What about lectures?
I can't remember a single lecture I heard in college.
But I do remember doing things and can see now
what I gained by having done them. True, lectures may sometimes
have inspirational or entertainment value, but rarely in my opinion,
and I'm not up to playing Billy Graham or Jerry Seinfeld two matinee's
per week. More to the point, lectures are generally ineffective at accomplishing
what they set out to do [1,2]. If you have
a spare moment, try out Isaac Asimov's views on education and consider that the one in a
hundred thousand success rate in his world must approach 100% in ours.
I'd rather focus on the science. Furthermore, if the goal is
active knowledge, then passive listening to lectures is not the way to
go [1,2]. So...
...there won't be regular lectures. Instead, I'll spend that time
(and more) trying to build environments where you can learn by doing
and providing guidance specific to your needs. To that end, lecture
material will be put on the web as notes as often as I can manage
it. If you see me giving a lecture, you may reasonably suspect that
I ran out of time and had to take the easy way out. Complain to a VCU
administrator that you're not getting your money's worth.
Read before coming to class
I ask you to go over the
notes (and articles plus companions)
in advance of the class for which they were prepared,
then to let me know what areas you need more help on. In that way,
I can arrange class so that it focuses on the areas that are most
helpful to you. Study questions are embedded into the notes so that
you don't go completely into passive mode.
Here's an example of notes.
Yes, it is easier to understand what you read if I feed it to you beforehand, but then you're stuck knowing only what I fed. What happens when the spoon is gone? In general, I will not discuss material in class unless you ask me to (but then I will be delighted to do so).
Discussions, based on what you need
In order to tailor the class to your needs, I ask for continuous feedback from you. I do this through questionnaires that accompany each day's notes. The purpose of these questionnaires is
to identify the problem areas -- the study questions that stump you, the concepts that remain fuzzy. They are not graded (except in the sense that life grades you for every choice you make). Questionnaires are also a means you can use to tell me particular concerns you are having with any aspect of the course. There will always be a general question at the end soliciting your comments that don't fit elsewhere. Doing questionnaires may have some therepeutic value, but so that they have value to me (and my preparations for class), I ask you to send them in by 6 am on the day of class (earlier even better!).
To summarize, don't sit back and expect me to teach
you anything in class. Very little I can teach is worth learning.
Anything of long lasting value you have to learn yourself
through your own motivation. If there's nothing you need help with, fine,
we will have very short classes. You're the one paying the bills.
What should I do if I can't read the notes before class?
Well, such things happen on occasion. I will focus on questions
from people who have read them, so you may well
feel lost. Maybe you'll still gain something, I don't know. That's OK.
But if you find that you often don't have time to read the
notes before class, you might ask yourself if you have time to take
this course.
References
- Wood WB (2009). Innovations in teaching undergraduate biology and why we need them.
Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol 25:93-112.
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (2011).
Vision & Change in Undergraduate Biology Education.