What do we learn from

I was having an interesting discussion with a colleague about our role as educators, and what was expected of that role. Basically the discussion focused on the importance of material. Is it that material that makes a good subject, or the way it is presented? This lead to two versions of an educators' role.

1: The text selector: The educators' role is to choose an appropriate textbook. To determine what will be covered from the text, and outline this to the students.
2: Guide or mentor: The educators' role is to provide a learning environment in which the students are able to learn the required material.

From a university perspective they would prefer that teaching staff fit in category 1. A text selector is easy to replace, and move. A great educator would then be able to quickly and easily select texts, moving them from subject to subject would result very quickly an improvement across the board.

I prefer to think of my role as more than just selecting a text, or even developing material. I hope that I bring more than some slides and books to the subjects that I deliver. I see my role as the development of a environment in which capable and willing students can learn. I aim to inspire students to learn, and then to be there to support their efforts. Lecture provide a means to inspire and inform (support). Laboratories give you the ability to directly assist them practice the material.

Raj has a great quote for this from his agile material:

"Software is built by people (not processes)
Good people are needed to build good software
Poor quality resources WILL build poor quality software
A process does not build software
A good process will aim to reduce variability (in other words will increase consistency)
Simply put: “A bad team with a great process will consistently
generate garbage”
If you are in the software game, focus on people"

I think this also applies to education.

So what is the role of the material that we develop? Contact time for a subject is very small, not enough to actually learn much at all. I see the material (otherwise know as content) as playing a supporting role. With the lectures providing a few key "take home points", additional material is needed to provide the missing details. Without the material students will be on their own... Providing them with access to good material is still important, and can come from links to sites, textbooks, or custom material.

So basically both are important, but I feel that presence and delivery are more important. Good delivery of the material will help students with the central points of the material, and give them the enthusiasm to put in the extra work that is needed to succeed.

My 2c. Comments welcome. Have you done a subject were you feel you learnt more than others? What do you feel contributed to this?