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Changing Conceptions, Changing Practices demonstrates that it is possible for groups of faculty members to change teaching and learning in radical ways across their programs, despite the current emphasis on efficiency and accountability. Relating the experiences of faculty from disciplines as diverse as art history, economics, psychology, and philosophy, this book offers a theory- and research-based heuristic for helping faculty transform their courses and programs, as well as practical examples of the heuristic in action. The authors draw on the threshold concepts framework, research in writing studies, and theories of learning, leadership, and change to deftly explore why faculty are often stymied in their efforts to design meaningful curricula for deep learning and how carefully scaffolded professional development for faculty teams can help make such change possible. This book is a powerful demonstration of how faculty members can be empowered when professional development leaders draw on a range of scholarship that is not typically connected. In today's climate, courses, programs, and institutions are often assessed by and rewarded for proxy metrics that have little to do with learning, with grave consequences for students. The stakes have never been higher, particularly for public higher education. Faculty members need opportunities to work together using their own expertise and to enact meaningful learning opportunities for students. Professional developers have an important role to play in such change efforts. WAC scholars and practitioners, leaders of professional development and centers for teaching excellence, program administrators and curriculum committees from all disciplines, and faculty innovators from many fields will find not only hope but also a blueprint for action in Changing Conceptions, Changing Practices. Contributors: Juan Carlos Albarrán, José Amador, Annie Dell'Aria, Kate de Medeiros, Keith Fennen, Jordan A. Fenton, Carrie E. Hall, Elena Jackson Albarrán, Erik N. Jensen, Vrinda Kalia, Janice Kinghorn, Jennifer Kinney, Sheri Leafgren, Elaine Maimon, Elaine Miller, Gaile Pohlhaus Jr., Jennifer J. Quinn, Barbara J. Rose, Scott Sander, Brian D. Schultz, Ling Shao, L. James Smart, Pepper Stetler

From the bestselling author of What the Best College Teachers Do, the story of a new breed of amazingly innovative courses that inspire students and improve learningDecades of research have produced profound insights into how student learning and motivation can be unleashed—and it's not through technology or even the best of lectures. In Super Courses, education expert and bestselling author Ken Bain tells the fascinating story of enterprising college, graduate school, and high school teachers who are using evidence-based approaches to spark deeper levels of learning, critical thinking, and creativity—whether teaching online, in class, or in the field.Visiting schools across the United States as well as in China and Singapore, Bain, working with his longtime collaborator, Marsha Marshall Bain, uncovers super courses throughout the humanities and sciences. At the University of Virginia, undergrads contemplate the big questions that drove Tolstoy—by working with juveniles at a maximum-security correctional facility. Harvard physics students learn about the universe not through lectures but from their peers in a class where even reading is a social event. And students at a Dallas high school use dance to develop growth mindsets—and many of them go on to top colleges, including Juilliard. Bain defines these as super courses because they all use powerful researched-based elements to build a “natural critical learning environment” that fosters intrinsic motivation, self-directed learning, and self-reflective reasoning. Complete with sample syllabi, the book shows teachers how they can build their own super courses.The story of a hugely important breakthrough in education, Super Courses reveals how these classes can help students reach their full potential, equip them to lead happy and productive lives, and meet the world's complex challenges.

Has our system of accountability and quick fixes meant we've lost perspective of what can really improve the quality of education? With a multitude of issues at the heart of some of our more toxic schools, including micro-management, over-complicated policy and the intricate measurement of the wrong foci, it appears that teachers are experiencing a disconnect from the very reason they joined teaching in the first place. With little autonomy over what's important, fewer teachers enter the profession than the monumental amount of teachers that are leaving, and those that do, do so with reluctance and regret. With an astute examination of practice in schools, Claire Hill and Kat Howard take a thoughtful and strategic view of how to ensure a sense of connection and cohesion within schools, to ensure that all feel part of the collective curricular journey towards a gold standard. With a consideration of research-informed practice, this book will provide a series of strategies for curriculum designers at every level, keeping the high quality teachers that we very much need in schools, and providing a better palette to students in the process. At a time where teaching is somewhat politicised, monetised and overcomplicated, Symbiosis: Curriculum and the Classroom sets about the task of refining the way in which we run our schools to improve the quality of our everyday lives in schools.

An Wissenschaftlichen Hochschulen ist Qualitätsmanagement als Querschnittsaufgabe für die institutionelle, curriculare und hochschuldidaktische Strategieentwicklung inzwischen breit etabliert. Musikhochschulen partizipierten aufgrund ihrer institutionellen Eigenständigkeit und weitgehenden Unabhängigkeit vom Universitätssystem sowie ihrer spezifischen Strukturen und Lehrformate bislang nur marginal an dieser Entwicklung. Um dem in der Hochschul-Community sowie von Seiten der politischen Stakeholder zunehmend deutlicher artikulierten Desiderat eines musikhochschulspezifischen Qualitätsmanagements einschließlich einer systematischen Reflexion, Evaluation und Entwicklung von Lehre zu genügen, schlossen sich 2012 zwölf Musikhochschulen im „Netzwerk Musikhochschulen für Qualitätsmanagement und Lehrentwicklung“ mit dem Ziel gegenseitiger Unterstützung zusammen. Zum Ende der 1. Förderphase legen die Netzwerkhochschulen diesen Sammelband vor, in dem die über einen Zeitraum von vier Jahren gesammelten Erfahrungen im Bereich des Qualitätsmanagements und der Lehrentwicklung an Musikhochschulen dokumentiert und reflektiert werden.Die Publikation bringt zahlreiche interdisziplinär erarbeitete Ansätze und Methoden für die Bereiche Hochschulorganisation, Lehre und Personalentwicklung für die deutschen Musikhochschulen zusammen und entwickelt zugleich Perspektiven in Bezug auf die zukünftige Arbeit des Netzwerks sowie des Qualitätsmanagements an den deutschen Musikhochschulen insgesamt.

Teaching is not merely a technical process- it is one that requires creative and inspirational thinking, not only on the part of students but for teachers themselves as artful, reflective beings. The purpose of this book is to provide educators with creative experiences which unlock their imaginative potential so they can re-envision their curriculum to promote active learning, culturally relevant pedagogy, and differentiated instruction. This book guides the reader through a series of experiences intended to tap into the right side of the brain, and provide educators opportunities to re-imagine their existing curriculum in new ways. Through this re-imaging (or re-envisioning) of the creative potential within themselves, teachers can redesign their curricula in ways that best meet the needs of their learners, schools, and communities. This book emphasizes creativity in teaching as a collaborative effort. The experiences and ideas presented in this book are intended to inspire small groups or whole communities (including schools) to work together and support each other in their creative efforts. Creativity does not just exist for individuals in isolated contemplation but resides instead in the relational work that community members create together toward a shared vision. In order to encourage imaginative students who will have the capacities to see the world, not merely as it is, but as it could be, we need to encourage teachers to tap into their creative imaginative capacities to teach as well. Such work cannot be performed in isolation. Creative social change requires that we imagine together that which we cannot do alone.

Moving beyond alignment and national boilerplate standards, this book takes the position that curriculum and instruction are inseparable concepts from the institutional point of view, and presents strategies to ensure their congruency. To achieve student success it is imperative that educational leaders have superb knowledge and skills in curriculum and instructional leadership whether they operate from the central office or the building level. Bradley contends that paper and pencil tests to measure student achievement on basic and minimum skills will certainly remain as one criterion of school evaluation. However, the public and the educational community will continue to demand the maximizing of potential for all students as an evaluation component of equal value and importance. The educational leader of today and tomorrow will need the knowledge and skills to facilitate this two-pronged approach to student achievement through curriculum design, development, implementation, and evaluation. Curriculum Leadership has, as its purpose, the preparation of leaders to facilitate this process.