Jen Looper

There's an interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about the 'broken' nature of teaching evaluations https://www.chronicle.com/article/teaching-evaluations-are-broken-can-they-be-fixed. I think that fixing these is a step in the right direction as the 'first pass' towards evaluating teaching quality. To fix evaluations, we first need to determine what we are evaluating, which is 'teaching quality' - and what that means. It's likely that we must build a multi-dimensional evaluation mechanism that can be paired with a sophisticated evaluation tool that students can use, ensuring that their voice is heard and that instructors are well-served by these tools. We're far from this at the moment.

First of all, congratulations! Your experience will be directly related to how open-minded you are. Be sure to take courses outside your major, or outside the focus that you think you have now, because it may well change.

This is the classic question of town versus gown. It used to be that there was a lot of tension between the two. In the middle ages, the students wreaked havoc in town but were protected by the crown. Nowadays, of course, the situation is much calmer and much more civilized. But now universities have to combat the challenge of feeling disconnected from local communities. It is an excellent strategy over the long run to have significant outreach between colleges and local communities, for example, local high schools, to build goodwill and ensure a local pipeline as well.

You can consider expanding this idea to be inclusive of local learners. For this, you should identify your target audience and see how they themselves can contribute. Can they provide a translation of your curriculum in their local language? Can you incorporate their feedback about any cultural sensitivities that should be included in your courseware? Curriculum building can be a dialogue between stakeholders (educators and learners), rather than a one-way lecture as a "sage on the stage".

Storytelling approaches to learning offer one of the best ways to engage learners. Not only do they elicit emotional reponses as the student is drawn into a tale, narratives ideally offer students a space in which they can see themselves. By empowering students to tell their own stories in the context of a collaborative learning environment, students can also witness the diverse narratives of their peers, effectively crafting a global community. Students need to see narratives that diverge from the mainstream, and they need to be included such that the mainstream evolves.

Most corporations offer both educational opportunities to learn about their offerings, as well as a fleet of placement professionals. Leverage corporations' need for skilled professionals by drawing on their educational opportunities. Encourage students to showcase their learning accomplishments by completing learning paths and earning badges and credentials - these can be seen as types of short-term remote apprenticeships that may lead to something bigger down the road if a student is so inclined and shows perseverence.