Learning legacy
Education pioneer Emeritus Professor Richard White AM FASSA (PhD 1972) was the first Monash student to become a Monash professor.
Emeritus Professor Richard White AM FASSA (PhD 1972)
Over the past 40 years he has witnessed some major changes in teaching and learning at Monash University, both as a student and staff member.
Professor Richard White's teaching and research career spans much the same era as the creation and growth of Monash University and the Faculty of Education in which he predominantly worked.
As the University's first undergraduate students neared the completion of their degrees in 1964, the Faculty of Education was established. Five years later, he left his school teaching career to take up a Monash scholarship. He was one of five full-time research students in the faculty.
"The faculty had one photocopier, which produced grainy images on chemical paper," he recalled. "Research students had a small allowance for the number of pages they could copy. As a result I copied only a few papers, mostly by Robert Gagné on learning hierarchies, and read and re-read them until I understood thoroughly the ideas behind them."
His thesis focused on those learning hierarchies. Since no proper statistical test existed for the validation of a learning hierarchy, Professor White set out to invent one. He developed his hand-drafted thesis using now-primitive technology and with few thesis models to follow.
"The University had one computer, a CDC3200. Its total memory was 3,200 kilobytes and it had a building to itself in the north-west corner of the (Clayton) campus," he said. "The faculty's desk calculators were large, slow, clumsy and heavy. They could add, subtract, multiply and, given 30 seconds or so, divide."
After completing his degree in 1972, Professor White joined the University's staff as a lecturer. In 1977 he was promoted to Associate Professor and 1981 appointed Professor of Educational Psychology. He was Dean of the Faculty of Education from 1994 to 1999 and Pro Vice-Chancellor London in 2000 and 2001.
"One of the first things I noticed about Monash was its general youthfulness. There was an energy and optimism about the place," said Professor White of those early days.
"Youth, both of its members and of the faculty itself, brought energy and enthusiasm and a readiness to try new ways. The faculty may have been fortunate that most of us forgot that we were getting older, so that enthusiasm continued through the decades."
The former Dean said Monash University's education faculty sparked Australia-wide interest in education research, setting the lead for other institutions to follow. During the 1970s, the faculty produced around half of Australia's PhDs in education.
The outcomes of Professor White's work on how students learn spurred others to carry out similar research. During the 1980s, he assisted one of his own students, John Baird (MEd 1981, PhD 1984) and teacher Ian Mitchell to develop the Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL), which made groundbreaking findings about learning practices, became internationally recognised and had a significant effect on primary and secondary school teaching.
"We found teachers didn't like when students asked questions but asking questions is how students learn best. PEEL promoted a move away from rote learning, teaching students to think for themselves. The outcomes of PEEL still flourish 23 years on," he said.
Professor White believes this is just one of many examples of Monash University's ability to grow and modernise over its 50-year history, a characteristic forged by the vigour, optimism, collegiality, enthusiasm, passion, and verve of the faculties in their youth.
"Monash has always had the flexibility to move with the times according to changing needs and responsibilities, which I'm sure will continue," he said.