Teaching and Learning
The Trust Gap in Higher Education (Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed, June 2, 2023): Distrust is not conducive to learning. It makes the teacher-student relationship adversarial. Mistrust undercuts the sense of connection and community that can make the classroom a shared space where collaboration and transformation can take place.
Why Are Grades Going Up? (Beckie Supiano, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 1, 2023): Some readers (including Elizabeth Manwell from Kalamazoo College) reflect on what she thinks are behind rising grades (both the positive and the negative).
Measuring Up: How to Manage Those Dreaded Course Evaluations (Jane S. Halonen and Dana S. Dunn, June 1, 2023): Post-pandemic, have students’ comments on your teaching seemed harsher than ever?
AI and Higher Ed
How Chat GPT Could Help or Hurt Students With Disabilities (Beth McMurtrie, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 26, 2023): Teaching experts urge professors and administrators to consider how artificial-intelligence tools can help students learn and succeed.
How Will Artificial Intelligence Change Higher Ed? (Chronicle of Higher Education, May 25, 2023): ChatGPT is just the beginning. 12 scholars and administrators explain.
The Humanities
The Humanities Will Never Die Redux (John Warner, Inside Higher Ed, June 2, 2023): What we learned from Succession (warning: spoilers!!).
Free Speech on Campus
Preparing the Campus for a Controversial Speaker (Spencer D. Kelly and Yukari Hirata, Inside Higher Ed, May 31, 2023): A case study in how to build receptivity among students, faculty, and staff to a controversial invited speaker.
Affirmative Action
As Supreme Court Considers Affirmative Action, Colleges See Few Other Ways to Diversity Goals (Collin Binkley, AP, May 31, 2023): At Amherst College, officials have estimated that going entirely race-neutral would reduce Black, Hispanic and Indigenous populations by half.
Most in US Say Don’t Ban Race in College Admissions, But Its Role Should Be Small (Collin Binkley and Emily Swanson, AP, May 30, 2023): A May poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 63% say the Supreme Court should not block colleges from considering race or ethnicity in their admission systems.
On the Bookshelf
Readers of the Chronicle of Higher Education have been recommend some summer reading (old favorites). These three connect brain science to teaching.
James E. Zull, The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning: “I found it helpful to understand the basis for many of the practices I thought were effective. It is also helpful to be able to explain to students why the things I ask them to do help them learn efficiently. It gives the students another reason to commit to the activities.” [Michael Rogers, an associate professor of mathematics at Oxford College of Emory University]
Saundra Yancy McGuire, Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate Into Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation: “This book was a wake-up call that most students don’t come to us with [background] knowledge, and yet having good academic skills is a huge part of college success. I now include metacognition and study strategies in my introductory biology course throughout the semester, and I have had a lot of students thank me for it.” [Ann M. Davis, a lecturer at Texas Woman’s University]
Daniel Willingham, Why Don’t Students Like School? A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom (second edition): “This book does a fine job describing what cognitive scientists know about how humans learn.” [Bill Goffe, a teaching professor at Penn State]
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)