Teaching and learning will inevitably change, but all of
higher education will not migrate to a virtual environment. What teaching and
learning during the pandemic has proved to faculty and students is that some
aspects of the academic enterprise are better online, some are worse, some are
fundamentally impossible, and, in some instances, it’s a tie.
Applied disciplines like the performing arts and
laboratories include many tactile components. It is true that much can be
learned by watching and listening to great performers, but kinesthetic learning
requires engaging in the practice. Likewise, there is much to be learned from
the interpretation of data for a lab report, but developing “lab hands” and
facility using research instruments comes from doing the lab.
I have had dozens of students tell me their biggest take
away from this spring was that they preferred learning together in community. I
know this is true, and I believe that in many cases they learn better together too,
but many of our students had their best semesters in terms of grades.
We need to honestly evaluate the successes and failures of
the recent global experiment in remote education. What worked, what didn’t, and
most importantly, why? Is there a pattern in the types of material, in the
types of learners, in the selected modality of delivery? Do synchronous and asynchronous
deliveries benefit certain subjects or certain students?
Asynchronous formats accommodate students who are sharing
technology access with other family members or have turbulent schedules, but
synchronous formats allow discussion and debate. These are limitations of remote
learning that are exacerbated by economic disparity.
Three decades ago, one of the mantras in pedagogy was that
professors needed to move from being “the sage on the stage to the guide on the
side.” It was clever the first time someone said it, but it was hardly a novel
idea. Socrates had made the point over 2400 years ago.
The truth is that mere content delivery shouldn’t be a
class. If reading a book, watching a documentary, or following a LinkedIn
Learning module will duplicate the learning outcomes of a university course, an
opportunity to do more has been missed.
This has been the shortcoming of MOOCs (Massive Open Online
Courses). They are immensely efficient in reaching many students in a single
course, but they have failed to revolutionize higher education because students
are not actively engaged.
NYU and WCBS pioneered the MOOC concept with Sunrise Semester, which
presented university lectures on early-morning television as correspondence
courses beginning in 1957. Distance learning had been introduced in the
previous century, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC) began in 1878. It is the oldest
continuous book club in America. Participants read the annual selections and can
graduate after completing 12 titles. The critical component is extensive
discussions of the readings during the Chautauqua
season.
Knowledge is a set of nouns. Learning is a verb. Many of us
have recently found that we are much more capable of delivering knowledge
remotely than we had imagined, but we have also reaffirmed the importance of
applying that knowledge. Deep learning requires reflection, analysis, and
synthesis.
This is the foundation of a liberal education, putting
knowledge into action. The dialectic approach of the seminar is a direct
descendent of Socratic learning. This is where students learn to build and test
ideas. It is the competitive advantage of a residential liberal arts college
The collection and delivery of knowledge content can be enhanced
and expanded through technology. To make the best transformation of education
in the coming months and years, we need to critically identify the elements of teaching
and learning that can only be achieved together and focus our future in-class and
synchronous efforts on those activities.
The classroom has been flipped, let’s
make the most of it.
