This week, a Nobel Prize-winning professor advises institutions to implement research-based teaching methods and measure their impact on students’ learning, and instructors suggest that their peers use student evaluations to improve their teaching.

Teaching Lessons From the Road 
Penny MacCormack describes how faculty across the country, including John Pollard, Tara Lineweaver, José Bowen, Kristina Ruiz-Mesa, and others, helped her shape ACUE’s Course. (The Q Blog)

Hey Higher Ed, Why Not Focus on Teaching?
Undergraduate programs need to do more to measure the impact of teaching and use research-based methods in the classroom, Nobel Prize-winning Professor Carl Wieman says. (nprEd)

Reflective Teaching Three Ways
Anna Guarnera suggests that instructors reflect on their teaching successes and failures at the end of the semester and offers several methods for recording succinct observations about what went well and reminders about what to do differently in the future. (GradHacker)

No, Student Evaluations Aren’t “Worthless”
While acknowledging that student evaluations are an imperfect tool, David Gooblar points to ways instructors can use them to learn about the impact of their teaching and offers strategies for using the feedback to hone teaching methods. (Pedagogy Unbound)

Seeking Patterns and Making Meaning
Encouraging students to turn a critical eye to their own behavior through exercises like noticing patterns in their social media commentary can help them think more deeply about their actions and motivations, Sherri Spelic writes. (Hybrid Pedagogy)

Five Things Colleges Need to Do to Help Black and Latino Students
Strategies for improving the rate of college completion for black and Latino students—who have a lower rate of success than white and Asian students—include changing the faculty mindset so they have high expectations for minority students. (The Hechinger Report)

Knowledge Creation, Professional Development, and Conferences
Joshua Kim suggests that faculty consider attending conferences that provide opportunities for collaborating with others in the creation of something new rather than simply consuming existing information. (Technology and Learning)

Partner News

ACE: The Interrelatedness of Instructional Quality, Student Outcomes, and Institutional Finances (ACE)

University of Southern Mississippi: A Badge Will Give a Faculty Member a Boost (University Business)

Naugatuck Valley Community College: Naugatuck Valley Community College Honored with Major Grants to Support Collaboration with Waterbury High Schools (NVCC)

Miami Dade College: Miami Dade College Professor Creates STEM Workshop for Minority Girls in Homestead (MDC News)