At Wyoming Catholic College, the classroom is a sacred space, uniquely shaped by each professor with each group of students. Of the various modes of teaching, two most often come into play in the curriculum.

Lectures provide contextual and factual information, extended argumentation, and wisdom gleaned from prolonged study and experience, and sometimes they are necessary to inform and guide conversational inquiry. But lectures alone can turn students into passive learners and mere followers of “expert” opinion.

Seminars provide a strong corrective. Whole classes sometimes follow from a single question asked by the professor at the beginning of class. But free-flowing seminar discussion, though a vital tool to inculcate the habits of listening, thinking through positions, speaking, asserting, and reconsidering can disorient students if they never experience truly authoritative thought.

At Wyoming Catholic College, professors do not necessarily follow a single method but vary their approaches to suit the natures of the students and the demands of the material. Individual needs and the dynamics of particular classes require them to adjust their modes as necessary, and prudence always overrides strict adherence to a single mode.