Last lecturer has the final word on classroom crises

The financial and monetary crisis in the European Union can be used as an analogy for the teaching and learning experience according to the 2011 Last Lecture winner.

Dr Ben Wellings from the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences was selected from a pool of more than 70 lecturers by over 700 students to deliver the annual talk which celebrates the end of the academic year.

Speaking to a packed Hall at University House, Dr Wellings outlined the currency crisis which was sending shock waves through financial markets in the European Union and beyond.  He told the assembled students and staff that teaching and learning experiences in the classroom also generated the same sense of crisis and uncertainty.

“One of the best things that I have done while teaching was to devote one week in a course to teaching and learning: the responses were very interesting. There was some initial hostility and I was told by some students that they didn’t ‘have time to learn, I have assessments due’.

“And while all this work and assessment is good for time management skills, if all we are doing at University is to accidently teach coping strategies then we are failing. This brings me to that magic word, ‘fail’.

“It all seems quite logical really: if you get an assessment wrong you fail.  If you get it right, we give you high marks; you get a better job after university, marry someone better looking and lead a happier life.

“But this leaves you little room to get things wrong which is a pity as getting things wrong is an essential part of learning.

“Of course, consequences may vary from discipline to discipline. I feel comfortable with allowing space for students of European politics and history to ‘get it wrong’; if you are an engineer and are designing a bridge, please get it right.”

Read Dr Welling’s take on the recent UK voting referendum in the ANU Reporter.