Changing the Conversation about Higher Education

This book hopes to change the nature of the conversation about higher education from critiques to focusing on efforts of systematic improvement in undergraduate education. Changing the Conversation about Higher Education establishes a culture of experimentation and evidence for undergraduate education through undertaking teaching and learning experiments at 13 universities. This book discusses the contributions and findings from these experiments and is intended for academic administrators, faculty, and graduate students who are interested in improving undergraduate teaching and learning. The experiments are directed at two core aims of a liberal education: critical thinking and writing. The book is structured to address the issues of vision, structure, and cultural transformation that are of specific interest to academic administrators and the promising practices and issues of identity and support that are concerns of faculty and graduate students.

About the Author :
Dr. Robert Thompson is a professor in the department of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University where he has served as head of the division of medical psychology, director of the undergraduate program in human development, dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. Dr. Thompson received the Bachelor of Arts degree from LaSalle College in 1967 and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of North Dakota in 1971 and served on the faculties of Georgetown University Medical School and Catholic University of America prior to coming to Duke University in 1975.

Review :
Changing the Conversation about Higher Education is a needed addition to the on-going transformation in higher education focused on strengthening students' liberal education. The manuscript not only recounts the evidence on what is needed to enhance student achievement, but through examples from thirteen prestigious research universities, demonstrates how teaching innovations can be intentionally implemented; then assessed in ways that inform faculty to act; and result in information that can be used to further improve faculty and curricular reform for student success. The combination of focus on needed change in institutions' cultures for assessment and learning, coupled with practical strategies and actions is a welcome contribution for all of higher education. --Terrel Rhodes, vice president for the Office of Quality, Curriculum, and Assessment, Association of American Colleges and Universities There's plenty of room for improvement in the quality of American higher education. To do that we have to be systematic and this book, more than any other, shows what 'systematic' means. --W. Robert Connor, senior adviser, The Teagle Foundation This impressive collection uniquely crosses boundaries that usually remain separate. The contributors effectively and persuasively show ways to integrate theories of learning with methods of teaching, the scholarship on teaching and learning with assessment, and the professional identities of faculty as both teachers and scholars. --Richard L. Morrill, Chancellor, University of Richmond, Virginia, president, the Teagle Foundation With all the swirling controversy about who gets into college, how it gets paid for, and how well it pays off, we risk forgetting that the fundamental work of colleges is teaching and learning and that at root a college becomes better when its faculty teach more effectively and its students learn more. Readers who want to understand how colleges and universities can get better at their most important work will find invaluable guidance in this book. --Mike McPherson, president, The Spencer Foundation