One of my courses this year is new to me, I am taking over from excellent colleagues who worked hard to make the course effective, but students universally hated it, and most did very poorly in the assessments.

I am not sure why and how that happened. My colleagues really tried hard to get it right. They were committed and conscientious.

One unfinished thought:

Students were worried about the exam and asked for guidance, practice questions, extra revision material, recordings. All exam-related.

My colleagues caved in and offered all those things.

That sucked the life out of the learning process. Everything became exam prep, and even the best students no longer heard the subject matter speak to them.

Good teaching teaches the subject first, and then helps students to show they learning in the assessment. The minute you teach _for_ the assessment, the student's mind becomes closed to the living voice of the subject.

#teaching