Universities must change the way they teach, says professor
1 min read
Universities are in transition. That's the view of Professor Franco Maloberti from the University of Pavia. "Technology is causing a culture shift," he asserted. "There is an increasing reliance on electronic education aids and reduced effectiveness of traditional teaching methods. Students have less interest in the fundamentals and there are fewer people asking 'why?'."
Prof Maloberti made his comments as he provided the introduction to a panel discussion on the teaching of microelectronics held at the recent Cadence Live event in Munich. "This is not good," he observed, "so we need to shape the way we teach."
He says academics should ask themselves five questions:
* What is the new role of universities?
* Who is the customer?
* What should be taught?
* How should electronics be taught?
* Where should it be taught?
He gave his answers to the questions. "Universities must shift from curiosity to research for the wealth of society," he claimed. "They should serve knowledge users, knowledge transfer and production and knowledge creators.
"Education was based on passion and focus, but today's students are impatient and expect immediate results, so we need to find the optimal way to transfer information, but we also need the resources and options."
With students not interested in the basics, he suggested a 'top down' approach might be better. "Start looking at system with which they are familiar," he suggested. "Get them interested in concepts that support teaching of the fundamentals."
He also suggested that universities might be advised to embrace remote learning more enthusiastically. "Universities should start using new tools; at the moment, we are behind. But we have to be careful," he counselled. "Remote learning has to be combined with the old methods because, while technology is important, it can be a substitute for the 'real thing'.
"After all," he said, "you don't have the same feeling online as you do when you're in front of a professor!"
His vision of the university of the future? "It will serve society, but won't act as a 'diploma mill'. It won't be just about credentials, because there will be the need to avoid creating robot graduates. And it will answer demands for multidisciplinary skills.
"It will have commitment, creativity and diversity. Tomorrow's university will be the cultivational soil for innovation and social progress," he concluded.
