Reply #118: I hear you....

[mike_c]

Ironically, I get very good evaluations from my students-- perhaps because I do hold their hands a lot when they ask for it.

I've been teaching university science courses for about 15 years or so, and over the years my thinking about ideas like responsibility for teaching and learning have changed a lot-- I hope in a positive response to experience rather than a cynical one, LOL. Most important, I've come to genuinely abhor the standard lecture model for instruction. It was the best choice-- the only real choice-- in the early years of higher ed when few people participated and when the professor was generally the ONLY source of information about a given topic.

Students and professors live in a very different world today, and that model has too often become an excuse for student disengagement and intellectual laziness on the instructor's side of the podium. I'm sad to say that 90 percent of my colleagues probably rely on it more-or-less completely.

I'm currently working on different paradigms in my own classes. I assign readings from numerous sources, including online presentations I'm putting together (take a look at http://learn.humboldt.edu/course/view.php?id=1776 for an example-- login as a guest), practical activities, etc., then use class time for collaboration and discussion rather than lecturing, which I absolutely do not do except under extraordinary circumstances. In other words, I accept responsibility for providing opportunities and resources, but my students must accept responsibility for what they do-- or don't do-- with those opportunities. Where they find their resources is immaterial to me-- that's the point I was trying to make to the OP-- I provide them access to resources I've vetted and referenced for them, but I'd argue that seeking their own resources is intellectually more valuable. Most probably do it to save money at the bookstore, but in the end they become more active participants in their own educations, and that's a good thing, IMO.

It seems to be working pretty well, although I'm still struggling a bit with evaluating outcomes. At any rate, my classes always fill quickly, so students evidently DO appreciate greater opportunity to take responsibility for their own learning, despite the reluctance the OP expressed.

I also hear your comments about academic job security-- I'm challenging the very definition of "excellence in teaching" that generally holds sway at my institution, where the "great lecture" is the epitome of success, but I'm tenured and protected.