In his later years, Edward Dobson concentrated on education. He had lectured since the 1860s, and his lectures to the Christchurch High School are regarded as "the first attempt to make Physical Science a branch of regular instruction in this colony". He published papers for the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury and the Institution of Civil Engineers in London, which awarded him the Telford Medal for the 1868–1869 session for a paper entitled "The public works of the province of Canterbury, New Zealand".