This is my first effort at a blog post, so I hope you will be patient as I learn how to use new media.
I was fortunate to participate in a discussion last Friday on the future of teaching at Rice. The meeting “Rice 2032” was organized and hosted jointly by the Faculty Senate and President Leebron. We discussed the ways in which teaching at Rice may evolve as technology continues to develop and continues to change the ways in which we interact with each other and with information. I was asked to speak during the opening presentations and then joined a conversation with other members of the Rice community.
Since we cannot possibly predict even in rough terms what technology will provide in twenty years, my view is that we must focus on the educational principles we know have always been true and will still be true. Technology, whatever form it may take, must support the implementation of these principles. There are two principles on which I focused in my presentation.
First, the most effective form of instruction is a mentored apprenticeship, in which students learn by constructing knowledge and skills under the guidance of an expert. Although a one-on-one relationship between teacher and student is of course the best, we can mimic the mentored apprenticeship with “active learning” approaches. These include classroom discussion, problem based learning, design classes, and the new “SCALE-UP” approach being piloted in several classes this year.
Second, Rice students are the greatest educational resources available for each other. “Peer-based” instruction and learning provides the best environment for students to learn and to teach.
In combination, the two approaches of active learning and peer-based instruction offer the most promising vision of how teaching will evolve at Rice. Technology cannot and should not attempt to replace these, but it can liberate us to think about how we build our programs, our classrooms and our curricula now and for decades to come.
Rice 2032 was a great conversation about teaching and learning at Rice. I hope that everyone on campus will join this continuing conversation as it develops.