Excellence in teaching

Anne Mathews is a research fellow in the Department of Plant Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture. She received the Excellence in Teaching Award in the Faculty of Agriculture in 1998. This award represents a joint effort by the Guild and the University to recognise and reward exemplary teaching.

Some of the challenges that university lecturers face are to train students to think and work independently as well as to provide opportunities to develop lifelong skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, communication and interpersonal skills. The lecturer can facilitate these learning processes by providing opportunities for independent learning and by encouraging students to actively participate in their own learning. In this way, learning can become an interactive process among students and between the lecturer and the students.

Outcome-based teaching is the move from a content-driven curriculum to one where learning outcomes are important. The outcomes are defined by what the students have achieved in terms of acquisition of specific knowledge, expertise and lifelong skills. The main focus is on what the student will do to achieve outcomes and how the student has changed as a result of learning. The lecturer is a facilitator of learning rather than a provider of information. The shift in the outcome-based teaching is from lecturer-focus to student-responsibility for learning. The student takes responsibility to develop independence and to acquire skills. Students should be able to demonstrate that they have acquired certain skills and achieved specific learning objectives.

While exploring strategies for outcome-based teaching, I take into consideration the learning objectives for the subject to be taught. I also determine the skills the students need to acquire from the course in terms of the subject matter and the development of lifelong skills. I have found the use of interactive and peer-assisted learning useful in facilitating the development of these skills particularly in teaching third and fourth year students. In order to get students involved in their own learning I provide opportunities for them to practice the skills they need to develop. They do this by selecting and researching a topic within the scope of the subject, writing an assignment and presenting it to their peers. This encourages students to take responsibility for their learning as well as achieving competence in skills that are essential to their career. I consider myself as a facilitator of the process rather than one who is primarily responsible for disseminating the subject matter to the students.

Students who have participated in the above method of learning when surveyed have indicated that they have enjoyed the exercise, have acquired a deeper understanding of the topic they researched and presented to their peers, have thought more critically about the topic, took more responsibility for their learning, and felt comfortable asking questions of their peers and teaching their peers.

Finding different ways to encourage independent learning and interaction among students and providing opportunities for students to learn by interaction with each other and on their own is a challenging and a worthwhile goal.