Hi Tipsters, I am in need of some help from some cognitive psychologists and maybe some social psychologists (attitude, persuasion, and change folks!) For the second time in about 5 years, I have just finished teaching a problem-based learning course, in which there was VERY little lecturing, and mostly lab and field problem exercises. Throughout the course, students and other faculty told me that the course was well-loved by students, because of its novel format. Yet once again (this happened last time, too), the student evaluations tell a totally different story.
In the evaluations, students routinely pan the course (and me) for two reasons: 1. Because I did not lecture to them and because we did not regularly review material from the text, they write that they "did not learn" anything in this course. (Of course, their exam scores indicate to the contrary, but that does not appear to impact their perceptions). That is, the perception appears to be that if I did not explicitly "teach," then they did not explicitly learn. Therefore, the course was a "total waste," one they would "not recommend to anyone else," etc. 2. The course takes a constructivist view of knowledge. In doing so, it really requires students to be active participants in their own learning, and not just passive "sponges." However, this is NOT the model they are used to in their other courses, and thus they protest mightily about workload. Of COURSE it takes more time and work to construct one's own knowledge rather than to passively take in knowledge delivered from someone else. What I am wondering is how to make them see the advantages of doing this work over the kind of work they might be more familiar with elsewhere. At the moment, I am taking a pounding on this aspect of the course. In sum, I see the route problems as twofold: they are uncomfortable with a model for learning that differs a lot from what they are used to experiencing, and because of this, they believe that they must not be learning anything. Again, this is the same kind of problem I ran into the last time I tried to teach in a constructivist, problem-based manner. I have read extensively on this topic, and I promise you I did not craft the course without some experience. The problems I am encountering are NOT problems in what the students learn (indeed, the final average grade in the course was an 88%--a good B+). I am satisfied with what they are learning. But THEY are convinced that they worked too hard, and that they did not learn anything. Suggestions for how to affect some change in student perceptions of this experience would be greatly appreciated, because I am slated to teach a second semester of this same course in the same way next semester! Thanks, --Kathy Morgan Wheaton College [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
