Types of Teaching and Complications Exploratory Essay

Types of Teaching

There are several types of teaching that instructors can use to instill knowledge into their students. Types of teaching refer to the roles that instructors play in the classroom in the presence of the learners. The duty of a teacher does not only include direct instruction, assessments, and evaluation of students, but also other non-academic things as well.

Although there may be several types of teaching, the most common are three and they include: direct instruction, facilitative methods and coaching. Each of the teaching methods has its own benefits and its own drawbacks (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, p. 241).

The first teaching type, direct instruction, is the most suitable teaching type for the unit I am designing. In direct instruction, teachers can efficiently monitor their students, easily control lesson time, and have full control of what is learned in a particular lesson.

The shortfalls of this method are that it is based on old theories, has low problem resolution ability, and is not the best method to assess students’ prior knowledge in relation to a particular topic (Wiggins & McTighe, 2007, p. 131).

On the other hand, facilitative methods allow students to participate fully in a lesson and enhance their problem solving abilities; they also help to promote a good relationship between students and teachers. The main disadvantages of the method are that it consumes a lot of time and may frustrate teachers and students at times (Wiggins & McTighe, 2007, p. 132).

Coaching, like the other two teaching types, also has its benefits and drawbacks. The main benefit of coaching is that students receive instructions that directly suit their abilities. The drawbacks that come with coaching are that it is expensive and time consuming (Wiggins & McTighe, 2007, p. 130).

Complications to Design and How to Address Ken Robinson Concerns

There are several factors, which complicate the learning design process. Some of these factors relate to learners while others involve logistical issues. Different learning styles and needs of the students constitute the first and the most serious complication to learning design.

Students have varied characteristics, abilities and interests and consequently, it is difficult to design a unit, which can fully and fairly take into account the interests and level of experience of each student in an entire classroom (Gupta, 2007, p. 448).

Logistical factors also affect learning design process in a significant manner; for instance, it is difficult to design a unit that fits students who are taught in campus as well as their counterparts who go through online studies.

It is assumed that the online and the campus-based students are at the same level, but it is obvious that the way the two groups understand what they are taught is quite different. Consequently, it is important for the units that are learnt online to be made more self explanatory (Gupta, 2007, p. 450).

Lastly, the availability of resources also influences the teaching design process. Every teaching unit should be designed in such a way that it reflects on the learning resources that are available in the classroom and those that the learners can afford on their own.

For instance, for the institutions that have fewer resources, their units should be designed in such a way that teachers are able to cover most of the content in the classroom; this is because there may be insufficient resources that students can use to complement what they learn in classroom (Gupta, 2007, p. 451).

References

Gupta, B. L. (2007). Governance and management of technical institutions. New Delhi: Concept Pub.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2007). Schooling by design: Mission, action, and achievement. Alexandaria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.