I would argue that the traditional teacher-centered approach is no longer applicable for today's digital natives. Teaching using technological tools for enhancing learning is definitely better suited to the latter. Here's a conference paper I recently presented using social media for enhancing English language skills.

Best regards,

Debra

Conference Paper Debating: A Dynamic Teaching Strategy for Motivating Student...

It’s a part of the neoliberal imaginary that teaching is both a waste time and resources and that every individual is responsible for learning and can self regulate and acquire knowledge that is delivered expediently through various technologies.

In truth, when surveyed , students prefer traditional methods:

Quote from research article: "The surprising results showed that students were more appreciative of the literally "old school" approach of lectures and were less enthusiastic than teachers about using ICTs in classes....Our analysis showed that teachers think that their students feel more positive about their classroom learning experience if there are more interactive, discussion-oriented activities. In reality, engaging and stimulating lectures, regardless of how technologies are used, are what really predict students' appreciation of a given university course," explains Fusaro."

 Kamran Shaikh, Vivek Venkatesh, Tieja Thomas, Kathryn Urbaniak, Timothy Gallant, David I., Amna Zuberi. Technological Transparency in the Age of Web 2.0: A Case Study of Interactions in Internet-Based Forums. InTech, 2012 DOI: 10.5772/29082

The classroom provides a setting where critical thinking can be taught and mastered. Higher education is not so much about acquiring knowledge as it is about learning how to think, a humanistic process that most certainly cannot be taught by machines but is one that requires the mentoring capacity of a caring instructor.

Students enrolled in online and auditorium-sized courses often emerge with a degree, but lack the social networks and social skills that are built into the traditional teacher-centred classroom that lead to real opportunities to succeed in the world and gain capital. Furthermore, where does the online student enrolled in a MOOC find a letter of recommendation for an internship and grad school? 

Brilliantly said Ivo:) 

Almost everything necessary has already been said above. Personally, I wonder why these colleagues actually teaches?

Personal contact with the teacher (good), nothing can substitute.

Immediate feedback can not be any other way created - I think.

However, if the teacher only reads the text or shows slides

- and no comments - nothing to add?

If there are universities and colleges which say teaching is a waste of time, then they are not universities of  education but of something else. The transformation of society to a better and its continuation is not merely biological/natural  but social and hence educational as well. Knowledge has to be transferred and be augmented through the process of teaching.   

To find fruits of teaching we should not go far, we are the results of that noble profession, results of our parents, teachers, professors and advisers. Science develops and becomes more effective when it is augmented by an astute student of an earlier scientist. Contemporary society reached to where it s today not by simply utilizing  knowledge that was established in antiquity but by creating knowledge, that is either new or augmented from an old one,  which is better and closer to the truth. 

I have been a university possessor almost for more than 20 years and I proudly say, I produced mathematicians and professionals alike that always appreciate not only the knowledge they gained from my classes but my style of teaching- unforgettable they said. The chain of mathematicians who built the galaxy of mathematics that serves science and society today were  students of a mathematician who were inspired by their  mathematician teacher and became mathematicians themselves. 

When you teach someone you are also learning.

Only consciousness is not enough to survive, our innate power of thinking has to be employed to navigate the jungles of nature in perspective. Thinking at the same time is augmented through education: seeking knowledge, learning more principles of reasoning and arts of critical thinking, without which we are no better than any other living creature of an instinctive existence. 

Regarding not valuing education and teaching  in particular, I heard a holy wood actor saying, the years he regretted the most to waste were the ones he spent in schools, but the surprising thing is that he only went as far as grade 8. Think for the moment, if such people occupy public offices, the damage they bring to society and its future is huge.

In my point of view, teaching will be never waste of time. But, at the opposite, I consider it as the noblest function, because it transmits all kinds of knowledge from a generation to another.

Teaching is to gain and share the knowledge.. Teacher can play many roles as Guide, Researcher and many..

As a newcomer to a teaching role, I can only state that, although challenging, it is quite an enriching experience. I have learned quite a lot from the (still few) students I have had the pleasure to come across in my classes.

the thought of "Is teaching waste of time?" it self is a waste of time 

Eductionalists would not believe that at all. The developed world bears witness to something learned at schools or universities, without which it would be underdeveloped. It is as simple as that students have learned something in actual classes, developed what they have learned into research and hence we got the developed world. Active learning implies that teaching is not at all a waste of time. Even 'stupid' Edison, dismissed from school must have learned something (anything) useful to make him top inventor. Had been teaching a waste of time, we would not have such 'stupid' people dominating for centuries.   

Teaching is very much required to guide young minds in right path.I teach thermal engg subjects for which teaching is must.Because students cannot apply basics for some diagrams, derivations and problems & cannot analyse or compare. Also they fail to solve numerical problems if there is a twist in it. Best example is most of students cannot apply  First & Second laws of Thermodynamics to gas and steam power cycles & to natural phenomena, finally fail to answer questions in their project works. It is teacher who tells them, connect to previous semester subject.Most important advantage of Teaching is that at a time it reaches large number of students.

My teaching philosophy:

       After many years of teaching and supervising graduate and undergraduate students and working very hard to be an excellent lecturer, I have decided to move from being lecturer to be a MOTIVATOR.  Currently, I do not believe in the learning efficiency of lecture room teaching.  The real learning happens in the research lab, in the library, or in the course of community work.  Learning by doing, trial and error are the mottoes of successful education. I have to teach skills and knowledge. The best education is through real projects.  Therefore, my role as a Motivator is to motivate students to go to the lab, to do research lab, to go to the library, to communicate with the community, to explain physics for non-science students, to enhance the physics literacy of the university students and of the community.  In addition, I am determined to fulfill the levels of knowledge (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation) among the students. Always, I am doing my best to convey knowledge in the sense of wisdom, paired with ethics and responsibility.

The answer  is not simple, it depends on the meaning of teaching and on the students if they can learn some thing, and this could be achieved if they study and work by themselves, if they don't,  the teaching is waste of time, so it depends on the results.  What is important is the learning, and the best way for learning is the self study, while  the teacher should be just  a guidance for his students. Einstein says: I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn, and also says: the only source of knowledge is experience.