News Roundup: Combating Anonymity in Lectures, Creating a Diverse Faculty

In this week’s news roundup, a professor suggests methods for mitigating the disconnect some students feel in large lectures, and a university president calls for institutions to create a diverse faculty to better support students’ needs.

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Class Size Matters
Deborah Cohen suggests methods of combating the anonymity some students feel in large lectures. Group projects, inviting individual students to office hours, and asking students how she can best support their learning are among the techniques that mitigate the sense of disconnection large classes engender. (Inside Higher Ed)

Teaching Inspiration From the Reggio Emilia Approach
The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education calls for educators to learn more about their students’ interests and incorporate them into their pedagogy. As Bonni Stachowiak notes, instructors can apply this approach to higher education by challenging themselves to better serve their students’ needs. (Teaching in Higher Ed)

A Diverse Faculty Is Key to Creating a Culture of Inclusion on Campus
Elsa Núñez, president of Eastern Connecticut State University, describes how instructors from different cultural backgrounds can help students learn about other perspectives and prepare them for life beyond school. She notes that a diverse faculty may be the most important factor in creating and supporting a diverse student population. (The Evolllution)

How the Humanities Can Train Entrepreneurs
In light of declining interest in humanities majors, McMaster’s DeGroote School of Business has developed an interdisciplinary program weaving humanities courses into their business program. These courses help provide the skills many employers in the field are looking for, such as problem-solving, communication, and a cultural perspective. (The Atlantic)

Improving the Quality of Higher Education
With proficiency declining among college students and new graduates lacking basic skills, Derek Bok recommends improving the quality of teaching across the board by more intentionally preparing graduate students for teaching and creating a teaching faculty. (Inside Higher Ed)

Leaders Wonder How Fast Colleges Should Change
Higher education leaders from across the country met at Stanford University last week to discuss academic innovation and share techniques for reinventing their respective institutions. (EdSurge)

Seeing the Essay Again for the First Time
P. L. Thomas explains how he regularly considers ways to improve his writing instruction and why it is more important to think about an essay’s purpose than fit the ideas into a prescribed structure. (Radical Eyes for Equity)