Future learning
Published: 23 June 2005
Baroness Greenfield, professor of pharmacology at Oxford and director of the Royal Institution, is good at provoking debate. Last week, she was at it again at the Association of Colleges conference. The Government should launch an urgent consultation, she said, into how students learn in the new technological age, in which lectures, exams, books, and even reading and writing may become obsolete. She is right to raise the issue. Much university teaching is still in the dark ages. Universities need to take a hard look at how students learn, and put more effort into making their material exciting and accessible.
Baroness Greenfield, professor of pharmacology at Oxford and director of the Royal Institution, is good at provoking debate. Last week, she was at it again at the Association of Colleges conference. The Government should launch an urgent consultation, she said, into how students learn in the new technological age, in which lectures, exams, books, and even reading and writing may become obsolete. She is right to raise the issue. Much university teaching is still in the dark ages. Universities need to take a hard look at how students learn, and put more effort into making their material exciting and accessible.
