Week of August 17th
I really enjoyed the lectures from this past week. A lot of information about learning was brought to light and was new to me. One of the more interesting things in the learning lectures was the chart showing positive motivation, positive engagement, negative motivation, and negative engagement. Listed under the area of negative motivation is failure avoidance. I found it interesting that receiving grades could be considered a part of failure avoidance. After reflecting on this information for a bit, it completely makes sense. Growing up, the education system has always taught that you do not want to fail an assignment or course not so that you are learning but rather, so you do not have to repeat an assignment or course. I am excited to see how ungrading will work in this class. It is a totally new concept to me but after hearing the woes of the traditional education system, I am interested to see how it goes.
These lectures were also the first
time I have heard the Pomodoro technique explained. Throughout my school career
I have been taught various ways to take notes (Cornell Notes for example) but
not much about how to study on my own. After hearing the technique explained, I
think a lot of people use it, but perhaps inadvertently. Many of my friends
study this way, but probably would not know that there is a proper name for the
technique. I will say that I am not sure I believe studying allows someone to
become a master of any subject they put their mind to. While studying obviously
will increase understanding and help someone pass an exam, I have a hard time saying
that studying will allow anyone to become a professor in a subject of their
choosing like it did for Dr. Oakley.
Hi Delaney,
ReplyDeleteI remember learning how to take Cornell notes back in high school but they never taught me how to study either! I guess I use the Pomodoro Technique inadvertently too if checking my phone every 25 minutes counts as a break haha. Do you think that aside from studying, someone would need experience in teaching in order to become a professor? I don't discredit studying, however I do think that there is more to it than just learning about the subject you would like to teach. I think knowing the subject is the foundation of being a professor, but having hands-on experience and knowing how to teach is what makes you a *good* professor.
I think having teaching experience would definitely help someone become a really great professor. That being said, I had a PhD student teach one of my lectures for a few weeks last year and was interested to find out that there is no formal teaching training for PhD students. I don't feel as though professors need formal teaching experience because by the time you become a professor you have been taught for nearly 20 years of your life. I feel like professors can use their experiences to create a teaching format. However, professors with a teaching background might have an edge on those who don't.
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