STUDENT-SELECTED READING

Also, as part of this shared approach to teaching and learning, I have begun a system where students not only collectively choose most of the topics in the course, but are also given responsibility for assessing what readings are appropriate for the topic each week. In my large (380) class, students in the first tutorial are tasked with finding an appropriate reading for one topic for the entire class to do. They need to write a brief summary of why they think it’s a good reading and why it will deepen the understanding of the topic of all students. Again, this is giving responsibility for their learning to the students themselves.  From these hundreds of readings, my tutors and I select the best for each week, and post it as the suggested reading for all students. The effect of this is to impress on students the need to be actors in their own education, not merely passive recipients of it. There will come a time soon when they leave formal education where, in order to continue learning, this is exactly what they need to do.