From Lecturer to Facilitator: How a William Peace University Professor Reinvented The Classroom

One day, Dr. Wade Newhouse realized he needed a different approach when it came to teaching his Ghost and Vampires class.

Newhouse concluded that the traditional sense of lecturing needed a rebrand.

“I used to see myself as the person who was going to give students access to information they wouldn’t normally get,” Newhouse said. “I’m increasingly asking myself, ‘what am I here to do?’ It might be to facilitate a conversation, but it cannot be just to give information.”

Last spring, Newhouse, the Department Chair of Humanities and Interdisciplinary Arts and Professor of English, devised a system to incorporate immersive learning into his class, putting the students in charge. His class was reading seven books, and for each one, every student was responsible for leading a 15-minute class discussion. Half of the students’ grades are based on the seven discussions they lead.

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