Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

Last 2 days have been passed in classes of "Learning and Teaching in Higher Education". During the doctoral studies it has been one of most practical courses, providing necessary skills for a lecturer to be. Or if not a lecturer, then at least it is useful for the pedagogical training (at the university) that happens to be compulsory for all doctoral students. Anyway, the course has been fantastic so far - it is interesting and amusing - what and how we've learned.

So far we've been introduced key theories of learning, different learning outcomes and ways of assessment. For me, this course has a strong connection with another one, passed during fall semester - about e-learning methods and environments as we have to plan the course here as well. So I can upgrade the plan I created then - but now I've got a clearer vision about how to do it. It also has a strong connection with the e-learning course on information literacy that I'm tutoring - it is easier to understand what are we doing on this course and what am I doing as a tutor and also - why are we doing things we do there. This course is also connected with the publication on information literacy I'm about to write with my colleagues in spring - helping to discuss on different methods when teaching such a key skill like information literacy.

What surprised me most is that when you are planning a course according to an outcome-based model the outcome comes first and the content is the last thing to worry about. So far I was thinking that the lecturer must have a very good idea of the content, then s/he starts to plan the course and finally thinks about assessments, homeworks.... But it is all vice versa. Isn't there a danger that the content of the information that should reach to the learner is too much on the background? Of course, I'm also not in favor of endless lectures and forgetting other things but the content (as knowledge sharing process should be interesting for both learner and teacher)... So I presume I should find my own way somewhere between those two approaches. If there will ever be a chance, of course.

Anyway, I haven't just wasted those 2 days after last doctoral seminar, but now I have a deadline to catch.