A third approach beyond the false dichotomy between teacher- and student-centred approaches in the engineering classroom

ABSTRACT

Most of the contemporary critiques of university teaching are variants of a central argument that sets up a polarity between socalled ‘traditional’ teaching, often termed ‘teacher-centred’ and ‘transmissive’, and approaches that by contrast are considered ‘student-centred’, often also referred to with the phrase ‘active learning’. This editorial argues that it is important for engineering educators to be able to interrogate these calls for change, drawing on an informed sense of ‘evidence-based practice’ in education. Drawing on scholarship from higher education research, it is suggested that the polarity typical to these debates is actually a false dichotomy, and what is needed to foster high-quality student learning is a third approach to teaching that skillfully combines a focus on knowledge with pedagogical strategies that foster student engagement.

KEYWORDS:

• Active learning
• teacher-centred approach
• student-centred approach
• evidence-based practice
• knowledge
• engagement

Acknowledgement

The text is based on an invited talk given in the Lectures at the Leading Edge series, Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Toronto, April 10, 2019.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on the contributor

Jenni Case is Professor and Head of the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech in the USA. Prior to her appointment in this post she was a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town, where she retains an honorary appointment. She completed postgraduate studies in the UK, Australia and South Africa. With more than two decades of undergraduate teaching and curriculum reform work, she is a well-regarded researcher in engineering education and higher education. Her work especially on the student experience of learning as well as on topics around teaching and curriculum, has been widely published. She was the founding president of the South African Society for Engineering Education (SASEE). She is a coordinating editor for the international journal Higher Education and a co-editor for the Routledge/SRHE series Research into Higher Education.