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What is Teaching?
From the point of view of university education, there are three
possible answers to the question, namely:
A. Teaching is lecturing,
B. Teaching is the activity of transmitting knowledge to students,
C. Teaching is facilitating learning (i.e. causing
someone to learn something).
The view taken by what has been called the Instruction Paradigm
is (A) or (B). The view taken by the Learning Paradigm,
which has been gaining currency in modern education, is (C).
What is Excellence in Teaching?
Within (A), excellence in teaching is excellence in lecturing.
The quality of teaching will then depend on the quality of the knowledge
presented and the way it is communicated.
Transfer of knowledge can take place through lectures, and equally
well through appropriate printed, videotaped, or electronic teaching
materials. Hence (B) includes (A) but goes beyond it in scope. Under
(B), excellence in teaching is excellent dissemination of knowledge.
The quality of teaching will then depend on the quality of the knowledge
transmitted, and the way it is transmitted through syllabus design,
readings, handouts, and lectures. In (C), the focus shifts from
the teaching process to the learning process, from what the teacher
does to what happens in the mind of the learner. Central to (C)
is the idea that if the teaching activities do not result in learning,
there has been no teaching. Likewise, if the learning is lacking
in quality, the teaching is unsuccessful to that extent. Furthermore,
there are modes other than that of knowledge transfer that can play
a more effective role in the triggering of learning. Hence, an excellent
teacher needs be an excellent lecturer (A) and should be able to
transmit high quality knowledge (B), but he should go beyond (A)
and (B).
Ingredients of Excellent Teaching
Position (C) implies that excellent teaching is one that triggers
excellent learning, i.e. one that helps learners to acquire:
- The required knowledge content,
- The ability to apply the knowledge to: (a) standard classroom
problems and situations, and (b) novel types of problems and situations
which may not have been encountered in the textbook scenarios,
and
- The ability to learn and think independently, which includes
the ability to discover/construct knowledge and critically evaluate
what is regarded as knowledge.
Further Reading
Mohanan, K.P. (1999). ‘Assessing Quality of
Teaching in Higher Education’. http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/publications/assess
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