Outdated Curriculum
What I would like to know is what can i do to keep intrest in my class when I present information that is over 20 years outdated and is no longer relevant?
I have a similiar situation in teaching technology that is beyond it's prime. I attempt to illustrate it's relevance by comparing today's high tech. vs it's origin to what was first designed. Most students have no knowledge or interest in the past. What they fail to comprehend is the birth of what's new today is based on what was. Some information and techniques are timeless.
I always try to relate to the student, regarding outdated material, is that you have to understand the basics and the evolution of the technology. You just have to then supply them with the current info.
I know that the curriculum is outdated so i use that as a history lession as well as informing them what they can expect out there in the real world
Hello Robert, I agree that teaching information that is dated can be a challenge. However, we are instructors; our job is to bring relevance and value to the student experience. We must find a way through our own knowledge and create linkages for the learners to hold onto. What happened one hundred years ago in thermodynamics matters to what is going in that field now.
mayda, one possibility is to augment the current curriculum. Teach to the learning objectives assigned but you can also add some of your own materials to make the course more relevant. Current events is another option. As you teach to the curriculum you can introduce current events as they relate to the subject matter.
James Jackson
An outdated curriculum is an unnecessary risk for our adult students and you as the professor. We are responsible for the academic progress and learning of our students and as such we MUST teach the current information available to our students. In your position, I would definitely sit with the head of the curriculum department and address the issue immediately, we can assist the department head in researching the latest edition of curriculum available to that specific subject or academic area your are assigned to. If curriculum is not relevant to today's market and life then students will not benefit much from the given instruction.
I think that teaching the older information also helps to understand the new systems in a transmission how the new parts work compaired to the old.
i try to teach the material for the the test and then expand on tht information to make it relavant to today.
I deal with this issue as well. We are not allowed to remove any information from the presentations but we can add anything we see fit. I have taken the time to add extra material and power points to my classes. This has had a great affect in several ways. One the students get information that is current and up to date and two, their response to the added information excites them because I have had many of them tell me that they have never had an instructor go above and beyond the normal curriculum.
Hi Robert,
I understand that teaching outdated information can be frustrating. We have to keep in mind that the knowledge that we, as journeymen and instructors, have about today’s technologies has been obtained over our years of experience: Building blocks, if you will. We know, as has been stated in this course, that learning this way, by building on existing knowledge, can be a real motivator. Most technologies that we use today derived from some of the ‘outdated’ material that we teach so it can be very useful to the student to learn and understand these older technologies. I say this because the older technologies are typically less complicated and easier to understand for most learners. This, then, gives the student a foundation of knowledge that they can build upon and can increase their motivation. Also, as I am transitioning from the older technology to the most recent (or as recent as we can go within the curriculum) I find myself getting excited all over again and this can be contagious in the classroom.
I know that cirriculum as well and turn the course more into an electrical review moreso than a history class.
I am an Automotive Instructor and our curriculum is regulated and required by our governing body. I do not have a voice in this whatsoever. The student will ask, “Which vehicles use this technology?†I can only respond truthfully. Once the cat is out of the bag the students get upset and then lose interest in the presentation. Without going in to detail of which components I am referring to, even the layman knows there is just no comparison from 1974 to 2012. I cannot even make a comparison to what we have now because we don’t use any resemblance of those systems anymore. I would have to teach my class as an Automotive History class and not Thermodynamics class. In other words I would not expect to learn how too manually hand crank a Model T in an Electronic Fuel Injection class. Only if the older information relates to the new information it can then be made to work. This is not always the case.
What you are talking about is a hard thing to do. I have found that if you use the old mixed with a little new that you are up to date on seems to work quite well. The students need to know where we came from and know where we are going. How did we get to this point and where are we going.
Robert, obviously your question is somewhat loaded so I will ask the obvious: Why are you teaching outdated curriculum? Do you have any type of voice within your institution to discuss this concern with a curriculum development team? If the content is no longer relevant then the interest level will be difficult to obtain. If through your own research you can use the outdated information to provide some type of relationship to current events then you could salvage some type of value from the information and bring some level of relevance back to your students. Sorry I am not more help here but you have hit the nail on the head, the information needs to be relevant and of value to your students for them to feel engaged and excited to learn the materials.
James Jackson
We as instructors may know that the material is outdated but not the student. I will take the older information and make sure they understand it and roll into more current information and have a class discussion. I think this is a way of giving them the best of both worlds.
