Brown reflects on ‘unsurpassed’ teaching and learning at Brown lecture

Rice celebrates teaching excellence at 2018 University Awards Ceremony

As the recipient of last year’s George R. Brown Prize for Excellence in Teaching – Rice University’s highest teaching award, James Brown reflected on “unsurpassed” teaching and learning when he presented the 2018 Brown Lecture on Teaching Excellence April 25 to a standing room-only crowd in Duncan Hall’s McMurtry Auditorium. He is a professor of economics in the School of Social Sciences.

As the recipient of last year’s George R. Brown Prize for Excellence in Teaching – Rice University’s highest teaching award, James Brown reflected on “unsurpassed” teaching and learning when he presented the 2018 Brown Lecture on Teaching Excellence April 25 to a standing room-only crowd in Duncan Hall’s McMurtry Auditorium. Photo by Jeff Fitlow.

The lecture was part of the annual University Awards Ceremony, hosted by Rice’s Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE). Brown was introduced by his colleague, George Zodrow, the Allyn R. and Gladys M. Cline Chair in Economics.

“It’s certainly a great pleasure to introduce Professor James Brown,” Zodrow said, noting that Brown really needed no introduction as he had stood on the podium “many times before.” His numerous teaching accolades over the years include the George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2013 and the George R. Brown Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2009. Brown was also honored with the Sarah A. Burnett Teaching Prize in the Social Sciences in 2010.

Zodrow noted that over the years, he’s had the pleasure of looking at Brown’s student evaluations and said they are the most laudatory he has ever seen. He then read one to the audience.

“Dr. Brown is a phenomenal teacher,” the evaluation said. “He is a sensational instructor who cares deeply about his students and has a knack for getting students to think independently and engage with the material. He has a staggering mastery of economics – so much so that he lectures without notes while pesenting highly complex topics in a manner that is enlightening, entertaining and engaging. Without a doubt, he is one of the finest instructors whose course I have had the pleasure of taking. I have no doubt that the concepts I have learned from his class will stay with me for the rest of my life. It is rare to encounter a professor with so much passion for what he does who can share that enthusiasm so effectively.”

Audience members applaud at the 2018 University Awards Ceremony. Photo by Jeff Fitlow.

After taking the stage, Brown said that while his lecture was not intended to be a “how-to” on achieving unsurpassed teaching and learning, he wanted to reflect on goals he hopes to achieve in teaching and challenges he has faced in trying to reach these goal

“Our mission statement identifies unsurpassed teaching as something to which we aspire,” Brown said. “But what is unsurpassed teaching? How do we recognize it if we see it, and how do we know if we ourselves have achieved it?”

Although the notion is subject to differing interpretation, unsurpassed teaching serves as a concept worthy of aspiration to the extent that it reflects the desire to excel in serving students, Brown said.

Brown said he personally interprets the notion of unsurpassed teaching as simply trying to teach each semester and each class better than he has before, but emphasized that judging whether he had met even that modest goal was difficult.

Noting that students differ in the type of instruction that would be best for them individually, Brown said that in choosing the pace of the course, complexity of his lectures, frequency and difficulty of exams and the myriad other factors that exist in the teaching of every course, these decisions inevitably involve trade-offs with regard to how well different students learn.

“If all students were identical, we’d have no problems; I’d do what is best for every student,” Brown said. “But since students differ in the particular things that might be best for them, I have to face these trade-offs. What’s best for one student might not be best for all, and what’s best for the group might not be best for any one particular student.”

Brown said that the only way to avoid these trade-offs between different students’ learning outcomes would be to completely individualize instruction of the course, which is impossible given time limitations. At the end of each semester, he said, he invariably wonders if he has “struck the right balance.”

To individualize instruction as much as possible and make sure his students grasp course material, Brown makes every effort to be available for them. As his students often note, this includes providing his cell and home phone numbers so students can get in touch with him and receive help on short notice at almost any time. It also includes regular Sunday afternoon review sessions, extra weekly lectures (a recent innovation) and extensive hours of availability outside of class. Brown noted that his efforts are supplemented by a large group of undergraduate volunteer teaching assistants, who generously provide almost unlimited on-campus assistance at night.

“I think it’s almost impossible for students to be unable to get help in my class pretty much whenever they want it,” Brown said. “Ultimately, I want my students to know what it feels like to understand something completely so that they will never settle for anything less when they study other topics.”

Brown said that he also strives to make teaching more than just presentation of course material. “Teaching should be personal,” he said.

“To whatever extent it is possible, I think it’s hugely important to know students individually, and to demonstrate to them, so that they have no doubt, how heavily invested you are in seeing that they have long-term success,” he said. “I think this can make a big difference for most students, but particularly for students who might otherwise struggle in their time at Rice. I think to the extent that we foster these types of personal connections, this will diminish disparities in learning outcomes as students progress through their years at Rice.”

Brown said that, ultimately, he has always believed that if a teacher wants to teach and really cares about a student’s learning and the student wants to learn, good things will happen.

“We’re really fortunate here at Rice that the university has brought together so many teachers who really want to teach and so many students who want to learn,” said Brown, who also received the George R. Brown Certificate of Highest Merit.

Following Brown’s lecture, the 2018 University Awards were presented. Winners were announced in the April 23 edition of Rice News and can be found here.

“At the CTE, we are really privileged to work with so many amazing educators, graduate students and undergrads,” said Josh Eyler, director of the CTE. “For us, this ceremony is the culmination of every exciting academic year.”

Rice President David Leebron addressed the attendees, congratulating the award winners and commending them on their “extraordinary” sense of dedication to Rice’s students.

“Today is one of those days you feel distinctly privileged to be a member of this community,” he said.

Rice Provost Marie Lynn Miranda closed the event, calling the Rice faculty “a group of incredibly smart people who could have chosen to do any number of things with their lives.”

She said Rice’s faculty members “made what I think is just an extraordinary choice to commit their lives to advancing the knowledge frontier and training the next generation. I find that choice one to be admired, and one that is just absolutely spectacular and the best reflection of what we are trying to do in higher education.”

For more information on the Center for Teaching Excellence, visit http://cte.rice.edu.