New technology and hands-on approaches cater to different learning styles. (Photo: Stefanie Vinsel)
Each generation continues to witness their societies modernizing and adapting to the demands of new inventions and technologies—and this includes the modernization of education in the classroom.
With education reforms prominent across the nation, government officials, educators and parents are trying to discover an effective route to edify students.
Some classrooms have introduced new forms of computer-assisted learning, and others have even omitted curriculum that students have been studying for years.
Apple recently released iBooks 2, a free application intended to transform students’ learning. According to Apple’s website, the application includes “textbooks that capture the imagination and take learning to a whole new level.”
Professors at AU are among those educators embracing new styles of teaching and adapting traditional styles to aid their students.
Campus Pastor Todd Faulkner teaches several ministry classes and incorporates tools for learning beyond lecturing.
“I want the classroom experience to be just that—an experience, a learning experience,” he said. “Sometimes we watch and listen; at other times we speak or read or sing.”
Faulkner also encourages classroom discussion. He said he sometimes begins his class with a question or story intended to lead into a discussion. At other times, he begins with a brief lecture that provides a particular backdrop for the conversation.
He will also ask questions of students, provide illustrations to emphasize particular topics or highlight material from class readings, which he said “all help to further broaden the context of the conversation.”
“I believe that the presentation of new content is vital as well as the discussion of this content and the questions it raises,” he said. “Content gives us something to talk about. Discussion allows us to process it together.”
Faulkner’s students have also shared bread and juice in the classroom when they discuss and experience communion. He said, “When teaching about the church, I want us to be engaged.”
Stephen Drake, a senior criminal justice major, said most of his courses involve basic lecturing. He says he prefers lecturing because he does not feel pressured to respond.
“[The classes are] only lecturing because the real hands-on stuff is in your internship,” he said. “That’s where you get the real training for your career.”
However, Drake did mention the usefulness of the iPad’s eBooks.
“It’s nice to have an electronic book,” he said. “Then you have it everywhere you go. It’s cheaper too—plus you’re not carrying 40 books. It’s a nice alternative.”
Dr. G. Alan Overstreet, chair of the department of religious studies, said he wants his students to “think in terms of construction and contribution rather than reception and absorption.”
“I approach courses in the hopes that we will be able to work with and think through materials related to the course—readings, life experiences,” he said. “For example—in such a way as to construct positions and consider implications, not simply to report what others have thought.”
He said accomplishing this requires more than note-taking. Students must also be willing to eliminate distractions.
“Those enrolled in any given course can play a significant role in what happens in the classroom,” he said. “Someone who is texting while a colleague is offering his or her contribution, is not taking a neutral position—he or she is hindering the interaction on which the classroom environment relies.”
Senior Lyndsay South is an exercise science major and said she does better without the lecturing. She recalled her statistics class with Dr. Griffith. He prepared voiced-over power points that his students read online before coming to class.
Rather than having to do homework outside of the classroom, his students brought their questions to class, and he helped them with their assignments during class time.
“I liked that more because it was a more hands-on type of learning,” she said. “If we had questions, he answered those. I liked it because I don’t learn much from teachers talking to me from a slideshow.”
“The classroom, in my estimation, is more than a place where we absorb and release information,” Faulkner said. “It’s a place where learning—head and heart—and even life-change can occur. And as with almost anything in life, the more we choose to engage in the learning experience together, the more we will benefit—collectively and individually along the way.”
