners in their offices on various medical subjects. In one examination

room, a student is shown some jars containing body parts, and asked to identify them. Inanother, a student is asked to analyse body samples under the microscope and identify


16/21


15

them. In a third and more memorable exam, a student is quizzed by a professor who

pretends to be a patient who is suffering from various symptoms. The student is asked

questions, and he provides answers, and these lead to more questions, and further

discussion until the student can identify the cause of the symptoms, and suggest what

treatment is required. This, in my view, is one of the missing links in university.

So for example, a biomedical student is asked to design a blood sample carrier, and describe

how a blood sample is processed. (S)he enters a small examination room, where one of the

lecturers holds up an ordinary plastic bottle, and says to the student, I want to collect a

blood sample and then have it analysed. I am going to collect the blood in this bottle. Is this

fine? To which the obvious answer is No. Why not? Is this not the right type of bottle?

The student says no, and tells the lecturer that blood is collected in a special plastic bag.

The lecturer asks further questions, e.g. what is the shape of the bag, what size, what

volume, is there anything connected to it, what is the material, what labels should be placed

on the bag, is a simple blood sample acceptable, or should it be a fraction, e.g. red blood

cells only? The question and answer session continues for about 10 to 20 minutes until thestudent either provides an adequate solution, or time runs out.

Regular practical work (This applies mainly to computing, sciences and engineering)

Education should be an active process, not a passive one. It requires more than sitting and

watching movie clips, reading text and listening to someone droning. No IT or computer

games/graphics company wants to hire someone who hasnt built several programs and

demos and prototypes. No science lab or NHS branch will want someone who hasnt cut up

body parts, or processed bodily fluids or analysed solutions in the lab.

In a recent class, I witnessed some angry chemistry students expressing frustration after two

and a half hours of someone reading off powerpoint slides. They didnt want to read about

lab-work. They wanted to be in the lab, doing it for real. If only.

Computing students have no excuse for not writing code and building programs and testing

their own demos outside the lecture room. Laptops can be as cheap as 200, and it costs

but a few pounds () for ones own internet browser and dongle device. I would suggest

that prospective computing students must attend an entrance exam, where they

demonstrate their own work, possibly as a portfolio website with demos, programs andeven apps and games which can be purchased.

It is harder for science and engineering students to be able to access a lab and perform

practical work. It is illegal to set up a lab in the garden shed. Lecturers and students must

complete a long batch of paperwork before the first bottles of solvent can be ordered. Not

to mention that science labs are expensive. Todays regulations have rendered science and

engineering courses so anodyne that practical lab sessions are few and far between. Biology

students no longer dissect rats, and it wouldnt surprise me if medical students can no

longer dissect a dead persons body.


17/21


16

A few months ago, I attended some microbiology labs where some 3rd

-year students were

spreading some dangerous bacterial colonies onto agar plates. There was an excitement

and tension in the air. These tiny luminous blobs were lethal. You could scrape off a blob

and drop it into someones glass, and send him to the hospital. As a notetaker, I unnerved

the lecturer and the lab technicians as I sat in the corner of the room. However, I knew that

the students were having a great time.

Whether it is computing, science, medicine or engineering, there should be regular practical

work (even going out into the town or to a company site), every week. There should be

practical sessions at least two days a week. Business studies students should be building

their own companies, and visiting banks, agencies and conducting market research for real,

even with clipboards on street corners. Computing students should be building

programmes and selling products. Science students should be collecting, processing and

analysing samples, even during the long summer months. Engineering students should be

visiting construction sites, and should even be working on them during vacation, even as

chain-boys or as brick-counters. Senior students should be supervising, and even leading,lab sessions for more junior students.

SOME MORE AMBITIOUS PROPOSALS

Fill up the long summer vacations with contract work

Over the past few years, several people from IT companies and the NHS have informed me

and my students that they are stressed out, and can only complete a certain amount of

work. Forensic departments in the Scottish Police are being closed down or restructured,and according to one experienced forensics lecturer many samples collected at crime

scenes are discarded. The NHS blood laboratories process millions of samples, and their

technicians are overworked and have to make decisions on which samples deserve priority.

Games companies are always on the lookout for freelance programmers, and many IT firms

and other clients need a web developer or programmer to build a program on a short-term

contract.

The universities with their eager students should get involved. I believe that universities are

failing students, not least because they are abandoned for five long summer months to sit at

home and forget what they learned. Information which was corn-plastered into the mindduring April and May fades away during June. Students return in October, and struggle to

recall basic concepts taught a year earlier.

Universities need to get serious and make themselves (and their students) indispensable.

Departments should network with companies and organisations. Chemistry and biomedical

departments should lease their labs to clients, which send in samples (of a medium or low

priority), which staff and (the more competent) students can analyse, particularly over the

summer. Departments can charge for these services, and many students will be more than

willing to process real samples for real clients. They can build portfolios as well as accrue

module credits.


18/21


17

Employers nearly always demand applicants with 3+ years of relevant experience. At the

time of writing, very few biomedical, chemistry and engineering graduates can secure jobs.

A few (larger) organisations may cast a marbled eye on young school-leavers and graduates,

and offer the occasional apprenticeship. This approach has gone badly wrong in some

cases. Perhaps the worst has been the recent scandal of local authorities taking on PGCE

trainee school-teachers, and then making them redundant after two years.

Do away with the 1st

, 2:1, 2:2 and 3rd

class rankings

Employers do not really care about the level of degree attained. Many recruiters will insist

that applicants possess a 2:1 degree or better, but deep down, they are not really interested

in the ranking. Furthermore, a 2:2 degree from Edinburgh or Imperial College may be

valued more than a 2:1 degree from, e.g. Glasgow Caledonian University or Abertay. (I am

not casting any judgement here.)

Many years ago when I was searching for placements (alongside my BSc course), I used to

display all the marks I achieved in all my subjects. This can be more revealing. Furthermore,

employers may be interested to learn how well the student performed, relative to the rest

of the class. If someone came 4th

or 2nd

in a class, I am sure many recruiters will keep

reading through the rest of his/her resume.

I do not believe in the 1st

, 2:1, 2:2 and 3rd

class categories. A first class graduate is either a

geek, or someone who worked day and night. Why is the second class grading split into 2:1

and 2:2? We tend to think that a 2:1 graduate is not quite a geek but did well, whereas a

2:2 graduate was either slightly incompetent or slightly idle. There is a general consensusthat a 3

rdclass graduate is incompetent and idle, but managed to stumble into the university

and write something. We need to do away with this.

In my judgement, students either pass or fail. Can they be trusted by an employer? Are

they intelligent, reliable and competent? Are they self-disciplined and mature? Can they

analyse with precision, and write reports of a high quality? Can they understand

complicated information, and be able to sift through it, and use their knowledge and

reasoning to solve problems, and convey ideas to a client or a patient? Can they work alone

or within a team to build a product or provide a service? Is the student a safe pair of

hands, as faras the employer is concerned?

Condense degree programmes

Not so long ago, UWS, Abertay and many other universities were colleges, which offered

shorter, more vocational courses. I am not going to write about the political squabbles over

the old binary line. I will state briefly that there was a time when not every school-leaver

was expected to go to university and spend three to five years reading for a degree. More

poignantly, UWS was once the Paisley Institute of Technology, which at one time was one of

the best technical colleges in the country.


19/21


18

Not every discipline demands four years spent away from home surviving on a student loan

and trying to support oneself by flipping hamburgers and stacking shelves. Medicine and

Law are extremely difficult subjects, which take years to master. Programming, chemistry

and engineering disciplines (e.g. architecture) could be condensed to three or even two

years, and may not need to be accorded a BSc title.

I believe that students should not be teenage school-leavers who enter into this rite of

passage of leaving home, getting drunk and trying to balance studies with some part-time

job. I remember starting my BSc course at age 17; I was a naive, ignorant prat who talked a

load of drivel half the time, who possessed no real world experience. I may have attended

classes and passed my exams, but I was not ready. I knew nobody in industry. I did not

understand the importance of extra-curricular achievement. I kept wondering what I

needed to know, and not asking myself whyI needed to know something.

University should be for more mature, intellectually brilliant people who can pass entrance

exams and demonstrate a passion for their subject. I think someone leaving school shouldspend a few years saving up the money, trying to gain some relevant experience, and then

try and enter university. I also do not see why nearly all students should be under-25. I

think anyone between 20 and 60 should apply (and only the smartest get in).

Perhaps it is time to break away from the late September to May format. Courses should

run throughout the year, but for maybe two or three years. Or, classes (lectorials, etc)

should run from September to June, and contracting work should run during the summer.

Either way, students should not be sitting idle for half the year.

Research as a means to an end

Research and teaching are two different mistresses. I am not opposed to lecturers having to

conduct and publish research. However, the two duties should not be allowed to overlap to

the point where the one cancels out the other. One idea may be for lecturers to teach from

September to May, and conduct research during the summer. Research should include

visiting sites and offices in industry, and finding out what employers demand from

graduates, and what help is required. An example is a biomedical lecturer investigating the

latest laboratory techniques, and maybe offering to develop a new technique in the

university lab and hiring some students to process a batch of samples.

Furthermore, lecturers should be writing textbooks and publishing their notes as books or e-

books or blog sites. I feel that peer-reviewed journal paper publishing is overrated, and has

become an end in itself. In theory, the journal paper publishing exercise ensures that only

very high-quality, accurate work can be promoted. Sadly, it is also a rather nepotistic

exercise. If your project leader is a professor with a long list of previous publications (many

of them written by other people), then of course your paper will be published. Many

journals host papers written by a conclave of usual suspects. I am not suggesting that trying

to publish an actual book is much fairer; we have heard many tales of famous authors

struggling to persuade publishers to consider their works, and some having their workrejected by dozens of wary publishers.


20/21


19

I admit that this matter is off-tangent, and there are many pros and cons with publishing

research using other methods. However, it is time to acknowledge that the RAE and REF

exercises have been detrimental to teaching, as enthusiastic tutors are told that helping

students is not a priority, and weary lecturers are made to cancel classes, and paper-

publishing post-docs are imported into the lecture room to teach a bit on the side before

running back to the office to redraft the redraft. Not to mention (as I have observed on

many occasions) that several journal papers are regurgitations of early papers and

conference proceedings.

Research should assist students and be of use to the nation. We need lecturers to visit

industry, analyse what is happening out there, work with potential employers, and update

their knowledge of the subject in books and other notes. I do agree that research writings

should be subject to review. Nowadays, online blogging and fora websites allow for people

to submit comments underneath articles.

IN CONCLUSION

Universities are different from most private sector and public sector workplaces. They are

hubs for the stimulation and training of great minds. They should be led by some of the

smartest people in the country, and should attract only the smartest applicants.

University education and research runs on thought. Money, mechanical and electrical

power and manual effort are the prime drivers in most other employment sectors. The

shelf-stackers must shift merchandise quickly. Van drivers must plot the fastest route fromone drop point to the next and the rest is up to the vehicle. Many public sector workers fill

forms and work to meet specified targets. The university is different. It survives on allowing

lecturers and students the liberty to sit in a quiet place, to read, to contemplate, to design,

generate and test theories and data.

Universities face a growing threat from online education methods. However, interaction is

an essential tool in training students, and inducing them to think on the spot and focus their

minds on the subject.

The biggest threat to university education comes not from the internet, but fromdistractions. Technologies have their uses, but in recent years they have proved a burden,

and scholars waste too much time trying to reformat files, upload other files onto online

data systems, or rebooting computers, or using an obscure app or program just to view an

internal file, when only a few scribbled notes on a sheet of paper are required. Journal

paper publishing has become a higher priority than teaching, and many academics waste a

disproportionate time on redrafting redrafts of papers, which will be read by very few

people. Internal university bureaucracy has further suffocated teaching quality.

If universities are to survive, then the student (as the customer and fee-payer) must come

first, and teaching must be the prime function, and prospective employers should be theones who review the work by the academics. Furthermore, academics must not be tethered


21/21


20

into passing students in order to prove that the majority of a class can pass each and every

module. If a student is incompetent or lazy, (s)he must fail, and must take the lions share

of the blame. Entrance exams should be restored, and the grading and length of degree

courses also need to be questioned.

Learning is about absorbing and understanding information, and students must be directed

to doing this. In the science, computing and engineering fields, the importance of practical

work cannot be underestimated. Students must be working on something stimulating and

relevant throughout the year, particularly in the summer months.

It is time to combat the persistent interference from bureaucrats, and the deluge of forms

and procedures which are not integral to teaching students. The universities where I have

worked have become warehouses; ruled by audaciously rich principal-managers above layer

after layer of middle-managers; packed to the gills with students, who are seldom regarded

as anything more than bums on seats; where clerks outnumber the academics; and where

teaching staff cannot even mark their own students honestly. Every hoop, every tick-box,every form, every intradepartmental meeting and every target (e.g. 70% of students must

pass first year) reduces thinking time, both for the academic and the student. Tutors and

supervisors should be answerable to no-one save the students, and to prospective

employers in relevant industries. Students and tutors alike should supervise lab sessions,

run the libraries, and even perform menial duties including cleaning and maintenance.

If universities are to survive, then academics must take back the powers they have lost,

students must be tested vigorously, and industry must play a direct role. It is time to

reinstall vigour and honesty within the university, and to lift the caps and inhibitions which

distract and prevent students from absorbing information and preparing for the workplace.

A university exists to keep the lamps of learning and truth trimmed and bright. Our task is to

follow truth, and to maintain standards. (Rt. Hon. Stanley Baldwin)

Teaching Students to Learn, Understand and Use Knowledge.

Documents

Transcript of Teaching Students to Learn, Understand and Use Knowledge.