October 22, 1999

It Was the Most Boring Course I Ever Took, but It Led to a Valuable Lesson

By ROBERT L. WOLKE

An oft-expressed aim of colleges and universities is to achieve and maintain a high level of instructional effectiveness -- or, in the vernacular of superlatives that institutions of higher education love to use, "excellence in teaching." Indeed, during the 10 years that I directed the University of Pittsburgh's Office of Faculty Development, my focus never wavered from promoting good teaching. Perhaps I should have paid more attention to bad teaching.

Good