Teaching and Learning
How to Help Students Learn from Setbacks/Final Grades in an Ungraded Course (Beckie Supiano, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 18, 2024): Insights from a recent study on how students learn from “critical incidents” — challenges that raise negative emotions — in an entrepreneurship course. Supiano also suggests some recent articles about the problem of assigning final grades in an ungraded course.
Success Program Launch: Encouraging Dialogue on Controversial Topics (Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed, January 17, 2024): A new initiative from Dartmouth College helps students engage in academic inquiry by having challenging conversations with their peers.
In Defense of Remedial Math (Gerald Arnell Williams, Inside Higher Ed, January 17, 2024): Corequisite math isn’t for everyone, and remedial math can be transformational.
Removing Financial Barriers to Study Abroad (Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed, January 16, 2024): To make international education experiences more equitable and accessible, colleges and universities have implemented programs to reduce or remove costs related to study away.
Collaboration for Teaching and Learning in the Round (Eric Johns and Jon Dorbolo, Educause, December 5, 2023): Colleges and universities often need to balance educating a great number of students with the desire to encourage interactive and engaging teaching styles. One innovative approach is learning-in-the-round classroom design.
The Plagiarism Wars
Creative Thievery and the Higher Cribbing (Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed, January 19, 2024): Thinking seriously about scholarly originality, borrowing, appropriation, and theft.
Higher Education under Siege
Higher Education in Political Crosshairs as 2024 Election Heats Up (Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed, January 16, 2024): With higher education becoming more politicized, it’s poised to play a more prominent role than usual in this year’s presidential and congressional elections. The outcomes will carry huge policy implications.
Why Political Attacks on Elite-College Leaders Should Come as No Surprise (David Jesse, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 16, 2024): Using campuses as political foils is a tradition that goes back a couple of centuries. “Part of the tradition,” one expert said, “is to be surprised by it.”
The Next Battle in Higher Ed May Strike at Its Soul: Scholarship (Anemona Hartocollis, New York Times, January 14, 2024): Cases involving Stanford, Harvard and M.I.T. are fueling skepticism over the thoroughness of research — even from the academic world’s biggest stars.
DEI on Campus
3 Ways That Anti-DEI Efforts Are Changing How Colleges Operate (Alecia Taylor, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 18, 2024): Some physical spaces, policies, and courses are being affected.
Amid National Backlash, Colleges Brace for Fresh Wave of Anti-DEI Legislation (J. Brian Charles, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 16, 2024): A Chronicle analysis has identified at least 19 bills that aim to ban a slate of efforts aimed at making colleges diverse, equitable, and inclusive.
Extra Credit Reading
The Messy Fight Over the SAT (David Leonhardt, New York Times/The Daily, January 17, 2024): Podcast with transcript (28 min.) on the new research regarding SAT exams and whether they are actually predictive of college success or discriminatory.
Who’s Canceling Whom? (David Cole, New York Review of Books, January 11, 2024): Conservatives often charge their opponents with “cancel culture,” but the right poses as significant a threat to free speech as the left.
Conferences
What Works in 2024? Building for the Future of Higher Education: The Center for Innovative Pedagogy at Kenyon College invites presentations on teaching and learning for a virtual conference the week of May 29-31, 2024.
This conference is an opportunity for faculty and academic support professionals to share their experiences innovating for the classroom. Your proposal should include an explanation of how your session would apply to the teaching of undergraduates in small colleges and universities. These can be lessons learned in larger institutions that would also apply to smaller settings.
We will consider all proposals that would apply to undergraduate education at a small college or university, but we especially want to encourage proposals in three areas:
- approaches designed to benefit emerging student populations
- creative and responsible uses of new educational technologies
- recently discovered challenges and attempts to address them
Propose a session at https://forms.gle/WM4k33Y8RkSwrur29. Deadline to submit is Friday, March 15. Proposals submitted after this date may still be considered. Presenters will be notified of their acceptance status by March 29.
A GLCA-funded Opportunity to Add an International Connection to a Course
Do you want your students to make gains in intercultural understanding? You are invited to partner with a university in a different country for a high impact and low-cost way to bring global perspectives into a course. Global Course Connections (GCC) will help you find a course partner abroad, invite you to their summer workshop at the American University in Bulgaria (airfare, lodging, and most meals paid for), and provide a $500 stipend at course completion. Click here to learn more and follow the steps to participate.
CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS: Pedagogies of Care: Compassion, Inquiry, and Reflection in Education (Co-Editors: Dr. Mindith R. Rahmat, PsyD, Antioch College, Alliant International University; and Dr. Amy Osborne, PhD, Antioch College)
Proposals Submission Deadline: February 3, 2024
Pedagogies of Care: Compassion, Inquiry, and Reflection in Education will be a comprehensive exploration of innovative and compassionate teaching practices designed to create more inclusive, supportive, and engaging learning environments. Drawing on research from the fields of education, psychology, and counseling, this book will provide educators with practical strategies and insights to transform their teaching methods.
The editors seek to bring together a diverse range of perspectives and insights on the integration of compassion and care into educational practices. They welcome contributions from educators, researchers, and practitioners across all levels of education, including K-12, higher education, and adult learning contexts; both theoretical and practical insights, as well as case studies and empirical research, that showcase innovative approaches to pedagogies of care.
Recommended Topics:
- Trauma-informed Pedagogies ● Culturally Responsive Pedagogies ● Compassionate Pedagogies ● Restorative Justice Pedagogies ● Mindfulness and Self-care Pedagogies ● Social-emotional Integrated Pedagogies ● Holistic Pedagogies ● Engaged Pedagogies ● Upgrading and Alternative Assessment Pedagogies ● Universal Design for Learning Pedagogies ● Cooperative/Collaborative Pedagogies ● Growth Mindset Pedagogies ● Empathy-focused Pedagogies ● Experiential Pedagogies ● Critical Pedagogies ● Reflective Practice Pedagogies ● Metacognitive Pedagogies ● Well-being Pedagogies
Submission Procedure: Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before February 3, 2024, a chapter proposal of 1,000 to 2,000 words clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors will be notified by February 17, 2024, about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by April 6, 2024, and all interested authors must consult the guidelines for manuscript submissions prior to submission. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis.
Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.
Publisher: This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), an international academic publisher, in 2025.
Inquiries: Dr. Mindith R. Rahmat, PsyD (Antioch College, Alliant International University): mrahmat@antiochcollege.edu
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)