Abstract:
Solving today's complex water problems requires originality, creative thinking and transdisciplinary approaches. University education, that was traditionally teacher centred, where the students look up to the teacher for expertise and information, should change to better prepare water experts to develop new knowledge and apply it in new contexts. An important first step towards this goal is to change the concept of education in the educators' minds.

We attempt to analyse the issue of shifting the concept of education in the teachers’ mind in the framework of teaching styles. We argue that, while one teaching-style is not inherently superior to others, it is important for water educators to also learn to be facilitators and delegators.

Recently we conducted a survey on the teaching styles of the UNESCO-IHE faculty and the impact of didactic training on it^[1]. The results of this study confirmed that the didactic training (e.g. university teaching qualification programme) is producing the desired results in as far as it concerns a shift towards the sense of belonging to the desired teaching style. To what extent this shift in the sense of belonging translates into a shift in the teaching style actually applied in practice, remains to be seen.

In this seminar we discuss briefly the results of the surveys, but will spend time on issues like:

• How to measure teaching styles from student perspective?
• Does a shift in teaching style necessarily lead to better education outcome?
• Will (should) such a shift result in better student evaluations?
• Is linking learning styles of students with teaching styles a strategy for better education?

[1] On teaching styles of water educators and the impact of didactic training, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 9, 2959-2986, doi:10.5194/hessd-9-2959-2012, 2012.