Learning at Goldsmiths
Societies need independent thinkers and professionals who can reflect, argue and create in different contexts, in informed and critical ways. Your learning experience at Goldsmiths will help you to achieve this.
We discourage you from passively absorbing ‘information’. Rather, both with help from your teachers and fellow students, you will be supported in critically interpreting and reflecting on different types of materials and data (texts, artifacts etc) so that you can become, in your own right, an independent, critical creator of new, exciting knowledge and professional practices.
Goldsmiths encourages what is called a ‘learner-centred’ approach. This means that the planning, delivery and assessment of teaching are done with the learners in mind. Their previous knowledge, expectations and understanding are key to any pedagogical effort. However, at university level, students are expected to take full responsibility for their learning, with the help, of course, of their teachers. Learning at Goldsmiths requires a large dose of independence, self-motivation and hard work. You will be expected to show such attributes increasingly. Lecturers will, of course, accompany you in this journey, with both enthusiasm and care.
Teaching at Goldsmiths is not divorced from research. On the contrary, it builds on and is connected to the exciting research that takes place in the College. This means that, during your studies, you will be exposed to cutting-edge and exciting ideas and concepts, whether at undergraduate or postgraduate level.
A large number of people work to make learning and teaching both rigorous and exciting.
Goldsmiths Learning Enhancement Unit,
January 2010
Goldsmiths' Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy