Think of it as Canadian Idol with a chalkboard.
This October, fans of reality TV will be treated to a slightly more refined form of entertainment. TVO’s Big Ideas program is launching a new fall series, the Best Lecturer Competition, which will pit the country’s top professors against each other (albeit in a gentlemanly way) in a competition to see who merits the title of Ontario’s most engaging university teacher. The school of the winning prof will be awarded $10,000.
These aren’t your run-of-the mill lectures-the ones you can count on not to disturb your nap in the back row. In fact, if it sounds a little like Canadian Idol, don’t be surprised.
“We’re looking for a different kind of idol,” says the website of Big Ideas, which is hosted by author Irshad Manji. The search began in the fall of 2004, and the producers of the series had to filter through 359 nominations by students and faculty members to find 30 names for its three-person jury to evaluate.
From that list of 30 professors, a team of judges whittled it down to ten, whose lectures were taped in front of their respective classrooms. Among the ten finalists, whose taped lectures will be shown on episodes of the show in October, are two professors from U of T: Megumi Harada, a math professor, and Michael Collins, a civil engineering professor.
“[Professor Collins] has a passion for his subject and an understanding of his field that is undeniable.” said one student quoted on the Big Ideas website. Both Harada and Collins were flattered by their nominations and commend TVO for producing the series.
“I liked the concept [of] putting some importance on university teaching,” Collins said. “Within the internal university we put a lot more emphasis on [research].” Robert Fulford, one of the show’s judges, agreed.
“The wonderful thing about the TVO approach is that I think there is far, far too little discussion on and analysis of lecturing,” he said. There is also very little discussion of who is and who isn’t a good lecturer, which makes it difficult to learn from each other, Fulford said.
The three jurors include author and National Post journo Fulford, Bronwyn Drainie, editor of the Literary Review of Canada, and Andrew Moodie, an actor and playwright.
“[Moodie] was more interested in their theatricality, in their ability to put stuff across from a dramatic perspective. [Fulford] and I tended to gravitate more toward content,” Drainie said of their evaluation of the 30 professors.
“You also think about whether they have sense enough to use charm and humour,” Fulford said. “Being a good lecturer is an art, some people just come to it naturally.”
“Clarity and coherence, energy and performance, and confidence and authority” were the three criteria picked by producers in judging each professor’s lectures, according to the TVO website. “In other words, we are looking for the most engaging, entertaining, and enlightening lecturer in Ontario,” producer Wodek Szemberg said.
Among the 30 professors, ten were from U of T, including Nick Mount from the English Department.
“I think anything that tries to break the wall down between the city and the university is a good thing,” he said about the show. “It’s flattering… particularly because it’s an absurd amount of work.”
Also in the top ten were four psychology professors, three humanities professors, and one physics and astronomy professor, each from other Ontario universities. Szemberg was initially concerned there would be a prejudice against professors teaching subjects such as science and math. Collins’s and Harada’s styles, however, proved difficult to ignore.
“You could tell from the way she was presenting her material that she was really engaging the students,” Drainie said of professor Harada. “She had a level of enthusiasm and energy and a creative way of talking about her subject that even though I couldn’t understand her, I could tell she was a terrific teacher.” Professor Collins struck the same chord with Drainie.
“To hear this man talk about bridges was really quite inspiring.” Professor Harada is also in the unique position of being the only woman and the only visible minority in the top ten, the significance of which she appreciates.
“As a young woman in mathematics…it made a huge difference to me that there were women mathematicians. I know how much role models mean and so if I could be a role model for…young women or young men, that would be great.”
Viewers will get a chance to vote for their champion beginning October 8 at 1:00 p.m. on TVO, either by phone or on the Big Ideas website. The lectures will be shown in pairs, beginning with Professor Collins and Professor Warren Thorngate from Carleton University on October 8. Professor Harada’s lecture airs October 29. The winner will be announced November 12.
