What is quality???? As I begin this blog, I am reminded of reading Robert Pirsig's books, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Lila as he explores this very question in such detail that it consumes his every waking moment. While I have not experienced the desire to inquire of quality to that level, I have nonetheless devoted a lot of thought-hours to the subject of quality. Specifically as it relates to education and teaching. After a lifetime as a student, and four years as a professor then back to student, I find myself deep in thoughts on the nature of quality.
Embarking on a path of doctoral studies brings me back to the classroom as a student, and I have to say it is an interesting paradigm shift from student to professor...then back to student. I sometimes find myself scrutinizing the various teaching methodologies I see employed. Not just from an individual teaching perspective but even from an "academic approach". It is a difficult practice to once again be a student because I find myself questioning much of the rationale behind some teaching approaches. Largely, I find professors ineffective and out of touch with the reality of their students... and in some cases out of touch with the reality of reality.
It is hard not to have a biased approach to the issue and remain objective in being a student/ after having been a teacher. I keep reminding myself that there are many individual teaching styles and my own personal teaching methods are by no means traditional, but they have been overwhelmingly effective. Teaching from a computer science/ technology perspective should no doubt contain some degree of science. Yet the problem is that most classes are not being taught in a manner that inspires individual creative thinking and facilitates and fosters greater learning.
The fact is that the student of today has evolved and is not the same student of 20 years ago. The methods that were effective then are not going to be effective today. The traditional method of a monotone lecture for 50 minutes is falling on deaf ears as student minds of today have grown accustomed to multiple stimuli input. We need to make a hyperjump from multi-tasking to multi-learning. We are supposed to be teaching technology, but are not using technology to teach.
Slightly farther up the scale is the teacher who reads from slides for the entire class while students attempt to scribble notes and may ask a question or so when prompted. Such limited interaction seldom entails mastery of the material covered and largely involves rote memorization of key phrases the teacher has deemed and noted to be of importance.
Few and far between do you find the teacher who is able to capture the attention of students and actually integrate them into a learning process beyond a textbook, where they can actually use their mind to solve problems in a method that involves thinking outside the box. I consider this far different that the textbook problem solving of equations and formulas that will never be experienced in a real world application.
QUALITY- how do we define that? We know what it is when we experience it. How many pieces of cake do you have to eat to know it is good? Similarly, you know from the first class the quality of a teacher. While it may be hard to define, hard to quantify, it is very easy to recognize.
More later, this is only about 1/20th of what I have to say on this subject.
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