Several years ago, Elon University set out to better understand experiential learning on campus. At the time, there was a pragmatic need to collect data that would inform revisions to the core curriculum, including an experiential-learning requirement (ELR) that had been in place since 1994. The question was whether it made sense to raise the…

Discoveries in the learning sciences (especially in neuroscience) have yielded a rich and growing body of knowledge about how students learn, yet this knowledge is only half of the story. The other half is "know how," i.e. the application of this knowledge. For faculty members, that means applying the discoveries of the learning sciences…

Technology's march into the college classroom continues. Generations of college and university faculty have both embraced and resisted instructional technologies such as the book, the mimeograph, the overhead projector, and hand-held calculators. Now college and university faculty are greeting the 21st century's signature…

With many baby boomers preparing to retire, higher education is facing an anticipated shortage of academic administrators. Compounding this challenge, many mid-career faculty are reluctant to fill these important positions, concerned that academic leadership is incompatible with work-life balance, that it detracts from their commitments to…

According to these authors, special effort is required to diversify the professional perspectives and experiences of graduate students from highly selective private institutions, who may be seen as having less commitment to teaching than their counterparts from public institutions and little experience of students with a wide range of backgrounds,…

One strength of liberal arts and sciences colleges is their emphasis on so-called "high-impact practices" (HIPs), which are known to be associated with student success. These practices include first-year seminars, learning communities, and study abroad, among others. What all of these HIPs share is a deeper level of engagement and active…

The pace of technological innovation is affecting nearly every organization in the world. Unfortunately, much of the recent conversation about the uses of technology in higher education has become derailed by the intense promotion of, and equally intense reaction against, the development of massive open online courses (MOOCs). Some of the…

In this article, Lauren S. Cardon states that what faculty see as student apathy or disengagement in the millennial generation is due to a number of factors, most of which are associated with the technological revolution. Millennial students are generally resistant to highly abstract material if not given the opportunity to reflect on its…

The civic mission of American colleges and universities has received renewed attention over the last decade. From the "engaged campus" designation now offered by the Carnegie Endowment for the Advancement of Teaching to the growth of Campus Compact (from 782 institutional members in 2000 to 1150 in 2012) to major institutional…

In the March-April 2013 issue of "Change," Patti McGill Peterson and Robin Matross Helms described the disheartening status of internationalization on American college campuses. Despite internationalization being touted as a strategic goal in higher education, over the past 15 years little has changed at most colleges. Student learning…

Developmental mathematics is one of the most serious barriers to educational and economic achievement. Over 60 percent of all students entering community colleges in the United States are required to complete remedial/developmental courses as a first step towards earning associate's or bachelor's degrees. Then, to earn a degree,…

This article documents the experiences of two American professors who have taught in China and describes the similarities and differences between their students at home and abroad. Brian Coppola, who taught organic chemistry at Peking University (PKU), observes how the strengths in science preparation that Chinese students achieve in their…

After receiving his PhD in 1970, the author has spent almost 30 years conducting research on the economics of higher education, chairing faculty budget committees at Cornell, serving as a Cornell vice president and then as a trustee of both Cornell and SUNY, and being associated with innumerable national commissions and higher education…

It has been almost ten years since the American Council on Education (ACE) began to raise awareness of the importance of workplace flexibility in faculty careers and to encourage colleges and universities to support faculty in better integrating their professional and personal lives. With the generous support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, ACE…

Gender equity in education has certainly improved since the 1960s, when women faced barriers such as quotas limiting their numbers. Indeed, in recent years, women have surpassed men in their persistence and success as college students: They now receive about 60 percent of bachelor's degrees. But even though women now have full access to education,…