It’s really curious to me that most lectures start out with providing the learning objectives. I think it kinda represents the backwards way in which we approach education.
If I am trying to teach something, the objective should be self-evident. It’s ok to have learning objectives, but to say them explicitly upfront is cheating.
By the end of a “lesson” we should be able to ask participants what they learned or what they think they were supposed to learn and those things should track with the learning objectives.
And if people aren’t walking away able to identify the undisclosed learning objectives intended by the educator, then it should be on the educator, not the students (or at the very least equally on both), to rethink how they deliver the material. That said educators who take their craft seriously should also want to make changes that benefit their students and not be afraid to critically evaluate their teaching for their students’ sake.
I don’t want this to come off as an indictment or a generalization on educators because they do some of the hardest and most important work, and in general teachers are overworked and underpaid. I will say that all my favorite teachers have been one who have challenged traditional styles and went out their way to create meaningful experiences for us as students to better understand the material. And as someone who plans to take on an educator role in the future, this is something I aspire towards.
nANIMOv 