Development of the teaching and learning process: the point of view of the student and of the professor

Abstract

In order for teaching to constitute a practice linked to the greater interests of the society, a new definition is required for the pedagogic projects of undergraduation courses that might tackle the main problems already diagnosed such as curriculum fragmentation, teaching strategies that stimulate student passivity, and poor integration between teaching, service rendering and the community. The teacher and the student play a fundamental role in this direction as they are directly responsible for these changes. The aim of the present work was to assess and compare the points of view of teachers and students from the Dentistry Course, University of Fortaleza, (UNIFOR), CE, Brazil, on the teacher’s role in the student’s learning process. For this assessment, students from the 9th semester and teachers of all knowledge areas were interviewed. The answers were classified so as to express the most common visions among the two groups. For most of the students, the best teachers were those who fell under the categories “relational” (50.0%) and “cognitive” (37.1%). For the teachers, the best students were those who fell under the category “motivation” (65.4%), relating the learning of the student to how much he is stimulated to learn. The cognitive aspect, in spite of being understood as important by both groups, was not considered the most important for the development of the teaching-learning process. When considering the motivation as the most important item to identify a good student, the teacher transfers the responsibility of the learning exclusively to the student. Having in mind the great value attributed by the student to the relationship, it is fundamental that this subject be present in the teacher’s training.