Indifferent students, uneducated graduates, incompetent teaching, impersonal campuses, rolls the drumfire of criticism of higher education. Over two years of reports have spelled out the problems.
There are no effective practical methods to improve undergraduate education without the commitment and action of students and faculty members.
But how can students and faculty members improve undergraduate education? Various campuses around the country are asking this question. To afford a focus for their work, here is offered seven principles based on research on good teaching and learning in colleges and universities.
Consider good practice in undergraduate education:
1. encourages contact between students and faculty,
2. develops reciprocity and cooperation among students,
3. encourages active learning,
4. gives prompt feedback,
5. emphasizes time on task,
6. communicates high expectations, and
7. respects diverse talents and ways of learning
These seven principles are not Ten Commandments shrunk to a 21st century attention span. They’re proposed as guidelines for faculty members, students, and administrators, with support from state agencies and trustees, to improve teaching and learning. Seven principles appear like good common sense, and they are, because many teachers and students have experienced them and because research supports them. They demonstrate the way teachers teach and students learn; how students work and play with one another, and how students and faculty talk to each other.
Despite the fact that each practice can stand alone on its own, when all are present their effects multiply.
They employ six powerful forces in education:
• activity,
• expectations,
• cooperation,
• interaction,
• diversity, and
• responsibility.
Good quality practices grasp as much meaning for professional programs as for the liberal arts. These programs work for many different kinds of students - white, black, Hispanic, Asian, rich, poor, older, younger, male, female, well-prepared, under prepared.
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