"What's the Best Use of Class Time?"

During a presentation titled Times and Spaces for Learning, Barbara Walvoord posed this question to faculty. As she explained, classroom time is strictly limited in most courses, to approximately three hours per week. Student study time, on the other hand, is expandable, at the discretion of students, as is faculty time. Because classroom time is limited, and therefore valuable, it should be used for learning—for discussing the relationship among ideas, for clarifying important concepts, and for solving problems.

Too often, however, that valuable classroom time is used for lecture, for the explanation of new material, or for what Walvoord calls "first exposure." If class time is to be used for discussion and problem-solving, that "first exposure" to new material must be moved from classroom time to student time. In other words, students' "first exposure" to new material should occur during their expandable study time rather than limited classroom time.

How to do it? Creating a short (one page) writing assignment will encourage students to read thoughtfully and come to class prepared for discussion.