News in Brief
The latest news and opinions in higher education
Why One University Went All Out on Teaching Reading
Realizing that students were lacking “fundamental” reading skills, the University of California, Santa Cruz, developed a three-course sequence of reading and writing courses as part of the freshman curriculum. Other institutions have created similar programs meant to help students hone discussion, analytical, critical-thinking, and other skills. (The Chronicle of Higher Education Teaching Newsletter)
How to Hold a Better Class Discussion
Effective class discussions are the result of careful planning, according to Jay Howard. In order to disrupt classroom norms, including students seeing participation as optional and a handful of students carrying the bulk of conversations, he suggests using strategies including asking questions that allow for multiple perspectives, establishing expectations for participation on the first day of class, and having a discussion about discussion, among others. (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
How to Demonstrate Confidence in Your Teaching
Rather than trying to convince herself to change her feelings, Bonni Stachowiak focuses on projecting confidence to others. Some strategies include avoiding apologizing for events beyond her control like technology malfunctioning, using declarative statements, and asking questions that command a response. “Our certainty can grow as we center on our sense of significance in our teaching,” she writes. (EdSurge)
I Don’t Care What You Know Until I Know You Care: Why Caring Campuses Retain More Students
Today’s students face myriad challenges, according to Brad Phillips, and educators must demonstrate that they understand their students’ lives and make connections with them in order for them to succeed. Phillips writes that that best faculty learn students’ names quickly, have rigorous standards, and act as “compassionate coaches,” getting to know students and being empathetic rather than punitive when “life happens.” (The Evolllution)
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“I have never met a faculty member in my 30-year career who took the summer ‘off,’” writes Eric Landrum, a professor of psychology at Boise State University whose research focuses on the conditions that facilitate student success and the use of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) strategies.
“All of our students and all of our faculty deserve to be interacting with the evidence-based teaching practices we know actually improve engagement and deepen learning,” says ACUE’s Chief Academic Officer 
regularly use evidence-based teaching practices,” MacCormack said, “we’ve been able to show and realize the student-level impact that you might expect. It’s really quite amazing.”
