I use to think that I needed to teach according to the models I’d seen as a student. I ran myself ragged trying recreate a half-formed ideas of what serious and rigorous classes “should” be and trying to act like I thought college teachers should act. I hated it. I hated it so much that I left teaching for ten years.
Now I don’t bother with any of that. I just want to design classes that I’d want to take. This is in part about choosing topics that I actually find interesting (as opposed to what might considered “important” from a disciplinary point of view), which turns out to match what students seem interested in. It’s also about the course design and teaching approach. If I were a student, what would I want to do during a class? What kinds of assignments would I find enriching (or at least not annoying)?
In general, I’d want to take a class that respected me as a learner (as opposed to condescending) and helped me reach my goals (as opposed to fulfilling requirements). I’d want it to be collaborative, hands-on, and relevant. And I’d want it to be fun.
When I came back to teaching and started to create my own classes, I had no idea how to do this kind of teaching. I could barely imagine it. Over the past few years, I’ve been learning and trying new things. Each semester is better than the previous. I’ve been getting good feedback from students, which is encouraging.
Here are some books that I’ve come across as I’ve been learning to design a class that I would like.
I haven’t found anyone who fully sums up what I’m trying to do, but these each contribute a few practical pieces. L. Dee Fink’s Creating Significant Learning Experiences has been incredibly helpful in learning how to think through the learning design problem. Sarah Kuhn’s vision of hands-on learning has been deeply inspiring and keeps opening up new possibilities for me.
Reading list
Ambrose, Susan A., Michael W. Bridges, Michele DiPietro, Marsha C. Lovett, Marie K. Norman, and Richard E. Mayer. 2010. How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. 1 edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Cite
Ball, Cheryl E., Jennifer Sheppard, and Kristin L. Arola. 2018. Writer/designer: a guide to making multimodal projects. Second edition. New York, Boston: Bedford/StMartins. Cite
Barkley, Elizabeth F. 2010. Student engagement techniques: a handbook for college faculty. Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Cite
Brookfield, Stephen. 2005. Discussion as a Way of Teaching: Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Cite
Brookfield, Stephen, and Stephen Preskill. 2016. The discussion book: fifty great ways to get people talking. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons. Cite
Fink, L. Dee. 2003. Creating significant learning experiences: an integrated approach to designing college courses. 1st ed. Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass. Cite
Hoidn, Sabine, and Manja Klemenčič, eds. 2020. The Routledge International Handbook of Student-Centered Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429259371. Cite
hooks, bell. 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge. Cite
hooks, bell. 2003. Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. 1st edition. New York: Routledge. Cite
Incorporated, Magna Publications, and Maryellen Weimer. n.d. Active Learning: A Practical Guide for College Faculty. Cite
Kuhn, S. 2001. “Learning from the Architecture Studio: Implications for Project-Based Pedagogy.” International Journal Of Engineering Education 17, no. 4–5: 349–52. Cite
Kuhn, Sarah. 2021. Transforming Learning Through Tangible Instruction: The Case for Thinking With Things. 1st edition. Routledge. Cite
Kuhn, Sarah, and Judith Davidson. 2007. “Thinking with Things, Teaching with Things – Enhancing Student Learning in Qualitative Research through Reflective Use of Tools and Materials.” Qualitative Research Journal 7, no. 2: 63–75. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0702063. Cite
Lave, Jean. 1991. Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation. Learning in Doing. Cambridge [England] ; New York: Cambridge University Press. Cite
“Making the Case for Active, Hands-On Learning in Higher Education | The College Puzzle.” n.d. Accessed December 12, 2018. Cite
Weimer, Maryellen. 2013. Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. Somerset: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Cite
What kind of class would you want to take?