Tag Archives: Unit Evaluation

Does all teaching need to be ‘not-boring’?

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During the January 18th briefing, we read a case study about unit evaluations (Macfarlane, 2004), wherein a lecturer perceived some feedback to be negative: the readings were ‘boring’ and ‘too theoretical’. One of my peers’ responses on the Padlet page: “Does all teaching need to be not-‘boring’?” inspired me reflect.

Peer responses to the unit evaluation case study by Macfarlane (2004)

I teach market research methods, which could be interpreted as boring. Davis (1971) said, “Interesting theories are those which deny certain assumptions of their audience, while non-interesting theories are those which affirm certain assumptions of their audience.” On reflection, I adhere to this principle already as follows:

  • I don’t mention that research methods can be interpreted as boring and maintain an authentic level of excitement about the topic throughout (I ❤️ research)
  • I interject personal anecdotes referencing brands students like e.g. that time I conducted qualitative interviews for Nike
  • I critique industry norms, pointing out the flaws in current research practice. In doing so, I empower students to become the excellent and ethical researchers of the future.

However, in the original case study (Macfarlane, 2004) the lecturer’s peer is deemed to prioritise charisma over accuracy, using his power of personality to engage students at the expense of facts or scrutiny of the content.

The solution could be to continue with my genuine enthusiasm for research but to allow students to find it boring. I could encourage students to explore the topic and to develop their own interpretation. We could evolve the unit evaluation, to understand their interpretation of the subject matter in more depth – currently only one question addresses this. It would be interesting to hear how students interpret the content separate from the context, which could improve subsequent iterations of the unit.

Unit Evaluation Existing Example Questions

I wrote a blog post about the Microteaching session that includes some thoughts about shifting my teaching to a student-centred approach to learning, some of which influences this post.

References

Davis, M.S. (1971). That’s Interesting!: Towards a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of Phenomenology. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1(2), 309–344. https://doi.org/10.1177/004839317100100211

Macfarlane, B. 2004. Teaching with Integrity: The ethics of higher education practice. Routledge.