Continuing my self-directed professional development this summer, this book was next up on my reading list…
Book: Teaching College: The Ultimate Guide to Lecturing, Presenting, and Engaging Students
Author: Norman Eng
Review:
I felt like this book was perfect for helping a brand new instructor in the humanities, social sciences or possibly business learn how to teach in a more engaging and effective way. The book’s strongest points seemed to relate to motivation of students and engagement, whether it was engaging students with ‘big why’ questions or guest speakers. The writing is very plain-spoken and accessible which I also appreciated.
I ultimately wasn’t a big fan of this book however… I’m not new to teaching, and I teach computer science. I found a lot of the advice in the book to cover points I’ve already learned earlier in my career, and the examples in the book frequently didn’t carry over to STEM topics (this is just my opinion, in fairness the book attempts to make the ideas carry over to STEM topics). I also found that the book was a little opinionated, for example strongly preferring active learning over lecturing, when even as a fan of active learning over lecturing, I think there’s more nuance than the book perhaps gives credit.
If you’re new to teaching, and teaching in arts or humanities departments, I would suggest the book is worth a read.
Rating: 6/10