Managing the learning process

A significant aspect of more recent teaching methods such as cognitive apprenticeship, PBL and R&D, and crucial to their success or failure, has been the managing strategies adopted to support them. These managing strategies must not be confused with "administrative" obligations imposed by the institution; nor should managing strategies be confused with "facilitation" which is integral to student-centred learning methods associated with cognitive apprentice and PBL approaches.

Managing strategies represent an essential executive role of teachers that complements teachers' teaching role; they are essential to support effective learning/teaching equations; that is, they are essential to maintaining appropriate morale, motivation and orientation aspects of students' learning environments necessary for development of mid-level and higher-level thinking that supports mid-level and higher-level task abilities.

Managing the learning/teaching equation to achieve lower-level task abilities requires strategies focused on encouragement that is already part of conventional good teaching practice. Managing to achieve mid-level and higher-level task abilities, however, requires more sophisticated approaches focused on motivating students to be self-confident, self-directing and self-evaluating, and to achieve "personal bests".

Without both motivation and self-confidence to venture away from dependence on the teacher's opinion and direction, students (generally) will not venture into self-direction and self-evaluation that are the hallmarks of student-centred learning and are essential to achievement of mid-level and (particularly) higher-level task abilities. Students cannot be motivated by decree, and motivation cannot be taught in the conventional sense, nevertheless morale and motivation, and self-confidence, self-direction and self-evaluation can be developed through application of positive motivational and self-development approaches such as some that can be drawn from small-enterprise good-management practice.

A most effective and sustainable managing strategy for developing both individual and group morale and motivation is establishment of a positive collegiate environment among students, on various class and cohort bases, and among students with related interests (e.g. related career path interests). Traditional studio-teaching in design disciplines such as architecture and industrial design, workshop teaching in engineering, laboratory teaching in science, and small-group tutorial teaching in some forms of Problem-Based Learning characteristically achieve very conducive collegiality.

A collegiate environment allows students to become mutually supportive and encouraging and, if they are positively ambitious and competitive, become mutually motivating and high-achieving on both an individual and group basis, with significant student-satisfaction returns. A significant benefit to the teacher is that a substantial part of the load of teaching and facilitation is transferred from teacher to students, reducing the load on the teacher while achieving the required results (a win-win result).

مواضيع ذات صلة

Alignment of curriculum, teaching and assessment

Assessment protocols

Teaching methods

Learning methods

Teaching protocols

Recasting the curriculum

Relevance of curriculum to practice

Aligning Teaching and Assessment: The Key to Greatly Improved Graduate Quality and Sustainable Teaching Efficiency Curricula

Aligning Teaching and Assessment: The Key to Greatly Improved Graduate Quality and Sustainable Teaching Efficiency Complexity of the operative components

Aligning Teaching and Assessment: The Key to Greatly Improved Graduate Quality and Sustainable Teaching Efficiency Status quo

Aligning Teaching and Assessment: The Key to Greatly Improved Graduate Quality and Sustainable Teaching Efficiency

An Integrated Approach to Learning, Teaching and Assessment in a Healthcare Ethics Module Conclusions