As an education major, I have been fortunate to have top-tier professors. However, many of my peers complain about the instruction their professors give. To the EMU professors reading this, it is not just my friends at EMU who groan about their professors, but also my peers at various universities and colleges across the country.
When I hear, and sometimes see, different practices, it is easy to be critical. I’m constantly thinking, “What could be better?” or “Why is this method not working right now?” Those questions are ingrained into my thinking as an Education major because I constantly need to be asking myself those questions. As I’m asking those questions at the post-secondary level, analyzing my personal experiences in classrooms, and listening the testimonies of my peers, I am left with one big question: Why aren’t post-secondary educators required to have education licenses?
In “The Minimum Qualifications to Become a Professor,” an article from “The Houston Chronicle,” Luanne Kelchner explains that mastery in a subject-area is required. Typically, that is a Doctoral degree, but sometimes a Master’s degree is sufficient. Prior experience in education is preferred but not required. The professors must also be active in their subject area, which takes different forms depending on the discipline. A chemistry professor may have to participate in laboratory work, whereas a linguistics professor may have to lead language studies.
Although it is important for professors to know their subject area and be active in that sphere, content mastery alone is not enough to be an effective educator. When working with students, it is essential to understand that they each have different needs. In the past, content mastery may have been enough because not nearly as many people were pursuing higher education, but now, more students than ever are continuing post-secondary education.
Some of those students are coming out of high schools where they were rarely pushed, so they did not develop proper information acquisition techniques. Others are first-generation students, so they are navigating a world that their family may not have been able to prepare them for. There are also increased numbers of English Learners. Out of those students, some of them are not accustomed to the academic and content-specific vocabulary required to write essays and understand professors during class. College is a transitional time period for students, making it stressful and overwhelming for many. Professors who have not been trained as educators do not always realize the plethora of factors that go into each student’s learning process. With training in education, professors would see the all-encompassing extent of how the experiences of each student affects their learning.
Not only do the experiences of students matter, but their learning styles do as well. Anyone who has training in education should know that each student has individual needs and learning styles. The duty of educators is to facilitate learning for all students. In order to do that, professors need to vary their means of instruction. Professors who do not have training in education often lack that and stick to lectures and whole group discussions as their go-to lesson regime.
For students who are not strong auditory or verbal processors, those activities are not the most conducive to their success. When professors do not display material in multiple ways, only some of the students are receiving the instruction they need and, more importantly, deserve.
Each student should be able to access the material in their classes. In order to give students that opportunity, it is imperative that professors provide more varied instruction. Not only does that help students learn, but it also makes the classroom more engaging.
By having multiple ways to engage with the material, students are pushed to think more critically and see how the information works in different contexts. Trying to think of different ways to help students access the material is a challenge, but a thrilling one.
As educators, we should ask ourselves, “How can this information be displayed for visual, kinesthetic, intrapersonal, verbal, and other learning styles?” To the professors and education majors reading this, I challenge you to try something new in your class. How can you bring your material to life for all students?
