Teaching and Learning
How to Encourage Students to Write in Their Own Voice (Beth McMurtrie, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 16, 2025): One professor comments that if she can get students to first focus on what they want to say, they can work on grammar, spelling, and sentence structure later.
The Present Professor – Authenticity and Transformational Teaching (Bonni Stachowiak, Teaching in Higher Ed, January 16, 2025): A 44-minute podcast in which Liz Norell shares insights from her book, The Present Professor (Univ. of Oklahoma Press).
Students on Media Literacy and How Colleges Can Help, in 6 Charts (Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, January 15, 2025): Few students rely on traditional news media for key information, but many do approach media sources with a critical eye, according to our new Student Voice flash survey. How can colleges help boost students’ media literacy?
Grading Class Participation (Tony’s Teaching Tips/Patreon, January 15, 2025): Giving scores for classroom participation is tricky because we want engaged and participatory learners, but participation has to be one of the most subjective assessments.
A Crisis of Trust in the Classroom (Seth C. Bruggeman, Inside Higher Ed, January 14, 2025): The work of teaching has never been harder.
The Ethical Quagmire of Teaching Entrepreneurship (Kyle Jensen, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 14, 2025): When large amounts of money are involved, the classroom gets complicated.
Establishing Partnerships for Real-World Learning and Student Success (Elizabeth Falzone, Faculty Focus, January 13, 2025): Educators need to strive to provide more authentic learning experiences that do not easily lend themselves to the use of advanced technologies. One way to do this is by providing experiential learning opportunities for students to demonstrate their competencies in a more real-world setting.
Are Two Disciplines Better Than One? The Push for Integrated Majors (Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, January 13, 2025): Ten colleges will launch integrated majors, which combine two existing degrees into one, to see if they lead to increased diversity and skill sets suited to the 21st century.
All Things AI
Flaws in AI Are Deciding Your Future. Here’s How to Fix Them (Rumi Chunara, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 16, 2025): Scholars need to work together across disciplines to shape more-ethical AI systems.
SUNY Will Teach Students to ‘Ethically Use AI’ (Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, January 16, 2025): As part of its existing information literacy general education requirement, students will now study the “ethical dimensions” of the technology.
Using NotebookLM to Boost College Reading Comprehension (Michelle Kassorla and Eugenia Novokshanova, The Academic Platypus/Substack, January 2, 2025): Using an free (for the moment) AI program from Google to help students understand, evaluate and analyze sources.
Affirmative Action and DEI
Anti-DEI Law is Discriminatory, Violation of Free Speech, NAACP Alleges in Federal Court (Katherine Mangan, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 14, 2025): A state’s DEI ban illegally blocks students from learning about racism, lawsuit says.
Academic Freedom and Speech on Campus
Creating Space for Disagreement on Campus (Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed, January 13, 2025): Forty-three percent of Student Voice survey respondents think a designated area on campus for civil dialogue would help with free expression.
Extra Credit Reading
Higher Ed Is Not a Public Good (Jonathan Gyurko, Inside Higher Ed, January 16, 2025): The author summarizes his arguments in his recently published book, Publicization: How Public and Private Interest Can Reinvent Education for the Common Good (Teachers College Press).
The Future of Higher Education (Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed, January 16, 2025): What disruptions in health care, media and music can teach us.
Walberg Commits to Trump Education Policies During First Committee Meeting (Rebecca Carballo, Politico Pro, January 15, 2025): Rep. Tim Walberg, (R-Mich.) said he wants to pursue education policy that addresses college affordability, expanding school choice and holding accountable schools that “allow antisemitism to run rampant.”
Wait, Freshman Enrollment Actually Increased Last Fall (Eric Hoover, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 13, 2025): The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center announced that a “methodological error” had affected its previous calculation of the number of first-year students enrolling this past fall.
How Religious Schools Became a Billion-Dollar Drain on Public Education (Alec MacGillis, New Yorker, January 13, 2025): A nationwide movement has funneled taxpayer money to private institutions, eroding the separation between church and state.
The Tiger Mother Roars Back (Peter Savodnik, The Free Press, January 13, 2025): Yale tried to run Amy Chua out. Now her former students, J.D. Vance and Vivek Ramaswamy, are headed to Washington. So is she.
Future Imperfect
Professor Says College Fired Him for Telling 3 Students U.S. Is Fascist After Election (Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, January 17, 2025): The tenured faculty member said Millsaps College argued that his email could be misconstrued as speaking on behalf of the institution. He’s appealing to the board. [For context, you might want to read in conjunction with this October 23, 2024 article from NPR.]
Why Hungary Inspired Trump’s Vision for Higher Ed (Karin Fischer, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 15, 2025): A small European country is the playbook for the president-elect and his advisers.
Laken Riley Act Could Have Implications for Higher Ed (Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, January 14, 2025): The bill would force harsher detention policies and could impact visas for lawful, documented individuals applying to work or study in the States.
How Trump Could Devastate Our Top Colleges’ Finances (Phillip Levine, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 13, 2025): A 35% endowment tax would hurt students – and society. [You might want to read an alternative view in a January 14 article by Jessica Blake in Inside Higher Ed: Colleges Expect Less Red Tape Under Trump, More Input on Policies.]
‘Their Kind of indoctrination’ (Diane Ravitch, New York Review of Books, January 11, 2025): For a range of far-right activists, Trump’s second term will be a chance to discipline public schools—and ultimately defund them.
Pro-Palestinian Columbia Professor Departs After Investigation (Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, January 10, 2025): Katherine Franke, a tenured law professor with 25 years of service at Columbia, whose interview became the subject of a university investigation, says she’s effectively been terminated.
Have a short article or some news related to teaching and learning at your institution that you’d like to share with colleagues? Send your contribution along to us. Also, please email Colleen Monahan Smith (smith@glca.org) if you have colleagues who would like to receive this weekly report.
Steven Volk (steven.volk@oberlin.edu), Editor
GLCA/GLAA Consortium for Teaching and Learning
Co-Directors:
Lew Ludwig (ludwigl@denison.edu)
Colleen Monahan Smith (smith@glca.org)