Changing the Conversation about Higher Education

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
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
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