Barely a day goes by without the latest invitation to a seminar on artificial intelligence or some handwaving about how AI could end the world as we know it. AI has already changed the world. Google searches incorporate AI. Most websites you interact with use
In 1936, psychologist Muzafer Sherif reported a landmark study on the creation of social norms. Sherif made use of an optical illusion called the autokinetic effect. When people view a stationary pinpoint of light in a dark environment, they will perceive the light to move
How long is it before you touch your phone after you awake?
Some of you will say right away because that is where your alarm is. Others may sheepishly admit that it is the first thing you open your eyes to. Many of our students
What’s the cringiest word in higher ed? Lecture? Nuh-uh. Engagement? Nah. Assessment? Nope.
You form an impression of a student within five seconds of seeing them. This impression is likely to stick even after you interact with them for a while (Ambady et al., 2020). While that thin slice of behavior may or may not provide an accurate
In the fourth season of Gilmore Girls, there’s a memorable episode where Rory, navigating her first semester at Yale, visits her ethics professor during office hours. Under the guise of clarifying notes, she secretly hopes for praise on her recent essay. Confident in her performance,
College students prefer to use suboptimal learning strategies when they study (e.g., Rinella & Putnam, 2022), which can undermine their academic performance. That is especially true for first-year students, who have no experience studying for college-level classes. For these students, a poor academic performance may
A vital part of preparing to teach is considering what will most benefit the students we encounter. To be successful across a variety of domains, students need instruction on how to engage in critical thinking, synthesize and evaluate information, and self-evaluate their own learning and
A few years ago, while reviewing a student’s feedback on one of my course evaluations, I came across a profound observation. The student described the class, like many science courses, as “stoic,” yearning for more humanity in the learning experience. It struck a chord with
Educators all want teaching to progress, but right now there are two contrary definitions of progress. I call one form of progress transactional teaching and the other transformative teaching, and they are pulling teaching in opposing directions. Let me explain what I mean.
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