ABSTRACT
Part II has the task of examining what the various media have to offer learning and teaching. Having arrived at a perspective on learning and teaching that sees the process as essentially a dialogue, this may appear to rule out any contribution from teaching methods other than the one-to-one tutorial. Whatever you may think of the approach developed over the last four chapters, it has something to recommend it if it derives the one-to-one tutorial as the ideal teaching situation. Sadly, the one-to-one tutorial is rarely feasible as a method in a system of rapid expansion beyond a carefully selected élite, so we look to other methods to provide the same effect more efficiently
The familiar methods of teaching in higher education are there to support learning as it is commonly understood to occur: • through acquisition, so we offer lectures and reading; • through practice, so we set exercises and problems; • through discussion, so we conduct seminars and tutorials; • through discovery, so we arrange field trips and practicals. These methods, if practised in combination, are capable of satisfying most of the requirements of the teaching strategy derived at the end of Chapter 4. Feedback on students’ actions is the weakest link, because there is only a small amount relative to their learning actions. Feedback is handled within the assessment procedures adopted for set work, and within supervised practicals and tutorials, but is not guaranteed, is usually not closely associated with the actions, and tends to be only extrinsic, rarely intrinsic.
