As a student, whenever you fail a course, the first person you blame is mostly your lecturer. With accusations like “the lecturer doesn’t teach well, he’s too strict, he states hard questions, or even, he hates me! “
While it’s natural for your peers/family to feel as though blaming your lecturer is just a way of dodging the bullet of your being a dullard–or accepting your fate, that doesn’t mean lecturers are always innocent. And whether your lecturer is likeable or not, it all comes down to one factor: their teaching method/style.
What is a Teaching Method?
A teaching method is a specific way a lecturer presents his course to the class, ensuring that the students learn and understand as they should. A teaching method is not only limited to the lecturer having a handout, writing on the board, or pouring everything out of his head. Rather, it includes the tone of the lecturer’s voice, body movement, eye contact, mode of communication, response to questions, patience with students, and even physical appearance.
The teaching method varies from one course to another, and from one lecturer to another. Some lecturers employ a learner-centered approach, where they include the students in deciding where, when, and how a lecture occurs. While others prefer the teacher-centered, which allows only them to decide how everything will be done.
Although the learner-centered approach follows the rules of the National Policy on Education (NPE), it is unfortunate that not all university lecturers are concerned about the student’s progress and eventual success in passing the course.
This brings us back to the question; how does this affect your performance?
The Learner-centered Lecturer
A lecturer that employs this style can be seen as one who takes his time to teach you what you need to know. And if you don’t understand, they won’t mind repeating themselves. They’d also be open to questions during and after the class. They can even joke and play around during class. Note, however, that this doesn’t mean the lecturer won’t be strict. Some lecturers can be strict in class, but friendly outside, and vice versa.
Based on their teaching method, you would
- Want to attend the class on time
- Find the class interesting
- Always look forward to the next lecture
- Be willing to fight for a front seat
- Find the lecturer approachable after class hours
- Want to study hard and pass, not just for yourself, but also to make the lecturer proud
Know that this teaching method does not determine whether the lecturer would set easy or hard questions. But it will provide the right foundation for your success in the course.
The Teacher-centered Lecturer
Lecturers like this are mostly strict, and their decisions are hardly reversed or altered. And if you dare get on their bad side, you’re on your own. The lecturer would fix a class based on his convenience alone. It’s also easy for the lecturer not to repeat himself, answer questions, or care whether you understand a topic or not. Ironically, even the unserious students would want to buckle up just to avoid another year with them.
Thus, this teaching method could:
- Put you under pressure to pass the course (by any means possible)
- Make you dread the time for the class
- Make it hard for you to approach the lecturer inside/outside the class
- Make you fight for a front seat just so you can avoid any trouble or distraction from your friend
It’s natural for you to expect such a lecturer to ask difficult questions. Regardless, this approach makes it difficult for you to desire success healthily. For others, it may be easy for them to give up on passing the course.
But Why Can’t All Nigerian University Lecturers Embrace the Learner-centered Approach?
This could be due to several reasons:
- The lecturer’s teaching qualifications
- Teaching experience
- Personal choice of method.
According to a survey conducted in the research paper–The Use of Teaching Methods and Styles In The Nigerian University System: The Curriculum and Policy for Change–on University lecturers from the South Western geo-political zone of Nigeria, the majority of the respondents have the prerequisite Ph.D. degree (73.33%) while 26.67% had degrees in Education or teacher training along with their training (Bakare, 2011).
Another research was done to determine the teaching methods used by Nigerian University lecturers. The result showed the teacher-centered method as the most used in universities.
This study concluded that classes are more teacher-centered than student-centered, revealing a trend that those who explored other teaching methods along with the teacher-centered had professional Teacher Training alongside their educational qualifications. (Bakare, 2011).
Furthermore, the teacher-centered method is the most commonly used in Nigeria, especially in Nursery and Primary Schools.
So What Happens Now?
Even though students have adapted to the teacher-centered teaching method, the student-centered method provides more benefits for you to learn and succeed efficiently in your course of study.
- Thus, there is a need for more enlightenment of lecturers on other teaching methods. Knowing them will help make the lecturer’s work easier and enable them to carry out their duties without feeling bored or tired of repeatedly using the same system.
- The University should organize a program where lecturers and students would be introduced to other teaching methods, especially the student-centered method.
- The University should provide lecturers with mandatory courses on adult education.
- Students should also be allowed to have a say in curriculum planning and what teaching method they’d prefer for each course.
Lastly, you could try, with the help of your coursemates, to reach out to your lecturer, or another lecturer that could help speak with your lecturer so an agreement can be made on how to make the teaching system better and more rewarding for both parties.
There are a lot of things to be put in place to make sure you get the maximum required tools to succeed in your course of study. But the challenges shouldn’t discourage you from studying hard. No matter what teaching method your lecturer uses, you still have to give your best at all times.
Good luck with your studies.