The Tyranny of Learning Objectives

three women sitting at a table smiling and talking

Chasing the Dream of a Good Discussion

Discussion is an opportunity for students to practice communicating with each other and weighing judgments or proposed actions together, as they must if they are going to be citizens of a democracy. So discussion might be the single most important skill a student can learn in college.

a kid lying on the ground with a book over their face

The hermeneutics of #BookTok; or, Getting students to read more

Reading is hard. It requires greater focus and concentration and attention than looking at photos or memes. The dopamine hits that bombard TikTok users are hard to come by in books. What does BookTok have to teach us about motivating students to read?

cover of Carter G. Woodson's "The Miseducation of the Negro," showing a Black woman with a shackle around her head

Fugitive Pedagogy

There's something to be said for being the kind of educator that authoritarians want to ban, if you can afford the risk.

Education and democracy

Aristotle described a broad education as one of the distinguishing characteristics of a free person but also of a free and independent mind, hence “liberal" education. Citizens in a democracy need education to free their mind.