• Introduction
• The Real Problem: Students?
• The Role of Technology
• Implications for Faculty Work
• The Role of Research
• What Do We Know about Learning?
• Ten Principles of Learning
• References and Acknowledgments
• Printable Text of Article

© Copyright 1998-99 by David L. Potter (dpotter@gmu.edu)  The right to make additional exact copies, including this notice, for personal and classroom use, is hereby granted. All other forms of distribution and copying require permission of the author.

Section Three: Implications for Faculty Work

Asserting the centrality of learning, however, does raise additional questions about our work. For example, the relationship between teaching and learning is not so clear, even though the purpose of teaching is to promote learning, to communicate what has been learned, and to strengthen students' ability to learn.

Consider the most memorable teachers each of you has had, and the remarkable variety of styles, circumstances and other factors that affected the learning you accomplished under their tutelage. Consider the question of how many students would pass your course examination six months later, the complicated relationship between learning achieved and learning lost. In making decisions about teaching, it is important to clarify the character of learning we intend and to recognize the complexities intervening between our teaching and students' learning.

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