News of the Week – May 1, 2026

This week’s issue is curated by Zachary Adams.  Zach is an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the Center for Teaching & Learning at Hope College

Teaching & Learning

Grade Inflation Is Called a Crisis. The Real Problem Is Deeper Than That. (Beth McMurtrie, The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 27, 2026): McMurtrie examines the tension many faculty are feeling as students arrive with weaker academic preparation while institutional and evaluative pressures make it harder to hold firm lines.

The COPE Method for Assisting Struggling Students. (Dr. Jaime Davis and Maria Lyon, Faculty Focus, April 6, 2026): A useful article for faculty who want earlier and lighter-touch ways to support students before small problems become bigger ones.

What I Learned from Giving 71 Oral Exams in 12 Days. (Jason Linn, Faculty Focus, April 20, 2026): Linn highlights their experiments with oral exams in lower-division history courses and found that they created opportunities for immediate feedback, more personal assessment, and richer academic conversation. Free.

The Students Who Won’t Use AI. (Beth McMurtrie, The Chronicle of Higher Education Teaching Newsletter, April 16, 2026): A look into the students who remain skeptical, cautious, or resistant to AI use as found in a Gallup-Lumina survey.

Podcast Pick & Book Recommendation

Reimagining Grading with Sharona Krinsky and Robert Bosley (Derek Bruff, Intentional Teaching, February 24, 2026): A grounded conversation about grading reform, barriers to change, and how centers for teaching and learning can help faculty rethink grading practices.

The Joyful Online Teacher: Finding Our Fizz in Asynchronous Classes (Flower Darby, University of Oklahoma Press, April 21, 2026): A timely spring pick for readers thinking about motivation, rapport, and course climate in digital learning spaces.

Tech-ish

Make Learning Accessible to All in Higher Education. (Luke Searle, Times Higher Education Campus, April 16, 2026): Searle focuses on digital accessibility in higher education and argues that accessibility should be built into teaching and learning design from the start, not treated as an afterthought.

Editor:  Colleen Monahan Smith, GLCA, [email protected]