What is the value of an undergraduate education?
The University Channel offers an excellent podcast (mp3) and transcript (.doc) featuring James Wilkinson, Director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University explaining an international perspective on the historical development and current state of undergraduate education.
As I will argue, the “what” and the “how” are intimately related. Each student personally constructs his or her own understanding of what is being taught. The most important thing they can learn is the process of inquiry itself, modeled by the faculty in the course of their teaching. Thus how a subject is taught is crucial. Yet it is a curious fact that most discussions about undergraduate curricula focus almost exclusively on content. What seems to become easily lost in the debate is any real discussion about pedagogy. The assumption seems to be that if we can just get the content right, the teaching and learning will take care of themselves. That is an assumption with which I could not possibly disagree more strongly. I therefore hope to persuade you this afternoon that the “what” is somewhat less important, and the “how” far more important, than common wisdom would allow.
from University Channel
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