Author: sagmillk

  • Research and Development in Teaching Improvement

    Are you curious about what the research agenda is for the improvement of teaching? The Carnegie Institute  is a leader in setting the agenda for R & D. In 2011 Carnegie invited a group of nationally recognized teaching and learning experts together to discuss the research and development agenda. First the team drew a clear…

  • Constructing Support for University Teaching

    The lives of university faculty are busy; professors must be strategic about how they balance  valuable time between research, service, teaching and family. Regrettably, the current institutional reward structure for the continued improvement of teaching lags far behind those for research and service. And yet, the classroom is a university’s key point of contact with…

  • Dumbing Down or Teaching UP?

    Public education is committed to the ideal that all students must have equitable access to learning…equitable is the key word here.  Brain research confirms what every teacher has known for centuries:  students vary widely in their prior knowledge, skill development and readiness to learn.  While private schools may have the freedom to sort and select…

  • Education Dis-ease

    I have been an educator for over thirty years: from elementary school to a tier-one research institution. I have noticed over the years, a general trend that I find curious…at the very least. Education, like any other discipline, has it’s own vocabulary…words like “objective,” “rubric,” yes, even “assessment” and “evaluation” have specific and clear meanings…

  • Teaching and Assessing Critical Thinking

    As educators we all want our students to become better problem solvers, to think outside of the box, to create novel and insightful solutions. But thinking, like other skills, must be modeled, practiced, practiced and practiced. It is only with frequent practice and targeted feedback that thinking will improve.Is all thinking created equal?Do the disciplines…