‘Tell me what I need to know’: Advocating for the necessity of uncertainty in Higher Education

Dr Luciana De Martin Silva – Hartpury University

Context
At the end of a recent session, I chatted to two students who had been reluctant to engage in a practical task I had set. The task was intended to emphasise collaborative learning and a sudden moment of realisation struck when one of the students said: “I like when people tell me what I need to know. I don’t like when they make me think” (referring to the task I set). As we talked, I was aware that changing their perceptions wouldn’t be an easy ‘fix’ (nor did I wish for it to be). Rather than trying to do so there and then, it was more important that I was fully present and listened to understand.

Making sense of this experience
The more we talked the clear it became that both students were engaging in a dualist view of the world (Perry, 1999), one where they believed they needed access to the ‘right’ answers which were to be provided by an Authority figure (i.e., teaching staff). Therefore, engaging in collaborative activities with their peers was not seen as how one learns (the irony being that the session was on constructivist approaches to learning).

At this point, you may be asking yourself: how does this teaching episode fit within the wider teaching and learning context? What can we learn from it that may impact our understanding and practice in the future?

I was fortunate to be able to explore students’ learning experiences and identity development as part of my PhD study, following students throughout the three-year duration of their undergraduate course (De Martin Silva, 2016).  Similar to the two students I referred to previously in this blog, the research participants also searched for certainty, and shared a sense of frustration if it was not forthcoming. However, as the participants advanced in their course, they came to recognise that the staff’s approach of encouraging critical thinking, rather than providing definitive answers, was a form of support and care (De Martin Silva at al., 2015).

So what? Shall we just wait and students will show signs of intellectual development as they move towards the later stages in their courses? Not necessarily! In this particular case, the curriculum structure, developing staff relationships and their position as strategic learners encouraged (and supported) the students’ movement to a more relativist way of thinking. The role of the teaching staff in scaffolding such transformation is key as students may need to navigate what Meyer and Land (2005) describe as liminal space, that is, “[t]he period in which the individual is naked of self – neither fully in one category or another” (p. 376).

With the increasing pressure in Higher Education to produce results that reflect excellence in teaching, teaching staff are often grappling with issues regarding what students want, what they need and our professional and personal values. If we really want to encourage student intellectual development, it is key that we seek alignment between our intentions and the way we design and assess our courses and require students to experience uncertainty and question their ways of thinking. This is by no means easy and requires a collaborative approach. It also begs the question regarding whether we should be more critical about how we look at student satisfaction – giving students what they momentarily desire may not be a true reflection of what they really need!

Final reflections
Below I leave you with some questions that you may wish to consider:

1. How often do we engage in ‘reflective’ conversations with students to understand ‘where they are’ in their intellectual journey?
2. How equipped are teaching staff to ‘make sense’ of different stages in the student journey? How often do we (choose to) get exposed to those important educational frameworks and concepts in our continual professional development?
3. What are the social discourses that perpetuate within our silos/departments? How do we define concepts such as ‘knowing’, ‘teaching’ and ‘learning’? How are those discourses shared, explored and challenged?
4. How often do we accept and share the ‘necessity of uncertainty’? How often do we make this need explicit to students (and ourselves)?

In this ever-changing world of Higher Education, let’s make sure we create challenging yet supportive environments where students can experience ‘new’ ways of thinking. Not engaging in such activity, by holding to a view of teaching and learning as isolated and ‘trouble-free’ incidents, does developing students (and ourselves) a continuing disservice.

*If this experience resonates with you, please drop me an email (Luciana.Silva@hartpury.ac.uk) and let’s continue this chat. I’d love to hear about your experience!*

Luciana De Martin Silva is a Principal Lecturer and the Teaching Development Scheme Lead at Hartpury University. Her most recent research projects include the exploration of a coaching approach to enhance the quality of teaching and learning at an institutional level as well as the use of collaborative and authentic learning environments to engage students, staff and industry. Luciana is a senior fellow of the Advance HE and a critical friend of the National Teaching Repository. She currently leads modules at undergraduate and postgraduate level. The main focus of her teaching is on pedagogy and the research process.

Twitter: @lu_dms
Linkedin: Dr Luciana De Martin Silva

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References
De Martin-Silva, L., Fonseca, J., Jones, R. L., Morgan, K. and Mesquita, I. (2015) Understanding undergraduate sports coaching students’ development and learning: The necessity of uncertainty. Teaching in Higher Education, 20(7), 669-683. Understanding undergraduate sports coaching students’ development and learning: the necessity of uncertainty — Hartpury University

De Martin Silva, L. (2016) Sports coaching students’ learning and identity development: A longitudinal study. Cardiff Metropolitan University. PhD Thesis. https://doi.org/10.25401/cardiffmet.20272299.v1

Meyer, J.H.F. and Land, R. (2005). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (2): epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning, Higher Education, 49 (3), 373-388.

Perry, W.G., Jr. (1999). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: A scheme. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.