Turn Around Teaching

It isn’t exactly a secret that the traditional roll of the teacher is fast disappearing. Among leading educators the notion that teachers should spend most of their day ‘instructing’ their students is a dated one. Classrooms are (and are part of) learning communities where everyone is learning from each other. Teacher instruction certainly isn’t dead but the shape of learning environments is turning around. This is lead by the swell of online resources available that can replace teacher instruction in lessons. Take for example the Khan Academy (see below), students can learn from over 2000 online tutorials quite independently from their teacher.



Here is an example of one of Sal Khan's tutorials:




The Khan Academy is just one example of a resource that teachers can utilize to instruct students. Of course the list of resources is endless with online databases and webpages dedicated to even the smallest niche topic. So all of this gives rise to this idea of “Turn Around Teaching”.

This concept involves teachers’ shifting their focus from instructional to a post-instructional learning environment. We can spend our time guiding and refining the course of learning rather than having to inform, disseminate knowledge and try to develop understanding. Students can teach themselves by exploring the wealth of resources at their disposal.

In my next post I will explore what the role of the teacher might look like in a post instructional classroom where teaching is being “turned around”.