STUDY GROUP OUTLINE
Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue
in Educating Adults
by Jane Vella, published by Jossey-Bass, Inc., Publishers, c 1994.
Chapter 11 - Assuming New Roles for Dialogue: The Death of the "Professor"
- "Modeling an approach to learning means being true to it in all circumstances." (pg 141) What does Ms. Vella mean when she talks about modeling an approach to learning?
- Chapter 11 describes a workshop the author provided to American graduate school teachers. The challenge was to get the professors to provide classroom role models of popular education that was more applicable for their students than the traditional teacher-as-provider-of-information model (banking) that most of the professors used. Do you feel that a similar workshop would be beneficial for the teachers in your adult education program? Why or why not?
- The unanimous decision of all the teachers involved in the workshop was that they needed considerably more preparation time for this more student-friendly approach. (pg 145) In your own lesson preparation, have you discovered that problem-based, student-centered learning requires more or less of your preparation time? Do your students "get" the lesson more quickly and more effectively when the lesson is geared to their desires and needs for learning rather than your perception of their needs?
- The teachers involved in this workshop felt that their graduate students expected the "banking" approach from their professors - that, in fact, they would feel cheated by their professors if large amounts of information were not handed to them regularly. (pg 147) Do your students expect you to educate them, i.e. to pour in the information so they can repeat it to you exactly as presented? How do you feel about the disparity between the expectations of students and education research that indicates that learning must be active on the part of the students?
