The essence of learning
In order for a student to learn, they have to want to learn. If a student
doesn't want to learn then it doesn't matter how good the lecturer is, or
how good the support is, how good the books are, the student just won't learn.
However if the student really wants to learn, it is almost impossible to
stop them learning.
This means that a lecturer's
main job is to stimulate interest in the subject and to ensure that
this interest is maintained.
This is not as difficult as it seems. Most students come to university
to learn and actively want to learn. If they are treated as intelligent
people, are provided the right support and get proper individual attention
then they will learn.
What does this mean? Simply that a university should revolve around
the student. They should be allowed to develop as people and be given
all the facilities and encouragement required to ensure that they learn
their chosen topics.
Here are some ways to encourage learning:
- A lecturer studies a subject because he finds it interesting. This interest
should be passed onto the student by presenting a topic in the same interesting
way the lecturer views it.
- The student should be allowed to think about the topic and formulate
questions and have these questions answered by the lecturer.
- Students should be encouraged to discuss the topic with other students.
- Students should be given a chance to use the knowledge gained to
perform a useful task so that they can see the practical benefits of
the knowledge or skills that they have learnt.
- Students should be made aware of differing opinions about
the topic and be allowed to judge for themselves which are the most useful.
Technology in education
There is plenty of scope for technology to help in the educational process.
Unfortunately many people seem to think it can be used to mass-produce
education; to educate people on the cheap. In fact if students perceive
that they are the victim of this kind of experiment then they will react
against it, and it will be very hard to get them into a good learning mood
again.
So how should technology be used. Well let's look at some of the advantages
of technology:
- Computers are available for use at any time. (More than the most
enthusiastic lecturer.)
- Students can work at a computer at their own pace.
- Students frequently feel less shy about making mistakes at a computer
than they would in front of a lecturer or other students. This encourages
the student to experiment and learn.
- Electronic mail and newsgroups make it easier to discuss topics
with the lecturer and other students.
Of course there are disadvantages too. The most important being that a
computer can't recognise when a student has a particular problem and therfore
can't adapt the instruction to a particular student. (At least not in any
general way.)
So when introducing technology into education it should be done with regard
to the strengths and weaknesses of the technology and the particular requirements
of education. Normally this means that technology should be used as a support
and not the backbone of education.
My own current project is RoboProf
which is currently used to help teach
programming and problem solving to first year maths students.
The WWW has some problems when used for education, and RoboProf
takes the good aspects of the WWW and adds features that are required
by education to produce the perfect (well nearly) learning tool.
There are many educational WWW sites, and I've collected some
Meta Links (links to other linking sites).
I presented a paper on RoboProf
at the ITiCSE99 in Cracow.