What the Best College Teachers Do

[What the Best College Teachers Do] remains for me the single most inspiring and thought-provoking work in the field. Bain’s deep analysis of the teaching attitudes and practices of a small cohort of outstanding teachers, buttressed by research from the learning sciences and narrated in lively prose, provides multiple models for college educators to reflect upon, discuss, and emulate. Nine years after its initial publication, it continues to stimulate my own continuing meditations on teaching. -- James M. Lang * Chronicle of Higher Education *
It combines a robust theoretical framework grounded in the latest scholarship, the wisdom of best practices, and a unique depiction of how successful educators think about their teaching. -- Paul Keim * Christian Century *
Ken Bain’s What the Best College Teachers Do has generated considerable buzz, and rightly so. Based on a careful study of 60 outstanding teachers from a variety of disciplines and institutions, it distills valuable lessons that warrant the consideration of anyone who wishes to be more effective in drawing students into the life of the mind… [Readers] will find its various discussions to be uncommonly well grounded and uncommonly inspiring. -- David E. Leary * APA Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy *
Bain, a historian and director of New York University’s Center for Teaching Excellence, studied 63 outstanding college teachers (as deemed by students and colleagues as well as by an examination of their students’ work) from diverse institutions in an attempt to identify their common traits. What he discovered is pertinent to all teachers, including those at the K–12 level. -- David Ruenzel * Teacher Magazine *
With the strong conviction that good teaching can be learned, and after 15 years of observing teachers in action, Bain undertook an exploration of the essentials of effective teaching. The result is an insightful look at what makes a great teacher, based on a study of three dozen teachers from a cross section of disciplines from medical-school faculties to undergraduate departments. -- Vanessa Bush * Booklist *
Bain’s sound and scholarly yet exuberant promotion of America’s ‘best college teachers’ abounds with jaunty anecdotes and inspiring opinions that make student-centered instruction look not only infectious, but downright imperative… Though he acknowledges nationwide trends toward grade inflation, he invokes a 1990 study that suggests students are most driven by ‘high demands’ and prefer ‘plentiful opportunities to revise and improve their work before it receives a grade.’ Likewise, the book argues that, even in the cutthroat climate of today’s competitive colleges, students strive best in cooperative classrooms. The best teachers, Bain avers, understand and exceed such expectations. * Publishers Weekly *
Reading this book is a joy. Ken Bain has conducted years of careful research on a variety of campuses, and the result is an inspirational summary of what teachers do that truly makes a difference in students’ lives, and what any teacher can do to improve. As a teacher myself, I found I couldn’t put this book down. -- Richard Light, author of Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds