Jo's Minute Paper

I went straight to the list you provided as a starting point for those of us in the humanities. What I liked best was the description of the goals and attributes of problem-based learning from About Teaching. Many of the characteristics read as exactly the goals of first-year English. We are trying to improve the student’s communication, help him or her learn to research and to apply the information found through research, especially to be able to do that in courses later in college and in later life. The article referred to civil discourse and "functioning in a global community" ("What Is"). Ideally, we are preparing students to approach any problem in college or in life by teaching the approach, the skills, and the attitude toward uncertainty they will need to persevere and succeed.

So how do we do that? I’m always worried about what we use as the problems. After all, I don’t know everything there is to know about everything. How can I serve as a facilitator on topics in which I have little background? Chandra Reedy describes her unwillingness to give up control, but I don’t think that’s my problem ("Interviews"). I’m more concerned that students will expect me to be a resource on the topic instead of on the process. How do I create problems that will allow students to learn but will emphasize that process?

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