Workload is we all end up complaining about, the students are
in tango to this. Why not dissect this topic like a mouse, which a science
student always ends up doing it. My remained always a dream, that’s the reason
dissection with words is where I found my peace.
Workload, teaching methods and learning outcomes are clearly related
to each other. However, there are other relevant elements. In achieving the
desired learning outcomes a large number of interrelated factors play a role.
These are not limited to the number of working hours, workload and brightness
of the student. Also methods of teaching and learning have to be taken into
account. It makes quite a difference whether teaching is organised in large
groups or more individually: in other words, whether the majority of course
units a student has to take are lectures or seminars, exercise courses and practical
exercises. Furthermore the number of students in a working group might have its
effect on the result of teaching, as probably the use of a tutorial system has.
Also the kind of assessment will play a role, as will the design and coherence
of the curriculum (is it focused on gradual progression in performance or does
it make excessive or insufficient demands in some phases?) as well as the
availability of advanced teaching aids like computers. Furthermore, national
and regional traditions have to be taken into consideration. For example, in
some countries most students will live at home and need time to travel, while
in others they live on their own and have to look after themselves. In others
again they will be housed on campuses. All these factors bear, in some measure,
on the results of the teaching/learning experience as measured in time and in
performance (in terms of level of achievement). In an ideal situation the aims
and objectives set will be fully reached in the notional learning time. As said
before, notional learning time is not the actual time that any particular
learner needs to spend in order to achieve the learning outcomes. The actual time
will differ from student to student.
In many cases the ideal situation will never exist.
No comments:
Post a Comment