Bloom's Sixth

AUSTIN, Texas – How do students view effective teaching? They offer a partial answer each semester when they fill out end-of-course teaching surveys. Thoughtful comments from students can help instructors adapt assignments and approaches to instruction in their classes. Unfortunately, those surveys emphasize a ratings scale rather than written feedback, squeezing out the nuance. Christina Ormsbee and Shane Robinson of Oklahoma State explain results of a qualitative survey of student views of teaching at their university. To address that, staff members from the …

American higher education has taken a beating over the last 40-plus years. Many of those blows came from the outside. Many others were self-inflicted. I won’t rehash those here, other than to say that higher education has done a poor job of fighting back. Much of the time, it has seen itself as above the fray. Its arrogance not only blinded it to its own shortcomings but let critics paint an unflattering portrait that has lingered in the minds of millions of Americans. A board at the AAC&U meeting asked participants to share their thoughts about higher education. The theme of the…

Participants in the Best Practices Institute work on a backward design exercise at the Spahr Engineering Classroom. I’m always surprised at the common themes that emerge when faculty members talk about teaching. Goals and challenges transcend disciplinary boundaries, allowing for robust discussions about learning; class design and preparation; assessment; the struggles of students, and other areas of teaching. In discussions Tuesday at CTE’s Best Practices Institute,…

A session from an education conference I listened in on last week reminded me of the parallels between teaching and editing. That might seem strange, but bear with me. I used to commute on Amtrak between Philadelphia and New York City, where I worked at The New York Times. One afternoon, I sat next to a chatty woman who wanted to know all about my job as an editor. As the train sped through central New Jersey, I explained how editors scrutinize the work of others, raising questions, fixing errors, working out the kinks in articles…