A couple months ago I posted on teaching and performance.  Here’s another perspective on the same broad topic. I started writing it a while back, but never finished. It answers many of the questions I posed in my other post.  I just don’t think I found those answers convincing.   Teaching is a form of learning. When I teach a course, the best way I’ve found to measure success is ...

I’m participating in the #WWEOpen13 MOOC about open online teaching. For the first unit, we were asked to post our “teaching philosophy.”  These kinds of questions typically tie me in knots. They seem inherently circular and unsolvable: to say how I should teach, I need to know what students need to learn, which isn’t something I can just declare. For whatever reason, this time I was able to tap out ...

Teaching is hard.  Some people are naturally good at it, and others are naturally quick at developing good teaching skills.  For most of us, though, figuring out how to teach effectively is a real challenge. As a professor, teaching is a central aspect of what I do for a living.  I’m deeply committed to teaching well.  And today, social and technological developments are changing the context of teaching and learning ...

I was kind of in shock night. Ten days ago, the Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia summarily dumped the school’s popular president, Teresa Sullivan, based on mysterious “philosophical differences.”  The move threw the university into turmoil.  The Board refuses to disclose its reasons, so speculation is rampant.  Initial reports pointed to donors affiliated with Darden, UVa’s business school, who pushed for more “strategic dynamism” modeled on private businesses. ...