Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.

Colloquium Addresses Teaching

CAPACITY CROWD
Colloquium Addresses Teaching
By Robert C. Di Iorio	
News Office
A capacity Kresge Auditorium audience and a faculty-student panel, both 
stimulated skilfully by former governor and presidential candidate 
Michael S. Dukakis in the role of interlocutor, engaged in a frank 
exchange October 9 on the gut issue of teaching and research at MIT.
The event, "Teaching Within A Research University," was the concluding 
event of MIT's inaugural year. President Charles M. Vest, whose 
inauguration the symposium celebrated, said he could think of no subject 
"more worthy of our attention-yours and mine-than the question we 
explore today."
In his opening remarks, President Vest paid tribute to the late 
Professor Margaret MacVicar, MIT's first dean for undergraduate 
education, who died September 30 after a year-long battle with cancer. 
He called her "an educator par excellence" who would be asking the 
toughest questions if she were at the colloquium, and proposed 
dedicating the event to "our teacher, our colleague, our friend-Margaret 
MacVicar."
President Vest introduced the panelists and, in his words, "unleashed" 
the interlocutor. 
The panelists, seated on the stage, were: Robert J. Birgeneau, dean of 
the School of Science; Yonald Chery, a graduate student in electrical 
engineering and computer science; Woodie C. Flowers, professor of 
mechanical engineering; J. David Litster, vice president and associate 
provost for research and director of the Francis Bitter National Magnet 
Laboratory; Joel Moses, dean of the School of Engineering; J. Mark 
Davidson Schuster, associate professor of urban studies and planning; 
Colleen M. Schwingel, a senior in the Sloan School of Management; Robert 
J. Silbey, head of the Department of Chemistry; Irene Tayler, professor 
of literature; and Jacquelyn Ciel Yanch, Class of 1958 Assistant 
Professor and assistant professor of nuclear engineering. Dr. Yanch also 
has an appointment at Whitaker College.
Mr. Dukakis moved about on the stage during the discussion, asking 
questions of various panelists, sometimes turning to the audience for a 
show of hands on a question and frequently making comments that brought 
out more focused statements. Video images of whoever was speaking or of 
the audience were displayed on a large screen at the rear of the stage.
Mr. Dukakis, in his opening request for comments, asked about the 
perception that teaching at MIT was seen as a burden, sort of a tax one 
pays to be a faculty researcher.
Ms. Schwingel said there is more lip service than serious attention paid 
to teaching despite the words of the Faculty Policy Handbook which state 
that becoming inspiring teachers is the primary duty of junior faculty. 
Professor Silbey, on the other hand, thought "lip service" was a bit 
overstated and said most faculty want to be good teachers. His 
department videotapes classroom presentations and requires that 
professors see themselves in action, he said. Dean Moses said the School 
of Engineering pays close attention to teaching and tenured faculty 
members attend the classes of those eligible for tenure in developing 
recommendations on whether to award it.
Mr. Dukakis, now a visiting professor of political science at 
Northeastern University, interjected that it was his impression, based 
on earlier discussions with the panel, that a great researcher who was a 
mediocre teacher was much more likely to be tenured than a great teacher 
who was a mediocre researcher.
There was discussion on the lack of an Institute-wide formal program to 
teach professors and graduate students how to teach. Professor Schuster 
said resources devoted to developing teaching were declining. He 
recalled the former Educational Video Resources program which he said 
was staffed with people who could evaluate videos of professors in the 
classroom. Now, he said, videos can be obtained, but no evaluation is 
provided.
Provost Mark S. Wrighton, who summed up the panel discussion and the 
audience interchange, called the colloquium "extraordinary" and 
"engaging" in terms of the level of participation and interaction.
Following the Kresge Auditorium event, each academic department had 
individual discussion meetings with students.