Why Teaching Is About Uncovering Ideas, Not Delivering Content Content can be delivered anywhere. Slides can be uploaded, readings shared, and lectures recorded. Digital platforms facilitate easier and faster distribution of information to students at scale. In many ways, higher education has become highly effective at delivering content. But teaching is […]
Academic Identity & Professional Learning - Reflections & Provocations - Student Learning & Engagement - Uncategorized
From Hilltop Hoods to Higher Ed: Why Silence Matters in Teaching
Recently, I was listening to Hilltop Hoods’ new album Fall From Light. On the track Rage Against The Fatigue, there’s a deliberate three-second silence between the words “cliff” and “hangers.” The first time I heard it, I thought something was wrong. But it was intentional — and it made me think about silence in teaching. In classrooms, silence is often treated as failure. When we ask a question, many of us wait less than a second before rephrasing or answering ourselves. Yet in doing so, we may be cutting off the very student voices we most want to hear…