7/30/2019 Aims and Objectives of Effective Teaching
1/2
Aims andObjectives of EffectiveTeaching
s.edu.sg/handbook/teach/aims.htm
OHR Paper HR 092/02. Procedure for Promotion and Tenure. https://wws.nus.edu.sg/staff/ohr/acad/apt/promo_tenure/
procedure-promo_tenure-HR092.doc.
Teaching at
NUS:
Aims & Objectives of Effective
Teaching
Education is not the f illing of a pail, but the lighting of a f ire.
W.B. Yeats
What constitutes effective teaching may be subject to debateit would be simplistic
and reductive to insist on a monolithic definition of effective teaching, considering
the multiplicity of factors that come into playbut most would agree that the basic
purpose of teaching is to enable learning. The most effective teaching is that whichresults in the most effective learning. An elaboration on this is provided in CDTL
Paper (T102)5. Briefly, it may be said here that higher education must do more than
provide information and training, although undeniably these are relevant concerns.
Higher education, in particular, should move beyond the lowerorder skills of
acquisition and reproduction of facts.
Indeed, in a knowledge-driven society where information having increasingly short
shelf life, it is important for teachers to focus on the longer-term goal of preparing
our students for life, equipping them with more than a finite and rapidly obsolescentbody of knowledge, and developing their faculties for understanding, applying and
creating knowledge, as well as their ability to constantly refresh and upgrade their
knowledge. A quality graduate is life-skills oriented, learning-enabled and lifelong
capable. The aims and desired learning outcomes of effective teaching may thus
effect positive changes in the following:
Knowledge
Discipline/profession-specific knowledge.General knowledge: fundamental concepts that an educated person/university
graduate should have, regardless of area of specialisation.
Awareness/familiarity across knowledge domains (i.e. rounded education).
Abilities
Ability to identify what information is needed and where to find it.
Evaluation of information and discrimination of what is valid and useful from
Home
Teaching at NUS
Facilitating Learning
Lectures
Tutorials
Questions
Independent Learning
Assessment
Discipline & Counselling
Instructional Media
Evaluation of Teaching
Internet Resources
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Preface
http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/handbook/teach/aims.htm#footnotehttp://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/handbook/teach/aims.htm#footnotehttp://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/handbook/default.htm7/30/2019 Aims and Objectives of Effective Teaching
2/2
Aims andObjectives of EffectiveTeaching
s.edu.sg/handbook/teach/aims.htm
what is not.
Application/adaptation of knowledge to problem solving and making of
informed judgements.
Self-directedness in learning and the ability to sustain lifelong learning.
Capacity for independent research and knowledge.
Ability to communicate ideas clearly and structure arguments convincingly.
The most socially useful learning in the modern world is the learning of
the process of learning, a continuing openness to experience and
incorporation into oneself of the process of change.6
Mindset
Questioning habit of mind with readiness to seek evidence/support for
ideas/concepts presented, and to investigate/challenge established and
controversial views including those which are generally taken as knowledge.
Awareness of the complexity and dynamic nature of human knowledge and
the need for evaluation and re-evaluation of knowledge.
Enjoyment of learning.
Learning as a lifelong habit.
Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to
time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
Oscar Wilde
5. Prof. K.P. Mohanan. (July 1999). Concept Paper on Assessing Quality of Teaching in
Higher Education. Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning, Doc. No. T102.
http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/publications/assess/.
6. Carl R. Rogers. (1969). Freedom to Learn. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing
Company. p . 163.
http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/handbook/teach/aims.htmhttp://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/publications/assess/http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/handbook/teach/aims.htm#footnoteTop Related