One of my recent ah-ha moments was when I realized that the root of the word 'lecture' is 'lectura'- Latin for read. This moment reminded me that lectures began as a mechanism to share scarce reading materials with others. Yet this passive learning activity continues in many of our higher education classrooms. An excellent illustration of the disconnect of teaching and learning was the recent request on our campus to remove wireless from one of the lecture halls because students were using their laptops to do work (and email) instead of listening to the lecture. This incident reminded me of one of my undergraduate large lecture classes. Daily attendance was taken in this class of 300 students and counted toward attendance. While the professor droned on and on reading his lectures to us, I spent my time writing letters and the rough draft of papers for my other courses. Despite using the class time as my writing time, I received an A in the course. How many classes are still based on the concept that information is a scarce commodity and that seat time equals learning?
 

The same kinds of indicators of outdated modes of teaching can also be found in the words 'professor' and 'recitation'. Professors profess and students recite. One could argue that those are just the words we use and that things aren't really that bleak, but the notions are still certainly prevalent.

At the end of Spring semester last year, a funny thought hit me as I walked by a classroom in which the students were taking their final exam. Why do we test students on the last day of classes? Isn't it too late then for them to learn from their mistakes? We would like to think that students review their graded exams and try to learn from what they did wrong, but in truth, many of them never even glance at the exam after it has been submitted. Once the time is up on the exam, students are generally absolved of any responsibility for knowing the content (learning within one's major might be an exception).
Colleges and Universities should be learning communities containing a multitude of smaller learning communities that draw knowledge from the courses that the community members are enrolled in or from other sources of knowledge (yes, there are other sources of knowledge). The goal should be a continuity of learning. Students should be learning how the content of a particular course fits into their overall knowledge structure.
 

I think that I would have wanted to have an undergraduate education that taught me better how to progress through a series of unstructured problems that may have appeared to be random, but that probably had some larger design to them (e.g. like life itself). Rather than being expected to hunker down and find the answer myself, I would be expected to find others around me (network) who likely faced similar or coincidentially parallel problems, approach experts (research) who could point me in directions that I could not yet determine myself, and work together (collaborate) in creativity and imagination to find answers that pushed the envelopes (if even only my envelopes). I would expect that such learning experiences would be timed in a way that would provide adversity so that I might test my mettle and allow coincidental intersections that might help me see new ways to link together thoughts and concepts. If done well, I might actually be better prepared to make a life! I might also learn how to work with and learn from others (again, like life). Gene
 

I think the ideal undergraduate education would be as interdisciplinary as one could make it. Content in one discipline does not exist in a vacuum. How can you study Romantic literature and not be aware of the art, politics, history, of the time? A cross disciplinary approach inevitably engenders more intellectual engagement, I think.

I would also use as much peer teaching as possible. Nothing enforces knowledge attainment like having to teach someone else.

Finally, I would form as many assignments as possible as a QUESTION, not a topic. Encourage students to ask themselves "What do I need to know NOW?"
 

If I could start from scratch, honestly, I'd basically create the education I experienced in humanities classes at Bryn Mawr. There were no "sages on the stage" because we all took it for granted that although our professors knew maybe more information than us, it didn't mean they were necessarily better equipped to interpret that information for us -- to make it meaningful for us. Classes were dialogues of 6-20 people in which everyone's voice was valued. We chose what we wanted to write about, and we chose to "read" texts and information as we felt was "right," as long as we could defend it. We learned together, and when we learned apart, we were eager to bring that learning to class. Class wasn't about getting information (that's why we had reading!), but about discussing the information as equals, as differently aged and positioned members of a learning community, each with an equally valid opinion and reading. That made class both exciting and vital -- what more could one ask for?
 

In my ideal undergraduate education, I would've taken fewer classes and have had more class time per subject. And there would've been more consistent back & forth between theory and practice.

I would want to know more about my professors' research and for our class projects to support their research or to be given questions they have explored early in their careers and see if we end up where they did.

I agree with the comments about interdisciplinary approaches. Imagine being able to jump from topic to topic (perhaps discipline to discipline) as your research and interest lead with professors as your guide.

Which leads to the issue of assessment. It's hard to manage a curriculum if students go in different directions and even harder to assess it. However, I was much too focused on grades and not on learning. As a teacher I have noticed the same thing in my students.

So perhaps the best way to assess learning would be a comprehensive exam (written and oral) in your senior year. I can see private grades from each class and then a single public grade assessing your mastery of the liberal arts.

Sounds messy but fun...