Should College Get Harder?

"Around twenty years ago, when I was a graduate student in English, I taught a class in a special observation room at my university's teaching center. My students and I sat around a long oval table while cameras recorded us. I can't remember which novel we discussed, but I do know what I learned when I watched the tape afterward, with a teaching coach."

"I didn't let silences go on long enough, instead speaking just when a student had worked up the courage to talk. On the plus side, she noticed I'd been using a technique she liked, which I'd borrowed from a professor of mine: it was like cold-calling, except that, after you'd surprised a student with a challenging question, you told them that you'd circle back in a few minutes, to give them time to consider what they'd say. This, she told me, was "warm-calling.""

A.I. is approaching knowledge work while college seems to be getting easier, prompting consideration of how education must adapt. A graduate student in English taught in a special observation room with cameras and reviewed recordings with a teaching coach. The coach noted classroom habits such as favoring one side when calling on students and not tolerating silence long enough for thought. The coach endorsed a technique called warm-calling, which combines surprise questions with a promise to return so students can prepare responses. Teaching provided clear purpose in explaining literature, but professional advancement centered on research, while many students were overcommitted to extracurriculars and struggled to find study time.

Read at The New Yorker