I recently received a copy of an article from the January-February 2005 edition of Academe. The article, written by Dr. Kevin Mattson and entitled Why 'Active Learning' Can Be Perilous to the Profession
(the full text is available at www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/2005/05jf/05jfmatt.htm) took to task a young assistant professor of sociology. As a student in the Honors Tutorial College, I deeply value the benefits of a one-on-one education. However, I also benefit from the larger classes I have experienced. While I whole-heartedly agree with Mattson's arguments about the potential problems with the underfunding of state higher education the hiring of fewer full-time faculty skyrocketing enrollments [and] political problems
I find major faults in the way he arrives at his conclusion.
I vividly remember sitting through monotonous lectures in Morton 201 every day my freshman year, wishing something could be done to make the class seem more personal. The particular sociology professor that Mattson mentions successfully does just that. While never taking a class with this particular professor, I have had the opportunity to observe her three times over the past three years due to committee obligations. Her energy and enthusiasm are unlike any I've seen in large lecture classes. The fact that she met with each [student] over coffee during the...quarter
a point Mattson takes issue with, only shows her willingness to connect with students. It's her choice how she runs her classroom and how she spends her time. Students appear to be happy given the particular award she won last year. Instead of attempting to make her methods appear inferior and detrimental to her profession, perhaps we should celebrate her devotion and willingness to put the students first -to overlook the budgetary needs of our university and instead work with what she has.
The fact that she cares does NOT make her an intellectual Phil Donahue
as Mattson referred to her as at one point in his article. Being disturbed by a professor who allegedly cares too much says far more about Dr. Mattson than the professor he chose to use as his solitary case study. I don't believe students expect a professor to learn all of our names in Morton 201, nor do I think that we ever should. But I must say that the way to cure the problems within large classrooms is not to tear down those who do it successfully. It doesn't have to be as entertaining as video games (which Mattson claims all large classes must be for students to be engaged). The Centers for Teaching and Writing Excellence, another favorite target of Mattson's, do nothing but help make better professors. They offer advice and guidance to help professors incorporate new techniques into their classrooms. And the last I knew, no one was required to attend. I sympathize with Mattson's concerns over active learning and I find his arguments to be extremely provocative; but the way to find an amicable solution is not to berate your colleagues and put down educational resources on campus. Until we can eliminate such large classes, we, as students, faculty and administrators alike, need to be glad to have teachers like this sociology professor.
-Will Miller, a senior political science major in the Honors Tutorial College, is the student chair of the University Professor Selection Committee and a member of Student Senate. Send him an e-mail at william.miller.5@ohiou.edu.
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