Over the last few months, I have spent quite some time reading, researching and visiting a number of institutions that claim some kind of academic innovation. In many cases, I was frustrated to find that the innovation touted in papers and conferences, in fact did not amount to much or in some cases had simply disappeared. So this is my list of things that I found interesting. Continue reading “Learning Innovation”
The New Education
In this very recent book, Cathy Davison argues that p
ost-secondary education is in need of a significant shake up. So add this book to the many other calling for educational reform. What makes this book at least slightly different is that the author certainly has the experience to make this claim and its somewhat optimistic tone. She writes two particularly compelling chapters on technophobia and technophilia. In the former she shows several examples of how avoiding technology use in the classroom can limit the active learning possibilities for students. In the latter she warns that the use of technology needs to be anchored in grounded academic thinking while at the same time tossing a few bricks at the for-profits with a serious nod towards the work of Tressie Cottom in “Lower Ed”.
She calls for a lowering in the cost of education and the revision of pedagogy to more active and experiential learning. This I have heard many times before but still remain unconvinced that the strategies presented in this work offer a particularly viable and sustainable path forward. Some time is spent on the firing of Alexander Coward for not conforming to traditional Berkley standards and trying new ways of assessment – she is clearly not a fan of standard testing or grades. I have to agree with the former, standard testing is not a particularly helpful educational technique but I am less sure about eliminating grades (yet!).
The most disappointing for me was the last chapter titled “the future of learning” unfortunately there was little meat, other than some interesting work that Georgetown U is doing that I am not sure was particularly scalable.
If you looking for a book to get you more motivated to try new techniques and abandon standard testing that provides the evidence to do it – then this is it. If you are looking for an answer for the problems and issues facing post-secondary education, then this is not it …. oh and when you find that please let me know.
The Perfect Undergraduate Curriculum
The holy grail of university education still remains elusive and maybe that is as it should be. Why should one size fit all, the assumption that there is one perfect undergraduate experience at university seems deeply flawed to me. However, that has not stopped armies of academics and commentators writing about it and it is not going to stop me. Continue reading “The Perfect Undergraduate Curriculum”
The Undergraduate Experience
A very optimistic look at the future of undergraduate education and a refreshing change from the catalog of books on this subject that are convinced that universities are finished.
The authors (Peter Felten, John Gardner, Charles Schroeder, Leo Lambert and Betsy Barefoot) hail from US universities and colleges of various shapes and sizes. The book is easy to read and crammed full of examples of undergraduate innovation at a multiplicity of institutions.
Undergrad Curriculum Based on Happiness?
Perhaps you have read about Bhutan and its measurement of Gross National Happiness an idea that definitely has my support. At a recent visit to Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico as well as its sister institution Universidad TecMilenio, I was somewhat surprised to find that they have taken institutional ownership of the concept of happiness in a serious way. A brief search on happiness reveals a mixture of results from fairly serious articles on positive psychology to some shall we say less peer reviewed views on what makes for happy people. However, no doubt that many people are taking the whole concept of happiness very seriously indeed. Continue reading “Undergrad Curriculum Based on Happiness?”
We’re Losing Our Minds
Rethinking American Higher Education by Richard Keeling and Richard Hersh is yet another book describing the train wreck that is higher education and demanding change. I have to admit to being somewhat tired of reading about the dreadful state of higher education but this book goes beyond that with a detailed prescription of what we need to do (which is also subject to some debate.