What Will They Remember 10 Years From Now?

For some reason I can’t shake this question:

What will they remember 10 years from now?

I met a fellow adjunct instructor at the beginning of this term, and we’ve met up in the campus adjunct office quite a bit. This seasoned instructor mentioned to me that, realistically, most students won’t remember what they learned in our course 10 years from now- and odds are they might not even retain it for one year.

I’d considered this before, but for some reason it felt more like a challenge I was determined to take on this time.

Immediately, I started trying to remember what I learned in my own undergraduate and graduate classes as a student. I understand people learn and retain information in different ways, but for me I retained information that had been taught in 3 ways:

1. Simple repetition (and a lot of it)– Mr. Cohen’s 8th grade class: Jamaica’s natural resources include bauxite and gypsum.

1. Group activities/hands on activities– Critiquing fellow students’ feature articles in Andy Dehnart’s Magazine Writing class, and then discussing our evaluations with everyone.

1. Presenting course content to others– Defending my undergraduate thesis and my master’s thesis to a thesis committee, and presenting a 30 minute lecture about bento boxes as a student in Dr. Akita’s International Communication class.

I’ve always been a big fan of making students truly apply what they’re learning, which is why I like public speaking classes so much; you use what you learn in the classroom to develop and deliver professional speeches.

However, it’s hard to know what material your students are actually learning when you lecture in the classroom. I read some interesting thoughts this morning on FacultyFocus.com about the idea of not lecturing in the classroom, and what it might achieve.

Based on what I’ve read in The Naked Presenter by Garr Reynolds, I present material in a way that helps students engage. But how can I know for sure?

I’m a ‘goals’ person, so I’ve added this one to the list. I just ordered the book Making It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel, to learn how to more effectively help my students learn.

The bottom line is, never stop questioning the way you do things, and question tradition. Is there a good reason why you’re still using certain techniques?

Much of our happiness relies on continued growth and curiosity. So go ahead, be inquisitive and explore new approaches to life in and out of the classroom.