Somehow it feels like a waste to read a book, make notes for personal use, and then never share anything about it, so I’m going to try out writing some brief book reviews.
Book: What the best college teachers do
Author: Ken Bain
Review:
Very deep and holistic ideas related to college teaching are presented in this book. The book is not at all about prescribing specific tactics that can be employed in the classroom. Instead the authors studied the attitudes, approaches and practices of standout college teachers, and then present how these teachers approach their classes, treat their students, evaluate themselves, etc. Much of the ‘advice’ comes in the form of helpful questions an educator can ask themselves. There is a good bit of information on what bad practices and attitudes to avoid.
It’s roughly 200 pages which is pretty reasonable for what it is… as a sort of thought-provoking exercise to help an educator think more like the most successful educators, I think it’s a worthwhile read. But I think an educator will have to spend non-trivial time thinking about how to apply these very general ideas presented in this book in their courses, and then even more time implementing them. I’ve managed to think of some new ideas due to this book, but have not yet tried using them. I also think some of the book’s advice may not be for educators so much as their employers… for example, the book isn’t keen on grading on a curve, but in some institutions this is expected.
Rating: 8/10