Teaching Inquiry

March 6, 2025

Identifying Pedagogical Values

Backward course design is a commonly used practice in which teachers begin course planning by determining their intended learning outcomes, and then they develop learning modules and assignments in correspondence with those outcomes. I like backward design, but I think it overlooks a crucial first step, which is to identify what pedagogical values are guiding Continue reading

agency, Appreciative Inquiry, community, generative failure, intellectual humility, learning, teaching, values, wise feedback
February 9, 2025

Student Engagement is Crucial. But Can We Measure It, and Should We Even Try?

I have a colleague who directs our university’s journalism program. She loves attending editorial meetings of the campus newspaper, where the students’ eagerness to find compelling stories and to receive feedback on their writing is palpable. Seeing students this excited to engage the process, to improve their skills, to work toward a collective goal … Continue reading

attention, education, engaged learning, extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, learning, play, rigor, students, teaching, ungrading
February 9, 2025

An Opening Statement (of sorts)

It is a commonplace that U.S. higher education faces not just a time of crisis, but layers of crises: The demographic cliff, the deep cuts to funding, the rapidly evolving and unpredictable impacts of artificial intelligence, the ascendant meme that college is no longer vital to career success, the incessant political attacks … The Chronicle Continue reading

Communities of Practice, education, learning, Randy Bass, SoTL, teachers, teaching

Identifying Pedagogical Values

Student Engagement is Crucial. But Can We Measure It, and Should We Even Try?

An Opening Statement (of sorts)