The School of Engineering at KU will open several new active learning classrooms this fall.
I’ve been involved in planning some of the summer training sessions for the rooms, so I’ve had a chance to explore them and see how they will work.
Learning matters.
That may seem like a truism in the world of education – at least it should be – but it isn’t.
All too often, schools and teachers, colleges and professors worry more about covering the right material than helping students learn. They put information above application. They emphasize the what rather than the why and the how.
At workshops for graduate teaching assistants on Monday, I shared one of my favorite quotes about education.
It’s from Joi Ito, director of MIT’s Media Lab. In a TED Talk on innovation last year, he said: “Education is what people do to you. Learning is what you do to yourself.”
After a session at the KU Teaching Summit last week, I spoke with a faculty member whose question I wasn’t able to get to during a discussion.
Earlier this week, I interrupted two students in a small room at Spahr Engineering Library at KU.
Self and Oswald halls are the first new dorms to open at KU in nearly 50 years (There was a link, but the page no longer exist).
The living spaces look much like what you’d expect from dorm rooms. The informal spaces, though, provide a modern, visually appealing take on informal, collaborative learning. (They are also great for just hanging out.)
The new dorms were open for tours late last week. Here is some of what I found.
David McConnell sees both benefit and paradox in active learning.
McConnell, a professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences at North Carolina State University, spoke to members of the geology department at KU last week about his research into active learning and his work in helping others adopt active learning techniques in their classes.
Doug Ward
By Doug Ward
PALO ALTO, Calif. – Nearly all college faculty members want to teach well but few have both the pedagogical background to make their classes more student-centered and the incentive to do so, the Nobel laureate Carl Wieman said Monday.
By Doug Ward
Course redesign has become a crucial piece of helping college students succeed.
The statistics below about enrollment and graduation rates make it clear that success is too often elusive. Course redesign is hardly the only solution to that problem, but it is a proven, tangible step that colleges and universities can take.