Methods of teaching and evaluating students haven’t changed much at American colleges and universities. Professors tend to like their accustomed ways of doing things.

In today’s Martin Center article, Robert Wright reflects on the lack of innovation:

Pedagogical variations abound, for sure, but few can be considered truly innovative. A former colleague once bragged that he was at the cutting edge of pedagogy because he allowed students to ask questions during his lecture! Another “flipped” her classroom by instructing students to read the textbook beforehand, then doing concept-reinforcement activities in class, only to discover that few students can or will read the textbook, thus rendering the in-class activities much less effective.

College leaders rarely have the will to fight with the faculty over changes that might lead to improved student learning. What would improve things?

Wright advocates testing by prompt. He explains:

Most introductory courses are amenable to testing by prompt, which can be anything—a natural-language document, lab results, a figure, a photograph—that will have some meaning to students who have internalized the relevant course concept enough to be able to spot it in the prompt and take appropriate action. For example, instead of asking students to, say, define misplaced modifiers (short answer) or to pick one out of a list (multiple choice), the professor provides an example of one, not previously discussed in class, as an exam prompt, with full credit to students who spot the problem and edit accordingly.

As a time of change comes to many aspects of higher education, perhaps the development of more effective methods of teaching and grading will follow.