Newsletter September 2022: The underlying principle of education at SDU
The September newsletter will focus on the "Underlying Principle of Education" at SDU - Active Teaching & Learning.
SDU follows as a number of very explicit principles for education, which commit the teachers to plan their active teaching in a way that supports the students’ active learning. These principles stem from an understanding of learning, which assume that learning, especially more complicated matters, cannot take place if the individual’s higher cognitive functions are not active. In other words, you learn most efficiently, if you are awake and focused on the matter you are working with.
It appears from the below webpage that the responsibility for following these principles is shared by the entire organisation:
At the courses, workshops etc. offered by SDU Centre for Teaching and Learning we also invite the participants to participate actively. In addition to the assumption of ‘learning by doing’, we do our best to make our activities close to practice and relevant in a teaching context, thereby creating meaningfulness for the participants.
One example: Prior to the course ‘Motivational teaching’ the participants must actively collect knowledge from their own students about how they relate to different perspectives on what engrosses them. In this way the course participants gain an insight in the students’ experiences and preferences and can incorporate these in their planning of motivating teaching on the course, in collaboration with other course participants. These very concrete learning activities offer a whole different form of learning than for instance a 3 hour lecture on motivational theories.
On our much more comprehensive Lecturer Training Programme (LTP) the participants must also participate actively in various ways; not only with a view to their learning, but also to help them build up a repertoire of different teaching activities, that they can use in their concrete teaching on SDU programmes. The LTP participants must complete a development project which is one way of being active.
Stine P.P. Nielsen from the Department of Law, who is currently following the LTP, has kindly offered to give the readers of our Newsletter an insight in her work with developing her teaching through the test of various learning activities. You can read about Stine's teaching here or via the link in the right column.
An example from a teacher
Stine P.P. Nielsen from the Department of Law, gives an insight in her work with developing her teaching through the test of various learning activities.
