Becoming A More Critical, Autonomous, Reflective Learner

PRILHE Project - Lecturer’s Toolkit
There are different ways to encourage interaction, even in lecture situations, as identified by this Spanish lecturer
And I think that I would work a lot with books, and then afterwards, well the fact that you can then recommend books
to the pupils and have a debate in class about a book which you have recommended to them so that you can see if
people have read it and also so that everyone can give their own opinion about what the author is saying and, I don’t
know,, I think the classes would be richer, and maybe people could learn more because sometimes talking to people
helps them learn more than they do when they just memorise their notes, don’t you think
A Swedish Case Study
Anders, a Swedish lecturer, sees lectures as opportunities to initiate the students and get them interested in the subject. He
concludes that when it comes to promoting critical reflection in lectures, the teacher can use questions consciously as a tool. When
students ask the teacher questions, the teacher replies with a question instead of giving the answer, just to help the students to
reflect themselves. Anders is not a teacher who answers the questions with questions all the time; instead, he is anxious that
students become involved in a dialogue both with him and each other. To always reply with a question can create insecurity and is
not always the best way.
He also stresses the importance of showing that he does not always know the answers to the students. In the beginning he was
afraid of doing so. He had the idea that he should know all the answers and felt unqualified as teacher if he could not answer. After
teaching some years he has changed his attitude and now thinks it is a strength to have the courage to show students that he does
not know everything. It gives the students courage to show their uncertainty and contributes to a climate where dialogue is
possible. He has developed the ability to see what happens in the student group during lectures - he can interpret their feelings
and uncertainty through non-verbal language and the gestures they make. On these occasions he uses an interactive method to
pose the questions to the students to encourage them to formulate their ideas. He emphasises that when students themselves
come up with interesting reflections, he, as a lecturer, has become stimulated and finds the lecturing much more interesting,
which contributes to a stimulating learning environment for all including himself.
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