A recent meeting on facilitating change in the science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines reminded me just how much our disciplinary homes frame our views of the pedagogical world. About 45 faculty, some educational researchers and a few administrators were convened to consider instructional change, why so little of has occurred in these disciplines
(in all disciplines, as far as I’m concerned), and whether there might be better change models.

At a recent conference of faculty who teach public administration, Janet Mills shared a great way of getting positive (as in constructive) feedback from students. She calls her system “Plusses and Wishes” and it works like this. Each class has a Feedback Coordinator (one of several different roles assumed by students) who distributes blank Plusses and Wishes forms to students. They are filled out at the end of every class.

Recently I learned that my colleague and friend Don Wulff has passed away. It wasn’t a big surprise. Don’s heart had been failing for years. The last time I walked across campus with him he couldn’t walk and talk simultaneously. Still my heart sank and tears came.

I don’t know any college teacher who doesn’t aspire to teach students to think critically. I don’t know any college teacher who doesn’t think that most students have significant skill deficiencies when it comes to critical thinking. And I don’t know many college teachers who aren’t regularly frustrated and disappointed by the results of their efforts to teach this important skill. Partly, this is because better thinking processes aren’t always easy to see, but often our efforts don’t appear to have much effect because learning to think critically is hard.

More people are writing comments on the blog! Yes! Thanks! And some of the comments are really excellent. They include references to other sources and links! I more optimistic about this being the kind of exchange from which we can all learn and grow.

I wish I could erase the negative associations that surround the word improve. Improvement is not a dirty word, but it is somehow equated with the sense of deficiency—the sense that something is not right or needs to be fixed. Unfortunately these connotations premise the quest for better teaching on notions of remediation and deficiency. This doesn’t make improvement a positive, affirming process.

Have you seen this article in the June issue of the Atlantic? http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/college If you haven’t, it’s definitely worth taking a look at. The writing is powerful; the message depressing at the same time it’s provocative. A very smart writing teacher I know described the piece as “a screaming canary, showing off about a dozen things going wrong in the coal mine.”

I’ve been on the road quite a bit during this past month. It will be good to be home for awhile but participating in conferences with different faculty groups and doing presentations at various sorts of institutions is a great way for me to keep my finger on the pulse of teaching and learning in higher education. You see a lot, learn lot and understand more things better.

My blog entry for June 3 highlights some content from an article in which a chemistry prof recounts his experiences moving away from lecture. It promoted a “devil’s advocate” comment from Wendy. “When we went to college most faculty presented the material in lectures and we learned. What’s different today? Why are lectures no longer sufficient? Have learners changed?”