Page 303 - Crisis in Higher Education

Reshaping Faculty’s Role • 273

course, there may be six, seven, a dozen, or even more sections.
This approach is a token effort, the impact is limited to a small
group, and there is no assurance that the impact is positive.
2. Mass teaching: A top scholar is assigned to teach a mass lecture
with 200, 300, or 400 students. The students spend part of their
time in smaller problem and discussion sections, which are staffed
by instructional faculty and graduate teaching assistants. There is
no real chance for questions in the lecture, and there is rampant
speculation that learning is not very effective.

In addition, many top scholars find it difficult to relate to the aver-
age 18- to 20-year-old undergraduate student because the scholars
(1) have seven or eight more years of higher education than the students,
(2) have taught for several years so they know the subject very well, and
(3) were among the best students when they attended the university, so
their expectations are very high. They may have trouble comprehending
how little students know. These experts may not have the patience to deal
with young students who are not as dedicated to learning as the faculty
member would like.
Besides, having senior scholars teach first- and second-year students
is a misallocation of resources unless universities only employ this type
of faculty. Senior scholars are educated to teach upper-level undergradu-
ate, masters, and PhD courses. Introductory courses require less depth of
knowledge, change slowly, and have little debate as to what is important.
The knowledge and skills of instructional faculty and graduate teaching
assistants fit general education and disciplinary core courses well.
Given these circumstances, it seems reasonable to improve productivity
by “industrializing” aspects of higher education, especially at the general
education and disciplinary core levels, through the use of high-tech learn-
ing materials. The following proposal has many points in common with
student-centered learning (Chapter 7) and online learning (Chapter 10).
The first point describes replacing traditional textbooks with high-tech
reading materials. Points 2 through 5 discuss how traditional face-to-face
lecture can be replaced using technology. Points 1 through 5 are described
more fully in Chapter 13.

1. Reading materials: E-books with sophisticated, interactive learning
tools as well as books-on-tape/on-CD/online that can be used on the
go are important.