I taught in a university for some 35 years, and since retirement have taken a few short courses myself. I am still finding things which work. The key thing is to get people to pay attention, which (in a classroom setting) they do only about 20% of the time: there has been actual research showing this.

Critical thinking is a humbug. You can’t teach it. Class discussion is a waste of time, because usually everyone not directly involved tunes out. Group discussion lets the “weak” members rely on one or two of the more vocal ones: it gets nowhere slowly. Teachers like it because it fills the class time, but it is a very inefficient way to teach.

What works is very rapid delivery, with only short questions allowed; followed by an instant test. I was in a course run that way, and everyone was at peak of attention for FOUR HOURS straight. It was a evening class, and everyone went home to sleep afterwards, and dreamed the material. Our retention was phenomenal. We had also some practical (lab) instruction, and separate tests for that.

What I learned was that short quizzes should be given right after the material is delivered. This reinforces the material, and it obliges the class to PAY ATTENTION, which is an acquired habit, and a key to learning. No “going home to review” first, which is usually just an excuse for procrastination.

A test right after presentation solidifies the information in the minds of the auditors, and also builds confidence and real self-esteem. It even seems to stimulate interest in the material.

Original thinking will mean something, once the basic material is mastered. I think that most people are quite good with coming up with new ideas, once they have some background in a field. Looking at alternatives comes naturally.

It reminds me of grade-school teachers who spend (or waste) hours of time trying to “stimulate the imaginations” of their charges. I have never yet met a normal kid who did not have imagination! What they need training in is FOCUS: most children do not have that in today’s world. It is partly because their teachers are lazy, and find it easier to go into some “activity” than actively to teach. Thus, today’s children cannot even write by hand. They lack the ordinary ability which is a basis of drawing, art in general, and even simple mechanical skills.

People generally enjoy doing what they are good at. Give a person skills, and they are likely to enjoy the exercise of their new abilities.

- Doug

One of the strange things management experts have learnt, is performance improves following company training, even when the training isn’t relevant to the job.

FEAR shuts down and kills critical thinking.

I completely agree with your attitudes and find your peers’ comments downright scary and evidence of why/how ponderous methodologies get created. The “people are lazy” attitude goes along with the “problems are failures of individual will” view of quality, so find the guilty and punish them.

Such massive distrust is what needs to be assessed, evaluated and “fixed.”