We The Professors

CHANGE

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
--Barack Obama

There’s a lot written lately about being passionate, motivated, bold and a little risky as a university professor or administrator. 

Some of that writing is all for those things. And some writing simply calls those things a bit ridiculous. Some say higher education is broken. And some say those qualities above can help fix it. And some say nothing can fix it.

Three questions.

(1) Isn’t the university all about higher levels of learning?
(2) Isn’t it about the academy being a bastion of research and inquiry?
(3) Isn’t it all a serious endeavor not to be trifled with or demeaned by frivolities like passion and risk?

Yes, Yes, and no.

Higher education today must--MUST--be all about just one word: change.

• Changing the way we teach.

• Changing the way we structure our courses and programs and departments and schools.

• Changing the way we assign things and test things.

• Changing administrative structures.

• Changing our approaches to and uses of technology.

• Changing our priorities in terms of teaching, service and research.

• Changing the graduation requirements.

• Changing the way we do things to reflect the future rather than the past.

• Changing from being stuck in a rut to dreaming of an unbelievable and we-can-have-this future.

And all that change should be fun, creative, bold, risky, motivating, and, of course, passionate.

The university cannot ever stop being the bastion of all types of higher learning and inquiry. But the university and its faculty always have to be changing.

 

TESTS DON’T MEASURE WHAT REALLY MATTERS

Came across a list recently on this site that shows personal qualities not measured by tests.

It’s a brilliant set of qualities that every professor should know, should post, should discuss, and should encourage in everyone.

Just because it’s higher education doesn’t mean these sorts of terms cannot be talked about and taught.

Here are the qualities.

CREATIVITY

CRITICAL THINKING

RESILIENCE

MOTIVATION

PERSISTENCE

CURIOSITY

QUESTION ASKING

HUMOR

ENDURANCE

RELIABILITY

ENTHUSIASM

CIVIC-MINDEDNESS

SELF-AWARENESS

SELF-DISCIPLINE

EMPATHY

LEADERSHIP

COMPASSION

COURAGE

SENSE OF BEAUTY

SENSE OF WONDER

RESOURCEFULNESS

SPONTANEITY

HUMILITY     

 

READING AND MORE READING

Remember when the Harry Potter books came out? Kids young and old and older were lined up to get them and to read them. They were a phenomenon like no other. And it was all about reading. And it was great.

Yep, we all know students don’t read enough books. It's no longer a Harry Potter world. Not in high school, and certainly not in higher education. Sure, your students may read the textbooks, but it’s a relatively unique student who reads regularly for pleasure. And any teacher at any grade level knows that reading has as many benefits as almost any other educational activity. 

So, here are two ideas to help students in higher education not only read more, but to understand the pleasure, enjoyment and life benefits of reading books.

(1) Many colleges and universities have incoming freshmen read a book before arriving. Then the author often speaks during orientation and the book is subsequently discussed during the semester. That’s a great idea and should be an activity done by every higher educational institution. But why not expand the idea and have students read a book during each of their courses that is related to the subject of the course? Not a textbook, but a kind of pleasure book. A book to show students that there are great and popular books written about biology, psychology, mathematics and media. Sure, students will have to read five books if they take five courses, but…well, but why not? It’s a long semester. And what credit is this reading worth? Either extra credit or as a regular assignment with some writing and discussion.

(2) Why are there not campus reading groups? Why not required campus reading groups? Every student must belong to a group that includes 10 other students and a faculty member. A book is selected, read and discussed. Then another, and another throughout the academic year. Groups change every year and can often be organized by majors. How is credit for this activity given? It isn’t. Upon their entry into the university each student signs an honor-code-like agreement that requires their participation in this activity. Then let peer pressure and fascinating books do the rest.

Can books be required reading if they’re not attached to courses? Certainly they can. A process simply needs to be worked out that makes the activity interesting and enjoyable enough to achieve buy-in. Do students have to pay for the books. No, they should not have to pay for these books. They should be provided free either as an e-book or a print book.

What about the argument that there is enough for a prof to do without these extra books and groups to occupy their time? This is simply not a valid objection. The whole higher education enterprise is called education. Helping students find ways to become citizens who read regularly for pleasure is just another part of the educational process. It’s an important activity that simply must be done. If a course has too much to cover for reading to occur, then cover less and make time for the reading. Higher education includes understanding time management, for both faculty and students.

Hate these ideas? Do not want extra reading. Do not want to do this kind of thing. Then shame on you. Yep, shame on you.

 

DISCUSSION, DIALOGUE, QUESTIONS, READINGS AND BEGINNINGS

Often faculty have the problem of simply not being able to begin a meaningful discussion in a class. Where do you start? Do you call on students? Do you ask a question and hope for the best? Are your students so used to the fact that you lecture that they just feel like they do not need to answer questions or talk? Or maybe you’re one of those profs who ask a question, wait 10 seconds, then answers it yourself.

Regardless, there are many, many, many reasons to have meaningful discussions in most courses. Here’s how I have done it.

I assume that in your courses students have regular readings between classes, and that you expect them to come to class having done the reading. I’m also assuming the class has not too many more than 25 students.

Here’s what you do.

Walk into the classroom a few minutes early. Sit somewhere in the classroom and arrange your seat so that the class can sit around you, or at least that all of them can arrange themselves to see you. DO NOT SIT IN FRONT OF THE ROOM.  Make miscellaneous small talk with students as they enter. Be genuine. Do not fake it or force it.

When class time arrives, read a short and fascinating passage either from the reading or just a passage related to the subject of the class. (If you usually take attendance, do it later in the class.) Don’t make what you read more than two or three paragraphs. Then, ask a great—not just a good--discussion question related to what you just read. Make the question you ask something you have spent time on to make certain it is interesting enough to generate discussion. Then, wait. Make eye contact as you look at the students. Wait for an answer. Sometimes I have requested the answer also be in the form of a question.

Then move forward, waiting for other students to respond with either comments or questions. Ask questions of your own and make comments as though you were just a member of the class. But always remember that your job is also to be in charge, to keep the discussion going, and to maintain adherence to the topic.

Keep things moving quickly and significantly for 30 minutes. Then pass out note cards and ask students to summarize the key points made in the discussion. Then end the class conversation by discussing the summaries, or by providing your own perspective on the day’s topic.  But do not walk to the front of the room. Maintain your position within the confines of the class. Use your comments at the end of the class to create closure and to serve as what a teacher is, an authority figure on the understanding of the topic.

The keys to success in this type of activity are beginning with a reading and asking questions that do generate discussion. Take time to come up with things that are exactly right.

Finally, it’s obviously not necessary to do this kind of discussion during every class session. But, every few weeks it can be totally worthwhile.

  

THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE…

I’ve felt over the past month or so that there seem to be too many posts in this blog that might infer that teaching in higher education is not a great career. There also have been findings lately that too few graduate students want to become professors these days.

So allow me a personal note.

Higher education teaching, approached and pursued passionately, is one of the most respectable, most rewarding, most fulfilling careers there is. How do I know? I was a college and university professor and administrator for 40 years until I retired in 2013.

Yes, the whole enterprise changed dramatically over the years, although probably not as much as it should have changed. Students changed faster and higher education has often struggled to keep up.  But I have typed my syllabi on typewriters and on computers. I have written on blackboards and whiteboards. I have used slide projectors, 16mm film projectors, and YouTube. I have lectured, not lectured, flipped classrooms, and created endless group projects. And I have worked in the United States and abroad.

So, other than the very obvious and gratifying reasons of helping students become educated citizens, helping them understand skills, and watching them figure out the dreams they wanted to pursue, why did I find higher education interesting enough to spend a lifetime pursuing?

Because it was a sort of calling, a no-business-like-show-business string of years and decades, an endless way to always stay young because youth was all around me, and a series of beginnings and ends that brought anticipation and relief and hellos and goodbyes to a level beyond imagination. Sure the hours were long and the grading and research requirements were daunting. But every career has its hard and often tedious work.

I pursued my career because I couldn’t imagine what those businessmen who went to an office in a skyscraper and didn’t teach or advise did all day for enjoyment and satisfaction. Because of the good kids (and colleagues), the problem kids (and colleagues), the driven kids (and colleagues), and the kids (and colleagues) I knew shouldn’t be there. Because of the spotlight, the chances to shine, and to fail, and to wear different hats at different times, and to never really be bored, or know what might be coming.

Because, selfishly, tenure meant security. Because my office could be as messy as I wanted it to be and that was okay. Because books surrounded me. Because conversations were stimulating. Because it allowed me the deepest thinking and longest deliberations about subjects and disciplines. And because the rewards were so much greater than money. Higher education gave me prizes, surprises and the satisfaction that I got better and better and finally looked upon myself as the best teacher I ever was in the semester I retired.

And finally, as the song says, it was also “the costumes, the scenery, the makeup, the props, the audience that lifts you when you're down.”

Yep, being a professor is a great life.

     

CHOOSING COURSES THE WAY THEY OUGHT TO BE CHOSEN

Too many students choose courses by teacher rather than by interest or content.

“If Dr. Smith teaches the course I will not take that course no matter how much I might love the topic.”

“If Dr. Jones teaches the course I will take that course no matter what it is and what time it meets."

Consequently in many cases Dr. Smith’s courses do not get enough enrollees to be offered and therefore Dr. Smith is relegated to teaching only required courses and, too rarely, an elective in his/her area of specific knowledge.

One straightforward way to prevent this is to simply not list faculty names on the schedule of courses released to students before they make their choices. Just put TO BE DETERMINED by each course. Let students choose by content rather than by professor.

But what if a student wants to know about a specific course by talking to the prof about that course? Solution: Have a two-page summary of each course, written by the professor offering the course available in the department office (or online) for any student to examine.

But what if the problem is that if Dr. Lawrence teaches a particular course, then students who find that out when the semester begins will simply drop the class or, because Dr. Lawrence is so easy, students will pour into the course? Unfortunately, the remedy here is to either not hire or to get rid of faculty such as Dr. Lawrence. Departments with mediocre and unsatisfactory faculty do suffer the consequences of those faulty choices.

Hire the best. Keep course schedules anonymous.  

 

REBOOT

When the beginning of the semester begins to mentally feel like the end of the semester, maybe it's time for a career reboot.

A teacher shouldn’t be a teacher without passion and unbridled enthusiasm.

 

GIVE A DAMN OR GET OUT

Once upon a time (in 1999) there was a film titled “Galaxy Quest.” And one of the catch phrases in the film was “Never Give Up, Never Surrender.”

Unfortunately, some professors give up and surrender before or shortly after the semester begins. Days just become a series of what seem like the same old chores. The joy expires too quickly or never starts. The thrill of a new semester becomes a monotonous task of staring at a sea of blank faces.

Learning stops for the prof. The assumption also becomes that the students have stopped learning, or never started learning or never want to learn. And the fear becomes that they (students) know you (prof) think they (students) do not want to learn. Thus…learning never occurs.

What to do? What to do?

There’s no magic to a solution here. It’s just simple execution. It’s the pure desire to not be average and to be to your students what you want them to be to you. The effort your students give back to you is the direct result of the effort you the teacher puts into it. Give up on them and they will definitely give up on you.

It’s your career. When you stop giving a damn as a teacher, it’s time to throw in the towel and find another career.

What to do indeed! Never give up. Never surrender. Never stop trying.

  

SETTING THE HIGHEST EXPECTATIONS

The beginning of a semester is a time for every professor to make a statement about the quality and the expectations of his/her academic program and the specific course the students are taking.

Here’s an example of one such statement that, with slight modifications, can be used by any program. When I used it, I did so on the first day of the course. I first read and discussed it and then distributed it as a written document.

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This academic department is committed to teaching you how to be an educated person/professional in the area(s) of (your area here).

• Our mission is to train professionals.
• Our standards are professional.
• Our expectations are professional.

We want you to be good time managers, good team members, good writers, good speakers, and good students. We want to teach you how to be those things and we want to be sure you succeed in this department.

As a member of this course, the department and I will have high expectations for you. We will expect you to treat this class just as you would your first job. We will expect your best effort and we will expect your best work.

We will expect you to attend every class and let us know before the class begins if you cannot attend. We will expect you to participate in each class, to ask questions, to contribute to the discussion, to be present in spirit as well as in body.

We will expect you to read often and to write and to speak well. We will expect you to remember the things you have learned in the classes that came before this class.

We will hold you to high standards of academic practice in terms of integrity and ethical principles. 

This course may be harder than any course you have ever taken.

But at the end you will have the satisfaction of having met professional standards and of being one step closer to achieving what we hope are your goals and dreams.

It is possible that you may not succeed because you do not fully understand our expectations. You should understand that everyone in this program knows we are not one of the best programs in the university. We know we are THE best in the university and we will expect the best from you.

Those of you who do not believe they can succeed, those of you that choose not to succeed, and those of you who will not put forth the effort to succeed should leave the classroom now. Otherwise, take out the pen and notebook and the assignment I asked you to bring to today’s class.

 

PROFESSIONALISM

When a professional golfer enters a tournament, he always begins with the expectation of winning.

When a professional bowler competes, he always begins with the expectation of rolling a 300 game.

A professional tennis player enters a competition expecting to win every set, and potentially every game.

Whether the reality actually happens, the expectation is always there. And psychologically, to the professional, it’s always possible.

Do your students think about their courses the way these professionals think about competing? Do your students enter a course with the expectation that they will succeed at the level of absolute perfection? Shouldn’t they?

No professional athlete or doctor or lawyer or accountant aspires to mediocrity. They aspire to the highest levels of their professions and they put in the effort and the practice to succeed. And that’s why they do succeed.

For many students, a simple 10-minute discussion about thinking and working like a professional and making each course a competitive personal achievement can create significant critical thinking.  

Each student you have has spent many years practicing the art of taking courses. Each student obviously has varying levels of success and achievement. But those levels should not dilute their expectations.

A professional golfer competing in his first professional tournament still begins with the expectation of winning. And if, after the first day, he is not winning, it doesn’t mean he stops trying. The expectation doesn’t go away. It stays tournament after tournament after tournament. The endless practice, the mental concentration, the positive attitude all occur every day and in every competition. And it doesn’t mean that the rest of life comes to a standstill or has to be severely compromised. It just means that priorities have to be set and the highest level of success always becomes the goal.

Too often we professors discuss our students negatively. We say that it’s way too hard to change behaviors and attitudes and lifelong practices. But maybe it’s not. Maybe the right conversations just have to happen.

Take the time to have the “professionalism” discussion in your courses.

 

WILDEST DREAMS

I have written before about the first day of a course. I do not believe in going over the syllabus. I often do not even believe in discussing the topic of the course in any specific way. The first day should be all about creativity, motivation, and surprise.

Here is another suggestion of something to do.

On that first day ask students to write down a couple of their wildest dreams. Not just dreams, but wildest dreams that could actually be achieved with fierce determination and intense work. And not dreams that are so universal they are meaningless (happiness, wealth, success). Make these wildest dreams as specific as possible. Give the students about 15 minutes to do it.

Why?

Because it allows two things to occur. First, you then can talk about the subject of the course in terms of the wildest dreams it can allow to be achieved. They have just written about wildest dreams so their minds are already on that page. And, using wildest dreams as a motif for discussing course topics and content is a creative approach to get students to do a little critical thinking.     

Second. Talking about wildest dreams allows you to then make the point that being a university professor and teaching courses like this one and motivating students to learn and watching students learn is the fulfillment of one of your wildest dreams.

And if you can’t say that, figure out why you can’t and how you can get to the point that you can.

And those are the actual purposes of this brief assignment. It’s about making your students think critically about their dreams. It’s about also making you think about whether teaching is still one of your wildest dreams.

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"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts."
--Eleanor Roosevelt

 

 

THROW AWAY THE MANUAL, CREATE A WHOLE NEW MODEL

Maybe it’s time.

Time to throw away the manual on higher education and rewrite how we teach and why we teach all the things we teach.

Time to recreate the entire model of what needs to be accomplished in colleges and universities.

There have been many, many, many piecemeal changes, but now it’s time to go further.

No professor will deny that students are very different and learn very differently today than even 10 years ago. They think in terms of short text messages and 140 character posts. Information is not so much learned as it is looked up using Google. Attention spans are drastically less than even the 22-minute spans of the recent past. Reading books or plays or poems is seldom their favorite activity. History means what happened last year or last month. And as an example, many students have no idea what a typewriter even was, let alone the fact that it was the primary means of writing just 25 years ago.

It’s clearly a new world.

Thomas Frey is executive director of the DaVinci Institute, a 17-year old think tank that periodically gathers groups of high-profile intellectuals for conversations about the future. Among their predictions, according to Frey in a recent article, are that the average person  “will have to reboot their career six times because of the whole issue of technological unemployment — they’ll have to switch gears a lot.” Also, “half of traditional colleges are going to fail by 2030 because they will not be able to adapt to those new realities, and people will need to learn things in a much shorter period of time. It’s also predicted that over 2 billion jobs are going to go away, and that’s not intended to be a doom and gloom statement, but more of a wakeup call, because jobs are being eliminated at a faster and faster rate.”

Frey is also quick to point out that these predictions are not designed to all be true, but rather often just to start conversations.

And perhaps that conversation in relation to higher education is to throw out the way we do things and start by actually building a totally new model.

There’s little question that some courses need to be eliminated, and conceivably whole majors as well. Perhaps every student simply needs an expanded liberal arts curriculum with a few specialized courses built in. Different ways of thinking about using and teaching technology certainly need developed. Different approaches to career selection need to be explored. And then there is the incredible issue of financial aid, which needs to be entirely re-invented.

And these are only a few “conversation starters.”

Scary stuff for a new year. But hard work that definitely needs to begin now.

More posts to come on this topic. Watch this blog.

 

DREAM DIFFERENT

“If you always do what you’ve always done,
you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”
--Henry Ford--

Be a professor who embraces your ability to be willing to change what you do to make it good and better and best. Don’t give up who you are, but give up the things you’ve always done that do not work. If you always can say: “I may not have done it right, but I always gave it my all,” then you’ll never really fail to eventually succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

WELCOME TO 2015!

 

NO NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

I won’t. I won’t. I absolutely won’t do New Year’s resolutions for professors. No one other than the professor herself should write personal resolutions. And New Year’s resolutions for professors are probably better made in August than in December.

So, this year do not make resolutions about your academic life. Just make a promise.

Be the type of teacher you naturally are.
And resolve to make yourself better, not different.

And yes, I guess that is sort of a resolution. Sorry.

 

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Yes, it’s the holiday season no matter what country you are living in. And often that means a holiday respite from grading and classes and meetings and all-things-academic. And that’s as it should be.

As a tribute to the holiday season I’m sharing something absolutely, positively non-academic. It’s courtesy of Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, who writes the best cookbooks ever. Enjoy ‘em and consider this my gift to you.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
(Next post will be December 29.)

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A Recipe for the Best Gingerbread Cookies Ever

Ingredients

FOR THE COOKIE:
    •6 cups all-purpose Flour
    •1 teaspoon salt
    •1/2 teaspoon allspice
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
    •1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
    •1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    •1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    •3/4 cups softened butter
    •1-1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
    •1 cup molasses
    •2 whole eggs
    •1 tablespoon maple extract

FOR THE ROYAL ICING:
    •2 pounds powdered sugar
    •1/3 cup whole milk
    •2 whole large egg whites
    •Miscellaneous Candies, Sprinkles, and Other Decorations

Preparation Instructions

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, allspice, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a mixer, beat the margarine (or butter) and brown sugar until fluffy. Drizzle in the molasses, mixing well and scraping the sides of the bowl a couple of times to make sure it's evenly combined. Add the eggs and maple extract and mix. Add the flour mixture in three batches, beating until just combined after each addition.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or more if you have time!

When you're ready to bake the cookies, remove the dough from the fridge and preheat the oven to 350 F. When the dough is soft enough to roll but still firm, divide it in half and roll out each half between 2 sheets of plastic wrap (dividing it in half just makes it more manageable.) Cut out shapes of your choosing and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a baking mat. Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on the size of cutters used, until the cookies are baked through but still soft. Remove with a spatula and allow to cool completely.

***IMPORTANT NOTE: Bake for less time if you desire a softer cookie and if cookies are small. Keep an eye on them and don't let them get too crisp.

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To make the royal icing, beat the powdered sugar, milk, and egg whites until thick but still able to be piped. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a fine tip (or a squirt bottle.)

Decorate the cookies however you'd like, using icing as an accent and as glue to hold on the candies. Allow icing to set before transporting or serving.

 

MISCELLANEOUS COMPENDIUM OF OPINIONS

Creativity is a form of knowledge. Creativity cannot be evaluated by a grade, only encouraged by a teacher/mentor. Do not penalize the creative student for your own lack of creative understanding.
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Here’s how to know if you’re on the right track: if students attend your classes because they want to, not because they’re forced to. If at the end of the semester, they tell you they will miss the course and not just you, the teacher.
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Hiring great professors is not really a search for talent. It's a search for attitude. In our departments we ought to be having a war for attitude. A school filled with motivated, connected, eager, learning, experimenting, ethical and driven people will always defeat the one that merely has talent. Every time.
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Your job isn't only to teach, it's to matter to those you teach, to make a difference. That’s what success is.
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“At the grueling Iditarod, there's a prize for the musher who finishes last: The Red Lantern.

Failing to finish earns you nothing, of course. But for the one who sticks it out, …there's the respect that comes from finding the strength to make it, even when all seems helpless.

Most parents (and most bosses) agree that this sort of dedication is a huge asset in life. And yet, …I can't help but notice that schools do nothing at all to encourage it.”

--Courtesy of Seth Godin, Sept. 5, 2013

 

WHERE ARE THE HEROES?

Albert Einstein is known for his extraordinary work in quantum physics. Winston Churchill was a great orator. Daniel Day-Lewis is a great actor. Michael Jordan was one of the greatest athletes of all time. And Frank Sinatra was clearly known as a great vocalist.

And, if asked, all of us could name other famous scientists, actors, public speakers, and athletes. There’s Stephen Hawking, Marie Curie, Jonas Salk, Martin Luther King, Billy Graham, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Babe Ruth, Derek Jeter, Tony Bennett and Barbra Streisand. All great. All well known.

But can any of us name a famous professor? And not a pretend professor in a film script, but an honest-to-gosh college professor renowned for his/her skill as a college professor.  Is there anyone to model ourselves after?

Now, of course there is Randy Pausch, a computer science professor who gained notoriety by publishing a last lecture before his death from cancer.

And there’s Tony Morrison (famous author), Lawrence Lessig (pundit on political corruption), John Forbes Nash (a mathematical genius and schizophrenic), Noam Chomsky (linguistics professor well known as a political dissident). But none of these university teachers, save perhaps John Nash, are distinguished for their professorial techniques or their abilities that can be modeled by anyone who wants to be an excellent professor.

Most of us do have professors that we had in school or those we watched in our early jobs who we modeled our own teaching after. But only we knew them. There were not books about them, chapters in books about them, articles about their teaching expertise, or discussion at conferences about the reasons for their prominence.

But if you take time to look, there are articles by professors about teaching and research, and skills and tips. And there are a few annual listings of best college professors in various fields.

And maybe that’s enough.

Or maybe it’s not.

After all, professors are not like plumbers or web designers or accountants or surgeons who have no lists of the best. We’re more like artists and political figures and chefs…all of whom do have who’s who lists that most of us can recognize.

Is it time for a compilation? Is it time for names?

Just food for thought.

 

BOOKS FOR THE SEASON

Yes, once again it’s the holiday season. Below are three books that would be excellent gifts to yourself or to others. Two of them are specifically about education. The third is a bit more eclectic.

All three are interesting and engaging books for both faculty and administrators. And always remember that if we don’t read about what we do, then why do it at all.

Class Not Dismissed: Reflections on Undergraduate Education and Teaching the Liberal Arts by Anthony Aveni (University Press of Colorado; October 15, 2014).

Colgate University professor Anthony Aveni tells the story of his six decades in college classrooms. Through anecdotes of his own triumphs and tribulations—some amusing, others heartrending—Aveni reveals his teaching story and thoughts on the future of higher education. Although in recent years the lecture has come under fire as a pedagogical method, Aveni ardently defends lecturing to students. He shares his secrets on crafting an engaging lecture and creating productive dialogue in class discussions. He lays out his rules on classroom discipline and tells how he promotes the lost art of listening. He is a passionate proponent of the liberal arts and core course requirements as well as a believer in sound teaching promoted by active scholarship.

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Minds on Fire: How Role Immersion Games Transform College by Mark C. Carnes (Harvard University Press; September 15, 2014).

The author shows how role-immersion games channel students’ competitive (and sometimes mischievous) impulses into transformative learning experiences. His discussion is based on interviews with scores of students and faculty who have used a pedagogy called Reacting to the Past, which features month-long games set during the French revolution, Galileo's trial, the partition of India, and dozens of other epochal moments in disciplines ranging from art history to the sciences. In these sessions students are assigned roles informed by classic texts in the history of ideas. Class sessions are run entirely by students; instructors advise and guide students and grade their oral and written work. It seeks to draw students into the past, promote engagement with big ideas, and improve intellectual and academic skills.

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What To Do When It’s Your Turn by Seth Godin (December, 2014) 

This book is a manifesto about living with things that might not work and embracing tension when doing your art. Explores the dance we all have to do with our fears, the tension we all must embrace in order to do work that we care about. It pushes us to dig deep inside so we can do better work and impact the things we care about.

 

TRUTHS AND VALUES: THE HEART OF A TEACHER

"Vocation does not mean a goal that I pursue. It means a calling that I hear. Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am. I must listen for the truths and values at the heart of my own identity, not the standards by which I must live — but the standards by which I cannot help but live if I am living my own life. We listen for guidance everywhere except from within."
--Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation.

The author of seven books on higher education; he has both received awards and has had awards named for him. He is a master teacher and the most spellbinding and sincere lecturer I ever saw.

In short, he can teach us all a thing or two about navigating the academic life.

The above quotation speaks to the devotion and personal introspection necessary to dedicate ourselves to a life in higher education.

Great stuff. 

 

DON’T TRY TO BE ORIGINAL

This blog preaches a lot about change, but perhaps not enough about originality. And maybe that’s because nothing is original anymore. And obviously there is a great argument for saying that everything has been done in terms of ideas and initiatives and that any new efforts do spring from a place of replication.

But then again, it’s not important to be original.

It’s only important for you to improve on original.

Don’t just cut and paste a good idea, project or concept. Take it and run with it, making it your own, putting your stamp on it, adding more value, building your own version of better onto someone else’s version of good.

It might be a course assignment, a way of completing a project, a use of technology, a method of mentoring, an advising technique, or an approach to leading a department or a college or a university. Just make it your own.

Don’t try to be original. Just try to succeed in owning an idea and loving the fact that you made a good thing better.