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The lecture has long been a topic of rich debate in the field of education. Questions about should we, or shouldn’t we lecture persist. I’d like to argue that it’s not quite so simple, and a reductionist approach to determining the value and use of lecturing eliminates insight into good pedagogical practice overall, and the real value of the tool itself as a mechanism to promote student learning.

Your muscles, brain, and course syllabus all have something in common.

RRR Week always brings with it the challenge of figuring out what to do with/for students that will be helpful in preparing them for whatever final exam or capstone project is required in your course. Sure, anyone can encourage students to read, or hold an extra office hours or plain old review session.

Oh, god, I'm going to quote Mr. Spock, from the episode "Is There in Truth No Beauty?"

Dr. Miranda Jones: The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity.

Spock: And the way our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.

Last year, a faculty member in a great state of dismay visited me. He had received his student mid-semester evaluations and they were, in his words, “disheartening.” He went on to tell me how brutal they were; how the students attacked some statements he made in class, questioned his feedback on work, and disliked the readings he selected. I asked him how many students were enrolled – 70 students.

Chagrin:  “Ugh, I have to learn another LMS?”

Procrastination:  “Develop my class first, worry about this later.  Wow, my bathroom sink really needs to be cleaned.”

It’s 2pm on a Tuesday, and as you walk into your classroom to set-up to teach, filing past the herd of students from the previous class making their way out, you overhear a couple students talking excitedly about the questions posed during the last hour. Another group of students shuffling out debates the best way to solve a particular equation.

Since I get asked this question a lot, including by the media, I thought it’d be useful to blog it.

What MOOCs have I taught?

"If you can’t prove what you want to prove, demonstrate something else and pretend that they are the same thing. In the daze that follows the collision of statistics with the human mind, hardly anybody will notice the difference." 

-D. Huff (1954)

Since 1975, course evaluations at Berkeley have included the following question:

Considering both the limitations and possibilities of the subject matter and course, how would you rate the overall teaching effectiveness of this instructor?

1 (not at all effective), 2, 3, 4 (moderately effective), 5, 6, 7 (extremely effective)

The emerging field of Mind, Brain and Education – a confluence of neuroscience, cognitive science and education – has sparked my interest for some time.