The Tyranny of Content: "Content Coverage" as a Barrier to Evidence-Based Teaching Approaches and Ways to Overcome It

Instructors have inherited a model for conscientious instruction that suggests they must cover all the material outlined in their syllabus, and yet this model frequently diverts time away from allowing students to engage meaningfully with the content during class. We outline the historical forces th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:CBE life sciences education 2020-06, Vol.19 (2), p.ar17-ar17
Main Authors: Petersen, Christina I, Baepler, Paul, Beitz, Al, Ching, Paul, Gorman, Kristen S, Neudauer, Cheryl L, Rozaitis, William, Walker, J. D, Wingert, Deb
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Core Curriculum
Course Content
Curriculum Development
Educational Change
Educational Objectives
Evidence Based Practice
Humans
Learning
Relevance (Education)
Student Centered Learning
Students
Teaching
Teaching Methods
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Summary:Instructors have inherited a model for conscientious instruction that suggests they must cover all the material outlined in their syllabus, and yet this model frequently diverts time away from allowing students to engage meaningfully with the content during class. We outline the historical forces that may have conditioned this teacher-centered model as well as the disciplinary pressures that inadvertently reward it. As a way to guide course revision and move to a learner-centered teaching approach, we propose three evidence-based strategies that instructors can adopt: 1) identify the core concepts and competencies for your course; 2) create an organizing framework for the core concepts and competencies; and 3) teach students how to learn in your discipline. We further outline examples of actions that instructors can incorporate to implement each of these strategies. We propose that moving from a content-coverage approach to these learner-centered strategies will help students better learn and retain information and apply it to new situations.
ISSN:1931-7913
1931-7913
DOI:10.1187/cbe.19-04-0079