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The Instructor’s Creed

This I Believe:

  • Teaching is not synonymous with imparting information. Today’s technology can do this more effectively and efficiently than I can.
  • Learning is not a spectator sport. People learn best not by being told but by experiencing the consequences of their thoughts and actions. My role, then, is to arrange experiences that help people learn.
  • The purpose of teaching/learning is to change behavior. I cannot say that teaching/learning has taken place until I see improved performance in the learner. A tape recorder can play back what I just told it (more accurately than learners can), but no learning has taken place.
  • Learning objectives describe the performance I expect of learners upon completing a course. These objectives, or “terminal behavior,” must be the focal point of all the subject matter and learning activities that go into a course.
  • The adult learner brings an impressive array of knowledge, attitudes, and skills to class as “entering behavior.” I must assess this, since it is my starting point. I cannot start from my level … or from zero. I can only build on my learner’s level.
  • My role as instructor, then, is to close the gap between entering behavior and terminal behavior. This is the “value-added” dimension of my instruction. The learner and I share a responsibility for producing a return on investment.
  • I regard the information to be taught as input, or Stimulus (S). The learner’s active Response (R) is the output that enables learning to take place. And the Feedback (F) that the learner gets serves to strengthen or modify the Response. Instruction can thus be viewed as a chain of S-R-F links.
  • The question is my single most powerful tool for causing learning to take place. The responses it elicits helps learners to discover things for themselves … to internalize new concepts and skills … to learn how to learn. These responses also enable me to be learner-centered rather than information-centered or instructor-centered.
  • When I teach, I learn. Initially my understanding of content expands with the first few offerings of a course. Thereafter, my process skills enlarge as I become more adept as a catalyst and facilitator of learning. When my own learning stops, I should probably stop teaching.

The shaping of behavior has been entrusted to me. It is an enormous responsibility, yet one filled with joy. Few things on this earth give me more satisfaction.