Rollins College - Tomokan Yearbook (Winter Park, FL)

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bringing the student and the professor into closer contact. During the conference period students spend their time in study, in conference with the professor, in small group discussion, in writing class papers, in preparing outlines, and in studying mat- ters incident to the mastery of the subject. Each instructor is permitted to apply the plan to his courses in the manner which he thinks best adapted to the subject studied, the catalogue states . . . The lock-step method of procedure has been largely eliminated and students are per- mitted to progress as rapidly as course require- ments and their ability require. So much for the catalogue. We shall here attempt to outline the workings of the Integrated Plan, the Upper and Lower Division Boards, etc. If we can get close to the heart of the Conference Plan in our allotted 1 500 words, our task will be finished. Quoting from an article by Dr. Rhea Marsh Smith in the Orlando Morning Sentinel, we find: The success of the Conference Plan in stimulating closer contact between instructor and student is evident to any casual visitor on campus. The col- lege is limited to 500 students, and classes to 20, preferably 15 students. The classes are small and informal in procedure ... a congenial familiarity exists on the campus as the student strives to build himself and the professor hears his problems with patience and understanding. The whole college problem is adjusted so that the student can learn both in study and in confer- ence in the presence of the instructor. Above all, the Conference Plan assumes that the student came to college to learn and encourages him to take the initiative in his own education. Each one interprets the Conference Plan in his own way Here then, are the avowed purposes of the plan, along with the means by which it is to help the student attain his ideals. Now the question is, what degree of coordination is there Tween the intention and the act ? One of the best explanations of the difficulty experienced by local debaters about the Rollins Plan is contained in the catalogue ' s claim that Each instructor is permitted to apply the Plan to his courses in the manner he thinks best adapted to the subject studied. There are roughly, about seventy-five full time instructors in Rollins ' six major departments . . . and each one interprets the Conference Plan in his own way! Therefore, while it is relatively easy to state and define the IDEALS of the Rollins Conference Plan, the at- tempts of both students and faculty members to reach any full agreement on a definition of what Gross and Ellie discover that HoS really IS the formula for Hydrogen Sulfide. — Classes are small. [27J

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LEARNING REPLACES INSTRUCTION By Dick Kelly One of the dangers of writing for so permanent a publication as a college year book is the longevity of such annuals. Thirty years hence the folly of your words leap back at you as you leaf through its yellowing pages. The newspaper or the maga- zine writer can hide behind the skirts of passing time, but the year book, like the poor, we have always with us. Hence, the tendency to weighti- ness and verbosity noticeable in most college an- nuals. The writers, conscious of their trust, in- scribe each precious word upon the pages with painstaking care. This custom we shall hereby pro- ceed to flaunt, reserving, however, the immemorial privilege of every American to get himself out of a host of dogmatic statements. If there is anything that has been cussed and discussed more than the question, What is the Conference System? we have yet to run across it, although we know the term Liberal has come in for a good deal of analysis recently, too. Before going on, suppose we see what such authorities as the College Catalogue and Professor Rhea Marsh Smith have to say on the subject. Under Conference Plan, Description of ... in the current Catalogue, we find the following : 1 he ideal at Rollins is to substitute, as far as possible, learning for instruction, to encourage the intellec- tual curiosity, an enthusiasm of the student, and to develop the individual to the limit of his ca- pacity. (Certainly a worthy aim.) Continuing, the catalogue asserts that The Conference or ' workshop plan ' is almost entirely concerned with method rather than content. One purpose of this plan is to humanize education by [26]

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the Plan is in itself, seems doomed to reach an impasse. There are scattered instances that advocates of the lecture system still perform their nefarious undercover work in the confines of the various classrooms. Still, there is little doubt that the out- lined methods of humanizing education by bring- ing student and instructor together is more gen- erally practiced in varying degree There are, of course, those few subjects which almost dictate the use of the lecture system, particularly in the Lower Division classes of 20 or more Generally speaking, classes over 20 are the exception, with some classes having as few as three or even less enrolled. Under such conditions the Conference Plan approaches its fullest realization. The Lower Division students, before choosing their major subjects, sometimes seemed disillu- sioned about the plan, but in almost every case, senior students who have narrowed down their field know that the plan is working. In the departments of Science and the Expressive Arts, students ex- perience the closest personalized education from start to finish, while in the larger, more crowded fields of Human Relations, Physical Education, English, and the Foreign Languages, the plan must wait until the chaff is separated from the wheat and the larger classes whittled down before it be- gins to work to its best advantage. The bringing together of the student and the in- structor into close contact can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending greatly upon the character, Here we see Dr. Clarke breaking the rules by lecturing personality, temperament, and wisdom of the in- structor. Here again, although for the greater part the instructor fits well into his niche as friend and counselor-instructor and leader, the law of aver- ages inevitably asserts itself, and there are those few men who would function better under the lec- ture system. At once the curse and blessing of the Conference Plan, the intimate contact between student and instructor at Rollins places a tremen- dous responsibility upon the latter. If he meets the requirements as an instructor, and fails as a friend and a counselor, he finds his sphere of influence negligible. It there is one thing the Conference Plan in- evitably develops, it is the ability on the part of Intimate contact places a tremendous responsibility upon the Instructor Second hour is spent in study. m i