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Students’ Opinions Instruction are In! Now What?

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by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies Sometimes there is a considerable difference between a professor’s evaluation of a course and those of the students. The divergence can work in either direction. Perhaps a “terrible” experience for the professor was “absolutely brilliant” for the students. Let’s be honest, however: the opposite situation is difficult news. What are the next steps when a professor thinks a course went “just fine” and the students clearly did not? The situation is not rare, based on […]

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Further Response to “Lecture Me. Really.”

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Lisa Dorr, Associate Professor of History and A&S Associate Dean I too felt a little dismayed by the “Lecture Me. Really” column in The New York Times. Don’t get me wrong — I love a good lecture. I love to give what I hope is a good lecture. But what worked for me isn’t necessarily going to work for my students. After all, I am not the norm — I went to graduate school. And I have found students enjoy […]

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“Lecture Me.” Really?

by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies In “Lecture Me. Really,” an opinion piece in The New York Times Sunday Review, Molly Worthen argues, “Listening continuously and taking notes for an hour is an unusual cognitive experience for most young people,” and “the vogue of learning” is pedagogically blinding to the value of ancient learning methods. She writes that lectures are not passive experiences because, through them, students develop the essential skill of note-taking, where, according to John Henry Newman, they […]

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