Love Means Putting yourself out of business

/

The proper aim of giving is to put the recipient in a state where he no longer needs our gift. We feed children in order that they soon be able to feed themselves; we teach them in order that they may soon not need our teaching. The hour when we can say “They need me no longer” should be our reward.

My own profession – that of a university teacher – is in this way dangerous. If we are any good we must always be working towards the moment at which our pupils are fit to become our critics and rivals. We should be delighted when it arrives, as the fencing master is delighted when his pupil can pink and disarm him. Any many are. But not all.

CS Lewis, The Four Loves

Why praising people for their intelligence can hurt them

/

Dr. Carol Dweck gave every child a test that consisted of fairly easy puzzles. Afterward the  researcher informed all the children of their scores, adding a single six-word sentence of praise. Half the kids were praised for their intelligence (“You must be smart at this”) and half were praised for their effort (“You must have worked really hard”).

The kids were tested a second time but this time they were offered a choice between the harder test and an easier test. Ninety percent of the kids who’d been praised for their effort choice the harder test. A majority of the kids who’d been praised for the intelligence, on the other hand, chose the easy test. Why? “When we praise children for their intelligence.” Dweck wrote, “we tell them that that's the name of the game: look smart, don't risk making mistakes.”

The third level of tests was uniformly harder; none of the kids did well. However, the two groups of kids--the praised-for-effort group and the praised-for-intelligence group--responding very differently to the situation. “(The effort group) dug in and grew very involved with the test, trying solutions, testing strategies,” Dweck said. “They later said they liked it. But the group praised for its intelligence hated the harder test. They took it as proof they weren’t smart.

Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code

15 Quotes about Teaching & AI

/

While it’s not necessary in every discipline, there are certain ones — like computer science or writing — where colleges will need to prepare their students for a future with AI in it. Chronicle of Higher Ed 

The advice that I gave to faculty was that you need to be trying this out. You need to at least be conversant in what your students are able to do, and think about your assignments and what this tool enables. What policies or what guidance are you gonna give students in terms of whether they are allowed to use it? In what way would you be allowed to use it? MIT Tech Review

There’s more of a danger in not teaching students how to use AI. If they’re not being taught under the mentorship of scholars and experts, they may be using it in ways that are either inappropriate or not factual or unethical. Chronicle of Higher Ed 

I am no less human because I received help in thinking about things. All AI is, when understood, is a little help, a guide on the road to insight. I hope we continue to teach our students, using all tools available, and not deter them from the pursuit of knowledge and experience. Washington Post

If you’re teaching, you need to realize that the world has AI now. And so students need to be prepared for a world where this is going to be integrated in industries in different ways. MIT Tech Review

Learning how to engineer prompts is likely to be a transitional skill. Soon more sophisticated programs with specialized uses will be on the market. Faculty members would be better off focusing less on prompt engineering and more on determining the problems they would like to solve. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Bruno Ribeiro, an associate professor of computer science at Purdue, gives students unique coding problems that seem simple on the surface but have slight variations that often trip AI up. He then has students identify where the program went wrong and fix the code. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Students can, for instance, analyze a conversation with ChatGPT as an assignment and identify signs of fabrication, biases, inaccuracies, or shallow reasoning. Or faculty members can have students use AI to write a first draft of an essay and show what they might change. Or instructors could include AI as a contributor to group discussions. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Some professors think we should carry on as before, assigning take-home essays but writing ever-more-artful questions that GPT-4 or some other form of AI can’t answer. I’m dubious whether that can be done. Even if it could, I’m not interested in making my questions elusive enough to outsmart a machine. At a certain point, it risks demanding too much of the students: expecting a superhuman effort on their part, just for the sake of proving their humanity. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Something has gone very wrong when the advent of a machine that can produce merely competent essays is causing intelligent and committed educators to give up on assigning substantial student papers, which, as Robin acknowledges, are central to the educational enterprise as we have long conceived it. Chronicle of Higher Ed

A survey of students in grades 6-12, released by the nonpartisan think tank Center for Democracy & Technology, found that students with special needs are more likely than their peers to use generative AI and be disciplined for doing so. Center for Democracy & Technology

Some professors think that it’s the pressure and “high stakes” of our grading and assessment regimes that produce those feelings of discomfort in our students. I think it’s intrinsic to the work, if you’re doing it right. Our goal shouldn’t be to eliminate this discomfort. We need to teach students that it’s part of the process, and develop strategies for coping with it. Chronicle of Higher Ed 

Bridging the gap, and easing fears, will lie in getting educators acquainted with AI — a training need underscored by the fact that 96 percent of the 1,000 educators said they have not received professional development on the topic. Schools have recognized these needs, although training of generative AI specifically is still nascent. EdSerge

As teachers grapple with these big questions about what AI means for their profession, they need to have access to frequent training about it. “You need to give teachers time to experiment with it, and preferably learn in small cohorts, where they can share what they’re discovering.” EdSurge

Like a dishwasher or a vacuum cleaner, ChatGPT automates drudgery so we can focus on something more important. The promise of AI is, that by freeing us from the values of mere competence, we can focus more intentionally on cultivating distinctively human values. Chronicle of Higher Ed 

10 Articles about Teaching & AI

/

The Best Professors

/

The best professors.. were no longer high priests, selfishly guarding the doors to the kingdom of knowledge to make themselves look more important. They were fellow students – no, fellow human beings – struggling with the mysteries of the universe, human society, historical development, or whatever. They found affinity with their students in their own ignorance and curiosity, in their love of life and beauty, in their mixture of respect and fear, and in that mix they discovered more similarities than differences between themselves and the people who populated their classes. A sense of awe at the world and the human condition stood at the center of their relationships with those students.

Most important, that humility, that fear, that veneration of the unknown spawned a kind of quiet conviction on the part of the best teachers that they and their students could do great things together.

Ken Bain, What the Best College Teachers Do

Eight Suggestions about AI for Those Teaching this Fall  

/

The challenges that generative AI poses to teaching requires campus-wide faculty discussions. Most students will have to use generative AI when they move into their careers, and it would be a shame for them to graduate without understanding how to use it and without having wrestled with its ethical limits. As you prepare for your fall classes consider these suggestions: 

Have a Class Discussion. Talk openly and frankly with your students about your expectations regarding the use of generative AI in your classes as well as how you are using it yourself. Invite your students to share with you in an honest discussion about these and related questions. Keep in mind that the line between which AI is acceptable and which is not is often blurry because AI is being integrated into many different apps and programs.

Keep the Door Open. Cultivate an environment in which students will feel comfortable approaching you if they need more direct support—whether from you, their peers, or a campus resource to successfully complete an assignment. Talk to them about their motivations for turning to generative AI: time pressure, curiosity, burn out, etc.  Barnard College 

AI Bias. Make the students aware that AI can reflect societal prejudices. If the AI training sets underrepresent the views of marginalized populations, then the essays they produce may omit those views as well. Bloomberg

Vulnerable Students. Consider how chatting with AI systems might affect vulnerable students, including those with depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Privacy Issues. It is important for students to be aware that personal information provided to generative AI tools has the potential to be shared with third parties. This can may raise serious privacy concerns for your students and perhaps in particular, those students who are from marginalized backgrounds. Barnard College 

Think Through the Pedagogical Impact. What are the cognitive tasks students need to perform without AI assistance? When should students rely on AI assistance? Where can an AI aid facilitate a better outcome? Are there efficiencies in grading that can be gained? Are new rubrics and assignment descriptions needed? Inside Higher Ed 

A Syllabus Statement. Include a syllabus statement that gives clear guidance regarding your expectations for the use of generative AI in your classes. The Sentient Syllabus Project

AI Detectors. If you plan to put students’ work through an AI detector, please inform them in advance, keeping in mind that a reliable detection tool has yet to be developed. False positives carry real harm when a student is wrongly accused. English language learners, international students, and students with learning challenges might write in a style that instructors wrongly assume is AI when it is not. Washington Post

“There’s more of a danger in not teaching students how to use AI. If they’re not being taught under the mentorship of scholars and experts, they may be using it in ways that are either inappropriate or not factual or unethical.” Johanna Inman, quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Ed

June posts about AI

/

13 thoughts on the problems of teaching with AI

/

There is a reason why educational video games are not as engaging as regular video games. There is a reason why AI-generated educational videos will never be as engaging as regular videos. Brenda Laurel pointed to the ‘chocolate-covered broccoli’ problem over 20 years ago … her point still stands. EdSurge

While the tool may be able to provide quick and easy answers to questions, it does not build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for academic and lifelong success,” said Jenna Lyle, a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Education. Mashable 

This tech is being primarily pitched as a money-saving device—so it will be taken up by school authorities that are looking to save money. As soon as a cash-strapped administrator has decided that they’re happy to let technology drive a whole lesson, then they no longer need a highly-paid professional teacher in the room—they just need someone to trouble-shoot any glitches and keep an eye on the students. EdSurge 

Some commentators are urging teachers to introduce ChatGPT into the curriculum as early as possible (a valuable revenue stream and data source). Students, they argue, must begin to develop new skills such as prompt engineering. What these (often well-intentioned) techno-enthusiasts forget is that they have decades of writing solo under their belts. Just as drivers who turn the wheel over to flawed autopilot systems surrender their judgment to an over-hyped technology, so a future generation raised on language models could end up, in effect, never learning to drive. Public Books

Some professors have leapt out front, producing newsletters, creating explainer videos, and crowdsourcing resources and classroom policies. The one thing that academics can’t afford to do, teaching and tech experts say, is ignore what’s happening. Sooner or later, the technology will catch up with them, whether they encounter a student at the end of the semester who may have used it inappropriately, or realize that it’s shaping their discipline and their students’ futures in unstoppable ways. Chronicle of Higher Ed

(There is a) notion that college students (can) learn to write by using chatbots to generate a synthetic first draft, which they afterwards revise, overlooks the fundamentals of a complex process. Since text generators do a good job with syntax, but suffer from simplistic, derivative, or inaccurate content, requiring students to work from this shallow foundation is hardly the best way to empower their thinking, hone their technique, or even help them develop a solid grasp of an LLM’s limitations. The purpose of a college research essay is not to teach students how to fact-check and gussy up pre-digested pablum. It is to enable them to develop and substantiate their own robust propositions and truth claims. Public Books  

If a professor runs students’ work through a detector without informing them in advance, that could be an academic-integrity violation in itself.  The student could then appeal the decision on grounds of deceptive assessment, “and they would probably win.” Chronicle of Higher Ed

We are dangerously close to creating two strata of students: those whom we deem smart and insightful and deeply thoughtful, if sometimes guilty of a typo, and those who seem less engaged with the material, or less able to have serious thoughts about it. Inside Higher Ed

The challenge here is in communicating to students that AI isn’t a replacement for real thinking or critical analysis, and that heavy reliance on such platforms can lead away from genuine learning. Also, because AI platforms like ChatGPT retrieve information from multiple unknown sources, and the accuracy of the information cannot be guaranteed, students need to be wary about using the chatbot’s content. The Straits Times 

It seems futile for faculty members to spend their energies figuring out what a current version can’t do. Chronicle of Higher Ed

It is important to be aware that ChatGPT’s potential sharing of personal information with third parties may raise serious privacy concerns for your students and perhaps in particular for students from marginalized backgrounds. Barnard College

How might chatting with AI systems affect vulnerable students, including those with depression, anxiety, and other mental-health challenges? Chronicle of Higher Ed 

Students need considerable support to make sure ChatGPT promotes learning rather than getting in the way of it. Some students find it harder to move beyond the tool’s output and make it their own. “It needs to be a jumping-off point rather than a crutch.” MIT Tech Review

Also:

21 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection                        

13 quotes worth reading about Generative AI policies & bans                   

20 quotes worth reading about students using AI                                    

27 quotes about AI & writing assignments                                                               

27 thoughts on teaching with AI            

22 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection        

27 thoughts on teaching with AI

/

Even as some educators raise concerns, others see potential for new AI technology to reduce teacher workloads or help bring teaching materials to life in new ways. EdSurge

Professors can use the new technology to encourage students to engage in a range of productive ChatGPT activities, including thinking, questioning, debating, identifying shortcomings and experimenting. Inside Higher Ed 

Ethan Mollick, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business said ChatGPT has already changed his expectations of his students. “I expect them to write more and expect them to write better,” he said. “This is a force multiplier for writing. I expect them to use it.” Forbes

ChatGPT can create David, said David Chrisinger, who directs the writing program at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, referring to the famous Michelangelo statue. “But his head is too big and his legs are too short. Now it’s our job to interrogate the evidence and improve on what it gives us,” he said. Wall Street Journal 

For some educators, the chatbot helps to make their job easier by creating lesson plans and material for their students. Mashable

We can teach students that there is a time, place and a way to use GPT3 and other AI writing tools. It depends on the learning objectives. Inside Higher Ed

Judging from the reaction on TikTok, teachers on the app see ChatGPT as a tool to be treated the same way calculators and cell phones are used in class — as resources to help students succeed but not do the work for them. Mashable

Faculty members need time to play with new tools and explore their implications. Administrators can carve out time for faculty training support. How does bias play out in your area within the model? Inside Higher Ed

Here’s what I plan to do about chatbots in my classes: pretty much nothing. Washington Post

If a program can do a job as well as a person, then humans shouldn’t duplicate those abilities; they must surpass them. The next task for higher education, then, is to prepare graduates to make the most effective use of the new tools and to rise above and go beyond their limitations. That means pedagogies that emphasize active and experiential learning, that show students how to take advantage of these new technologies and that produce graduates who can do those things that the tools can’t. Inside Higher Ed 

Are new rubrics and assignment descriptions needed? Will you add an AI writing code of conduct to your syllabus? Divisions or departments might agree on expectations across courses. That way, students need not scramble to interpret academic misconduct across multiple courses. Inside Higher Ed

We should be telling our undergraduates that good writing isn’t just about subject-verb agreement or avoiding grammatical errors—not even good academic writing. Good writing reminds us of our humanity, the humanity of others and all the ugly, beautiful ways in which we exist in the world. Inside Higher Ed

(Some) professors are enthusiastic, or at least intrigued, by the possibility of incorporating generative AI into academic life. Those same tools can help students — and professors — brainstorm, kick-start an essay, explain a confusing idea, and smooth out awkward first drafts. Equally important, these faculty members argue, is their responsibility to prepare students for a world in which these technologies will be incorporated into everyday life, helping to produce everything from a professional email to a legal contract. Chronicle of Higher Ed 

After discovering my first ChatGPT essay, I decided that going forward, students can use generative A.I. on assignments, so long as they disclose how and why. I’m hoping this will lead to less banging my head against the kitchen table–and, at its best, be its own kind of lesson. Slate

There’s plenty to agree on, such as motivating students to do their own work, adapting teaching to this new reality, and fostering AI literacy. Chronicle of Higher Ed

As academe adjusts to a world with ChatGPT, faculty will need to find fresh ways to assess students’ writing. The same was true when calculators first began to appear in math classrooms, and professors adapted the exams. “Academic integrity is about being honest about the way you did your work.” Spell checkers, David Rettinger, president emeritus at the International Center for Academic Integrity, pointed out, are a prime example of artificial intelligence that may have been controversial at first, but are now used routinely without a second thought to produce papers. Chronicle of Higher Ed

For those tasked to perform tedious and formulaic writing, we don’t doubt that some version of this tool could be a boon. Perhaps ChatGPT’s most grateful academic users will not be students, but deans and department heads racking their brains for buzzwords on “excellence” while talking up the latest strategic plan. Public Books

These technologies introduce opportunities for educators to rethink assessment practices and engage students in deeper and more meaningful learning that can promote critical thinking skills. World Economic Forum

Khan Academy founder Sal Khan says the latest version of the generative AI engine makes a pretty good tutor. Axios 

Information that was once dispensed in the classroom is now everywhere: first online, then in chatbots. What educators must now do is show students not only how to find it, but what information to trust and what not to, and how to tell the difference. MIT Tech Review 

Don’t wait until you feel like an expert to discuss AI in your courses. Learn about it in class alongside your students. Chronicle of Higher Ed

The old education model in which teachers deliver information to later be condensed and repeated will not prepare our students for success in the classroom—or the jobs of tomorrow. Brookings

What if we could train it on our own rules and regulations, so if it hits an ethical issue or a problem, it could say to students: ‘you need to stop here and take that problem to the ethical lead.’ Columbia Journalism Review

I look at it as the future of: What if we could program it to be our substitute teacher at school? EdSurge

Once you start to think of a chatbot as a tool, rather than a replacement, its possibilities become very exciting. Vice

Training ourselves and our students to work with AI doesn’t require inviting AI to every conversation we have. In fact, I believe it’s essential that we don’t. Inside Higher Ed 

A US survey of 1,002 K–12 teachers and 1,000 students between 12 and 17, commissioned by the Walton Family Foundation in February, found that more than half the teachers had used ChatGPT—10% of them reported using it every day—but only a third of the students. Nearly all those who had used it (88% of teachers and 79% of students) said it had a positive impact. MIT Tech Review

For my students and for the public, the quickest way to feel hopeless in the face of seemingly unstoppable technological change is to decide that it is all-powerful and too complicated for an ordinary person to understand. Slate

Consider the tools relative to your course. What are the cognitive tasks students need to perform without AI assistance? When should students rely on AI assistance? Where can an AI aid facilitate a better outcome? Are there efficiencies in grading that can be gained? Are new rubrics and assignment descriptions needed? Will you add an AI writing code of conduct to your syllabus? Do these changes require structural shifts in timetabling, class size or number of teaching assistants? Inside Higher Ed

Also:

21 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection                        

13 quotes worth reading about Generative AI policies & bans                   

20 quotes worth reading about students using AI                                    

27 quotes about AI & writing assignments                                                                 

22 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection     

13 thoughts on the problems of teaching with AI      

22 examples of teaching with AI

/

(A professor) plans to weave ChatGPT into lessons by asking students to evaluate the chatbot’s responses.“What’s happening in class is no longer going to be, ‘Here are some questions — let’s talk about it between us human beings,’” he said, but instead “it’s like, ‘What also does this alien robot think?’” New York Times

Prof Jim is a software company that can turn existing written materials—like textbooks, Wikipedia pages or a teacher’s notes—into these animated videos at the push of a button. A teacher could use the software to turn a Wikipedia page about, say, the Grand Canyon into a video. EdSurge

Some professors are redesigning their courses entirely, making changes that include more oral exams, group work and handwritten assessments in lieu of typed ones. New York Times

There is no understanding or intent behind AI outputs. But warning students about the mistakes that result from this lack of understanding is not enough. It’s easy to pay lip service to the notion that AI has limitations and still end up treating AI text as more reliable than it is. There’s a well-documented tendency to project onto AI; we need to work against that by helping students practice recognizing its failings. One way to do this is to model generating and critiquing outputs and then have students try on their own. Can they detect fabrications, misrepresentations, fallacies and perpetuation of harmful stereotypes? If students aren’t ready to critique ChatGPT’s output, then we shouldn’t choose it as a learning aid. Inside Higher Ed

ChatGPT could help teachers shift away from an excessive focus on final results. Getting a class to engage with AI and think critically about what it generates could make teaching feel more human “rather than asking students to write and perform like robots.” MIT Tech Review 

Reverting to analog forms of assessment, like oral exams, can put students with disabilities at a disadvantage. And outright bans on AI tools could cement a culture of distrust. “It’s going to be harder for students to learn in an environment where a teacher is trying to catch them cheating,” says Trust. “It shifts the focus from learning to just trying to get a good grade.” Wired 

I’ve given students assignments to “cheat” on their final papers with text-generating software. In doing so, most students learn—often to their surprise—as much about the limits of these technologies as their seemingly revolutionary potential. Some come away quite critical of AI, believing more firmly in their own voices. Others grow curious about how to adapt these tools for different goals or about professional or educational domains they could impact. Inside Higher Ed 

ChatGPT can play the role of a debate opponent and generate counterarguments to a student’s positions. By exposing students to an endless supply of opposing viewpoints, chatbots could help them look for weak points in their own thinking. MIT Tech Review

Assign reflection to help students understand their own thought processes and motivations for using these tools, as well as the impact AI has on their learning and writing. Inside Higher Ed

In March, Quizlet updated its app with a feature called Q-Chat, built using ChatGPT, that tailors material to each user’s needs. The app adjusts the difficulty of the questions according to how well students know the material they’re studying and how they prefer to learn. Some educators think future textbooks could be bundled with chatbots trained on their contents. Students would have a conversation with the bot about the book’s contents as well as (or instead of) reading it. The chatbot could generate personalized quizzes to coach students on topics they understand less well. MIT Tech Review

Encourage students to use peer-reviewed journals as sources. These types of journals are not available to ChatGPT, so by teaching our students about them and requiring their use in essays, we can ensure that the content being presented is truly original. The Tech Insider

Students must then take apart and improve upon the ChatGPT-generated essay—an exercise designed to teach critical analysis, the craft of precise thesis statements, and a feel for what “good writing” looks like. Wired

Show students examples of inaccuracy, bias, logical, and stylistic problems in automated outputs. We can build students’ cognitive abilities by modeling and encouraging this kind of critique. Critical AI 

Far from being just a dream machine for cheaters, many teachers now believe, ChatGPT could actually help make education better. Advanced chatbots could be used as powerful classroom aids that make lessons more interactive, teach students media literacy, generate personalized lesson plans, save teachers time on admin, and more. MIT Tech Review

When possible, scaffold your assignments to promote revision and growth over time, with opportunities for feedback from peers, TAs, and/or the instructor. Build assignment pre-writing or brainstorming into class time and invite students to share and discuss these ideas in small groups or with the class as a whole. Barnard College

Nontraditional learners could get more out of tools like ChatGPT than mainstream methods. It could be an audio-visual assistant where students can freely ask as many clarifying questions as necessary without judgment.Teachers juggling countless individualized education plans could also take advantage of ChatGPT by asking how to curate lesson plans for students with disabilities or other learning requirements. New York Magazine 

Discuss students’ potentially diverse motivations for using ChatGPT or other generative AI software. Do they arise from stress about the writing and research process? Time management on big projects? Competition with other students? Experimentation and curiosity about using AI? Grade and/or other pressures and/or burnout? Invite your students to have an honest discussion about these and related questions. Cultivate an environment in your course in which students will feel comfortable approaching you if they need more direct support from you, their peers, or a campus resource to successfully complete an assignment. Barnard College

We will need to teach students to contest it. Students in every major will need to know how to challenge or defend the appropriateness of a given model for a given question. To teach them how to do that, we don’t need to hastily construct a new field called “critical AI studies.” The intellectual resources students need are already present in the history and philosophy of science courses, along with the disciplines of statistics and machine learning themselves, which are deeply self-conscious about their own epistemic procedures. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Spend some time discussing the definition (or definitions) of academic honesty and discuss your own expectations for academic honesty with your students. Be open, specific, and direct about what those expectations are. Barnard College

Experiential learning will become the norm. Everyone will need an internship. Employers will want assurances that a new graduate can follow directions, complete tasks, demonstrate judgment. Chronicle of Higher Ed

Khan Academy released the Khanmigo project which is able to help students as a virtual tutor or debating partner and helps teachers with administrative tasks such as generating lesson plans.Columbia Journalism Review

One situation in which I have found ChatGPT extremely useful is writing multiple-choice questions. It’s quite easy to write a question and the right answer, but coming up with three plausible wrong answers is tricky. I found that if I prompted ChatGPT with the following: “Write a multi-choice question about <topic of interest> with four answers, and not using ‘all of the above’ as an answer,” it came up with good wrong answers. This was incredibly helpful. Nature

ChatGPT outperformed most of his (journalism) students who were in the early part of the course. But students would have to seek out sources, do on-the-ground reporting, and find the important trends in the data. “And all of that, you’re not gonna get from ChatGPT.” Columbia Journalism Review

Also:

21 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection                        

13 quotes worth reading about Generative AI policies & bans                   

20 quotes worth reading about students using AI                                    

27 quotes about AI & writing assignments                                                               

27 thoughts on teaching with AI            

22 quotes about cheating with AI & plagiarism detection     

13 thoughts on the problems of teaching with AI                                                                                      

The Best Teachers

/

The best teachers … sometimes discard or place less emphasis on traditional goals in favor of the capacity to comprehend, to use evidence to draw conclusions, to raise important questions, and to understand one’s thinking. In most disciplines, that means they emphasize comprehension, reasoning, and brilliant insights over memory, order punctuality, or the spick-and-span. Spelling, the size of margins or fonts, and the style of footnotes and bibliographies are trivial in comparison to the power to think on paper; conceptual understanding of chemistry is more important than remembering individual details; the capacity to think about one’s thinking — to ponder metacognitively – and to correct it in progress is far more worthy than remembering any name, date, or number. 

The ability to understand the principles and concepts in thinking critically through a problem outranks any capacity to reach the correct answer on any particular question. These teachers want their students to learn to use a wide range of information, ideas, and concepts logically and consistently to draw meaningful conclusions. They help their students achieve those levels by providing meaningful directions and exemplary feedback that quietly yet forcefully couple lofty ideals with firm confidence in what students can do – without making any judgments of their worth as human beings. Most significant, they help students shift their focus from making the grade to thinking about personal goals of development. 

Ken Bain, What the Best College Teachers Do

Feedback

/

Some professors argue that they don’t want to hear their students talk about a subject because they don’t know enough… But I always think of piano teachers; they would never keep their students away from the keyboard simply because those pupils couldn’t yet play Mozart. Sure they have to endure a lot of bad notes, but they would never push someone off the bench and refuse to let them play until they somehow became better.

Ken Bain, What the Best College Teachers Do