Lesson 3: The Pedagogic approach

 In the first two blogs on Liberal Education, I wrote about

1-    Lesson-1 : Opens up a world of possibilities after graduation.

2-    Lesson-2 : The Curricular / Programme Structure

Now, I turn to some of the Teaching methods / Pedagogic practices and approaches in a Liberal education environment. (Disclaimer: This is not an exhaustive list but some glimpses)

 

1.     Faculty members are facilitators:

They want students to be producers of knowledge and not just consumers of information. This requires quite an open classroom, encouraging questioning, forum for debate and discussions. There is no one textbook, but many texts, sources from journals, articles, Op-Ed pieces, extracts of textbooks etc that students have to read.

2.     And some interesting questions that the faculty encourage students to ask could lead to exciting research projects – For e.g. Peacocks Don’t Fade: The Science of Structural Colours

 

3.     There will be classrooms that are not just lecture based but that include games like a paper plane factory. Classroom sizes are usually smaller with 30-40 for active participation.  

 

4.      The Physics / Science theory classes can happen in the lab straightaway and not grapple with equations on the blackboard alone.

 

5.     There will be field work in Economics as well –

For e.g. Interview different shop owners at the local market, have a conversation with them, asking them how they determine their prices, whether their local competitors prices make a difference to theirs etc.

Every student must then consolidate their findings into a field diary, and write a 800 -1000 word article, about how price setting works in the real world. This will help them compare ‘theoretical price setting scenarios’ in competitive goods markets with what they saw outside.

 

6.     There will not be one final end-term exam, but continuous assessments. There is no need to be a prisoner of an examination system. Assess well to nurture learning !

The modes of assessment will be Quizzes, Book review, Response paper, End-term paper, Posters or Photo-journals, Movie review, Presentation, Group-work, Field journals and of course in-class tests. 

 

7.     The overall academic environment is of ‘nurturing’ in nature with academic support and advisement. The mentoring and guidance must continue throughout to help navigate the transitions from school to college and to life after graduation.

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       In summary, Liberal Education prepares students for the careers of 21st Century – That’s in my next blog. Thinking beyond the traditional pillars of Engineering | Medicine | Law & CA.