There is no shortage of articles warning about the dangers generative AI poses for student learning and the possibility of academic dishonesty. Distressing stories about
The recent report from Harvard College on grade inflation (Claybaugh, 2025; hereafter “the report”) is an important reminder of how complex grading is and the
As I write, the faculty at Harvard have just voted to limit the number of A grades they award in any undergraduate course to a
I’ve been a college professor for over 40 years. As a cognitive psychologist, I’ve spent my career studying learning and memory and as a teacher,
A senior colleague mentioned to me recently that he had spent the early part of his career overcoming the idea that “teaching is telling,” a
When I was an undergraduate at the University of Texas, all students were required to take two courses in US history. The courses were US
Cramming is an alluring but risky study strategy. Let me explain. By the time students get to college, they probably have a lot of experience
There is an elusive win-win in teaching in which both teachers and students truly enjoy a class together. The teachers find pleasure and satisfaction in
I’m a statistical curmudgeon. When I teach statistics, I allow students to use only handheld calculators. I neither teach nor allow statistical software. I’m pretty
For many, Richard Feynman (1918–1988), the Nobel Prize–winning physicist turned cultural icon, is the prototype of a creative genius (Gleick, 1992). Beyond physics, he became
