American Academy of Arts & Sciences | Improving Teaching: One Professor’s Experience
October 30, 2019, 4:30 pm Reception | 5 pm Program
Room 6191, Helen C. White Building, 600 N. Park Street
Harry Brighouse, Sandy Baum, Michael McPherson
UW-Madison, Skidmore College, Spencer Foundation
2019 Distinguished Morton L. Mandel Annual Public Lecture
Join us for a national conversation about Improving Teaching: Strengthening the College Learning Experience. Groups will convene in several cities to hear Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson, co-editors of the Fall 2019 issue of Dædalus, discuss the importance of high- quality educational experiences for every college student, and the impact these experiences can make on their future. After streaming brief opening remarks from Baum and McPherson in Cambridge, attendees in Madison will join in a live conversation with Harry Brighouse, author of the Dædalus essay, " Becoming a Better College Teacher (If You’re Lucky) ." Brighouse will share highlights about his own efforts to improve as a teacher and provide a rich insight into what it might take to become a better college teacher.
The Fall 2019 issue of Dædalus, Improving Teaching: Strengthening the College Learning Experience, features 12 essays exploring the quality of students’ college experience in the classroom.
The issue’s editors, Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson, will speak at an event in Cambridge that will be webcast live before the discussion in Madison.Baum and McPherson will discuss the importance of attending to quality and note that it’s woefully absent in most public policy discussions of higher education. As they write in the introduction, “Paying for college and even getting a credential ultimately will not mean much unless college students have high-quality educational experiences that add real value for them in their careers and in their civic and personal lives.”
Following the conclusion of the webcast on teaching, learning, and the larger educational environment, Harry Brighouse will lead an in-person discussion. He contributed the essay “Becoming a Better College Teacher (If You’re Lucky)” to the Fall 2019 issue of Dædalus. His essay is a narrative about his own efforts to improve as a teacher over time including how he assessed his progress, observed colleagues, hired a coach, reviewed videos of his classes, and participated in workshops. Brighouse's honest reflection provides a rich insight into what it might take to become a better college teacher.
