You remember the description in the college course catalog grabbing your interest only to later discover the professor's lectures were about as scintillating as watching an afternoon of golf on a 13-inch black-and-white TV screen every day.
The guy definitely knew his stuff. It just seemed as though he was more interested in mumbling facts toward his shoes than engaging his students.
He could have used the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Minnesota State University. Founded in the fall of 2002, the center has taught about 200 college faculty to be better teachers. The concept is simple. Many teachers need to be taught how to keep classes fresh, tap into new ways of delivering information and find better methods to reach their students.
In essence, the philosophy is one that all educators can understand: Teachers need to keep on learning. MSU's establishment of the center is a testament to how much value is put on every facet of education, even for instructors.
A doctorate degree may be prestigious, but not if you can't deliver your knowledge to your students. Faculty at MSU have bought into the center's goal and its methods and are seeing results. Much of the success at the center is attributed to its director, Stewart Ross, a former music professor who has a rich background in education training.
Ross says between 75 and 80 percent of all faculty have never had a class on how to teach. Sometimes the enrollees in his program get that instruction they never had, some might become more motivated, and others may adopt new methods, such as using more group work or multi-media presentations.
Steve Smith, who teaches lighting design in the theater department, sums up the biggest benefit of what he learned through the center: "The neat thing for me is my students seem to be more enthused about class. I feel better about my teaching, and I think my students enjoy classes more."
And it's a safe bet Smith and the other faculty who have been through the center's training probably don't spend much class time mumbling toward their shoes.
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