From Special Occasion to Regular Work: A Different Way to Think about Professional Development
Pat Hutchings
In this month's Perspectives, Carnegie Vice President Pat Hutchings argues that “professional development” should not be a separate or special occasion but an integral feature of the way educators do their work everyday.
October 2008
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When Access is Not Enough
Vincent Tinto
The author writes that for too many low-income students the open door to American higher education has become a revolving door. In examining what can be done, he recognizes the centrality of the classroom to student success.
August 2008
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When Coaching and Testing Collide
Lee S. Shulman
In an insightful commentary, the author ruminates on the dilemmas of coaching in the context of high-stakes testing.
May 2008
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Creating Windows on Learning
Molly Breen
The author reports on recent promising efforts by community college faculty to make the teaching and learning from their classrooms more visible.
February 2008
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It's All About Time!
Lee S. Shulman
In pondering the many challenges of basic skills education, Shulman finds inspiration in the advice of one of his mentors, Benjamin Bloom.
December 2007
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A Mathematician's Proposal
by Michael C. Burke
A call for educators to emerge from their monastic disciplinary cells and address the challenges of quantitative literacy.
October 2007
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Educating for Democracy
by Anne Colby
The author challenges us to reconsider the role of higher education in preparing students for potential roles in the political process.
August 2007
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Back from the Brink: Harvard Gets It Right
by Tom Ehrlich
The author revisits Harvard's effort to reform its general education and finds that the revised report is a dramatic improvement over its predecessor.
July 2007
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My Child Doesn’t Test Well
Lloyd Bond
The author examines a variety of reasons why test performance may not always be a valid measure of a person's competence or potential.
June 2007
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First, Do No Harm
Alexander C. McCormick
In a timely essay, the author reminds us that launching an accountability initiative without careful thought to how it will affect behavior can do more harm than good.
April 2007
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Birthright
Ray Bacchetti
As the author recounts the story of his family's educational experiences over three generations, he reminds us that access to higher education is one of the blessings that every American should expect as a birthright, not a special privilege.
March 2007
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Integrative Learning: Putting the Pieces Together Again
Mary Taylor Huber and Molly Breen
As one means to combat the dis-integration of the undergraduate experience, the authors make a case for the kinds of integrated education needed to prepare students to respond creatively and with commitment to our society's most critical challenges.
February 2007
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The Case for Common Examinations
Lloyd Bond
Through an examination of one institution's efforts to strengthen teaching and learning on campus, the author makes a strong case for the use of common examinations as a powerful form of assessment as well as a fruitful context for faculty deliberations.
January 2007
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Learning to Teach: Sharing the Wisdom of Practice
Désirée Pointer Mace and Ann Lieberman
The authors describe—and propose a solution to—the struggles that teachers and teacher educators face when they seek new models of practice.
October 2006
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Integrating Work and Life: A Vision for a Changing Academy
Pat Hutchings, Mary Taylor Huber, and Chris M. Golde
The authors share principles developed from a Sloan Foundation-sponsored conference where participants considered professional development broadly, from learning from the scholarship of their colleagues to seeking support to attain personal equilibrium.
September 2006
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Pipeline or Pipedream: Another Way to Think about Basic Skills
Rose Asera
A candid assessment of the challenges that community colleges face in educating students in basic skills.
August 2006
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Preparing Stewards of the Discipline
Chris Golde
To direct attention to the expectations for leadership, integrity and responsibility of the doctorate, the author argues for the creation of a ritual ceremony of initiation for students entering doctoral education.
July 2006
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Whatever Happened To Undergraduate Reform?
By Theodore J. Marchese
The author asks whether higher education reform—once so vigorous and far-reaching—has run out of new things to say.
May 2006
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Opportunity is Knocking: Will Education Open the Door?
by Toru Iiyoshi
A piece that addresses a critical but overlooked question, "How can open education's tools and resources demonstrably improve education quality?"
April 2006
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Political Bias in Undergraduate Education
by Tom Ehrlich and Anne Colby
A thoughtful commentary that proposes an alternative course for faculty and campus leaders to navigate through the highly politicized Academic Bill of Rights debate.
March 2006
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Learning About Student Learning from Community Colleges
Pat Hutchings and Lee S. Shulman
The authors point out that offices of institutional research are valuable resources for collecting data to help faculty improve their teaching, and can involve the whole institution in a collaborative effort towards improved student learning.
February 2006
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Blue About the Crimson Plan for General Education
by Tom Ehrlich
A pointed critique of Harvard's recent efforts to reform its core undergraduate curriculum, an issue that speaks to a lack of coherence in undergraduate education programs nationally.
January 2006
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A New Set of Lenses for Looking at Colleges and Universities
Alexander C. McCormick
An in-depth look at the new Carnegie Classifications, including suggestions for its use.
November 2005
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Building the Teaching Commons
Pat Hutchings and Mary Taylor Huber
Posits the emergence of a “teaching commons”—a conceptual space in which communities of educators committed to inquiry and innovation come together to exchange ideas about teaching and learning and use them to meet the challenges of educating students.
October 2005
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Excellence: An Immodest Proposal
Lee S. Shulman
A commentary that addresses the responsibility and moral obligation of the education community to engage in active investigations of teaching practices and their consequences for students.
September 2005
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Service-Learning In Undergraduate Education: Where Is It Going?
Tom Ehrlich
A long time advocate for service-learning continues his call for institutional responsibility while taking a look at the progress made.
July 2005
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Throwing Out the Baby with the Bath Water
by Lloyd Bond
A reminder that the polemics of reform frequently portray the realm of teaching and learning in far more extreme terms than is really necessary.
June 2005
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Declining by Degrees
By John Merrow
A provocative view of the quality of education experienced by many of America's college students.
May 2005
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A Call for the Miracle Model
By Katharine Lyall
Lyall asks that we break the silence about what is happening to public higher education funding and begin to address the repercussions of privatization.
April 2005
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Who has the lowest prices?
By Lloyd Bond
Bond calls our attention to the many traps associated with one of the most frequent uses of assessment: the technical difficulties of measuring changes in learning over time.
March 2005
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Encouragement, not gender, key to success in science
By Janet L. Holmgren and Linda Basch
A call for a more "constructive discourse" around the problem of women and girls under-represented in the sciences.
February 2005
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Building Pedagogical Intelligence
By Pat Hutchings
In order to help students pursue learning in more intentional, integrative ways, Hutchings suggests a strategy of expanding the use of student evaluations of teaching.
January 2005
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Preparing Professionals as Moral Agents
By William Sullivan
In today's environment of unrelenting economic and social pressures, Sullivan makes the case that the professions need their educational centers more than ever as resources and as rallying points for renewal.
December 2004
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Engaging Students Politically Goes Beyond the Voting Booth
By Elizabeth Beaumont
A timely examination of the role of colleges and universities in shaping the values, knowledge, skills and motivation that would ensure political and civic engagement of students over a lifetime.
October 2004
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The "Magic" of Learning From Each Other
By Richard Gale
A thoughtful examination of liberal education's goals, methods, contexts, and outcomes as seen through the lens of the seminar experience.
September 2004
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Choosing a College
By Tom Ehrlich
An essay that addresses the difficult issue of college quality and provides some advice to prospective students and their parents.
July 2004
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Grade Inflation: It's Not Just an Issue for the Ivy League
By John Merrow
An examination of grade inflation in the context of the larger issue of student engagement at colleges and universities.
June 2004
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Justice or Just us? What to do about cheating
By Jason Stephens
A commentary that looks at the pervasiveness of student cheating and responds to the question, "What is the significance of this behavior and what can be done?"
May 2004
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Teaching to the Test
By Lloyd Bond
A commentary on the thorny issue of high-stakes testing and the pressures on teachers to "teach to the test."
April 2004
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Vocation is not a Dirty Word
By Jamienne S. Studley
A commentary on the need for more thoughtful ways to introduce undergraduate students to the world of work.
March 2004
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Work that Matters Should Be Work that Counts
Mary Taylor Huber and Rebecca Cox
A commentary on one of the most vexing issues facing education at all levels—incentive systems that impede serious scholarly work on teaching and learning.
February 2004
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Building a Better Conversation about Learning
Pat Hutchings
A commentary that addresses efforts to enable conversations between and among faculty members and administrators that will lead to improved teaching and learning.
January 2004
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The Spirit of Liberty
By Anne Colby, Thomas Ehrlich, Elizabeth Beaumont, and Jason Stephens
A commentary on the responsibility of colleges and universities to make moral and civic learning an integral part of the undergraduate experience.
December 2003
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The Positive Uses of Contradiction
Lloyd Bond
A personal and honest look at the often contradictory ways in which tests are seen and used.
November 2003
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No Drive-by Teachers
By Lee S. Shulman
What different picture emerges, and what consequences follow, if we think about the teacher as the primary agent of his or her own accountability?
October 2003
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