Bret Devereaux

This whole thread is really perceptive, but I think this is the key point - pedagogical strategies that are supposed to *replicate* work students are already doing are actually producing much *more* work for them, or at least more rigorous workhttps://twitter.com/Jodyji/status/1329836073799696384 …

I concur with the conclusion that this demonstrates the value in continue these engagement boosting techniques post-pandemic. But of course, that requires instructors - including adjunct instructors - be given the time, resources and funding to do so. Which, you know, LOL.

Yeah, of course the other elephant in the room here is how much of normal course structure is dictated by contingent instructor overload. By that same token, though, we don't want to overwork students, particularly now, but after this is all over either.

I have to admit, my own sense of the undergraduate experience suggests to me that there should be more learning work done (but less BS assessment work), but that we also need to dial back the pressure a TON on these kids and those don't go together great.

Like, on the one hand, I think the average amount of reading most students actually do seems pretty clearly to be much lower than ideal. On the other hand, the pressure to perform in high-stakes assessments is massive and it is breaking our students.

The ideal structure, for instance, for a history course would pretty clearly have not a lot of tests, but lots of readings, which would be discussed and probably quizzed (for engagement), combined with papers to practice formal argumentation.

But that is a massively instructor-time-heavy class structure and the resources are simply not made available outside of the most super-elite institutions (and often, not even there) to actually DO that.

So, you know... Gaze on my field of Good Answers. See how it is barren.