In Praise of Teaching by Walking Around

The theory of Management by Walking Around (MBWA) is being compared to the notion Teaching by Walking Around (TBWA) in today's teaching blog "Tomorrow's Professor" by Rick Reis of Stanford University. The comparison and study by Shantha P. Yahanpath and Shan Yahanpath of the Sydney (Australia) Business School looked favorably on the idea of moving around a classroom rather than gluing both hands to the lectern in the front of the classroom. Well, yeah.

As a former manager who successfully and purposefully used the MBWA theory when it was first in vogue I won't say how many years ago, I understand that moving among the people you work with inevitably creates relationships that smooth the work process. And, as a manager, how can you tell when something is not working when you are holed up in your office?

Not surprisingly, the Sydney researchers found that when the instructors moved around the classroom working with individual groups of students who were working on directed projects, the learning effectiveness and morale of the students improved.

Agreed, in some classes where the student numbers are well north of 24-30, the lecture may be a tried and true way of conducting a class, but I doubt that it is the most effective. Every teaching study that I have read shows that lecturing is the least effective way of teaching. That begs the obvious question, "Why do we continue to do it?" Probably because it takes less preparation time in a busy teaching schedule. In a pinch, you open the text book and read the chapter of the day. Don't laugh, I once had an instructor do that on a particularly bad day. BTW, I count reading off a text-filled PowerPoint slide as little improvement over reading from the text. The PowerPoint should be a visual, interactive teaching aide, not a teleprompter for the instructor.

My most effective classes are those when I am working directly with the students. In small classes, this many be one-on-one or one-on-two. In larger classes, the students are broken down into larger smaller groups and directed to complete projects. This method takes advantage of the most effective way of teaching, allowing students to teach each other. When I see a student tell a student, "No try it this way," I smile, because I know that a teaching moment is developing. A student will easily accept learning from classmates.

And, just as in management, how can you tell when something is not being learned, when you are attached to the lectern at the front of a traditional classroom? Teaching, as well as managing, is an interactive activity.