A Note from the Editor
This will be my final NOTW. It’s been my honor and – as cliched as it sounds – pleasure to prepare the weekly newsletter for many years. I will miss combing through the higher ed news each morning in search of articles rich with pedagogical insights, as well as news reports that might help you prepare for the increasingly difficult environment in which we find ourselves. Speaking only for myself, I have never experienced a time in which honest and inclusive teaching, in both K-12 and higher ed, has been as threatened as it currently is. I have never felt before now that the challenges we face are truly existential. But my years of working with the GLCA, along with more than four decades in the academy, have also made me aware of how many of you are working your hearts out every day to guarantee that higher ed continues to serve our students with honesty, integrity, and courage. I wish you all the best.
Teaching and Learning
How Do You Like Them Apples? On the Importance of Teaching in the Time of AI (Althea Need Kaminske, Learning Scientists, October 30, 2025): If you think AI can, in any meaningful way, replace communities of learning, then you fundamentally misunderstand what learning and teaching are.
Are Tech-Heavy Classes Stressing Students Out? (Beth McMurtrie, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 30, 2025): What if technology is adding to students’ stress? That’s the argument at the heart of Pamela Scully’s recent essay, “The Case for ‘Slow Teaching.’” Scully describes an approach she takes with her teaching that involves as little technology as possible, with emphasis on immersive reading and longer-term planning. This approach, she writes, helps students to develop a sense of agency and reduces their anxiety.
Listen: Putting AI Tools in the Classroom (Inside Higher Ed, October 29, 2025): Inside Higher Ed’s Voices of Student Success discusses the role of faculty in embracing and teaching alongside AI tools for career development.
Teach Writing, Not Document Production (John Warner, Inside Higher Ed, October 29, 2025): If we want students to learn to write, AI tools shouldn’t have much of a role. If we don’t think students need to learn to write anymore, I’m not sure what we’re doing here.
The Case Against AI Disclosure Statements (Julie McCown, Inside Higher Ed, October 28, 2025): There’s a reason students don’t want to admit their use of AI, even in classes where it’s permitted.
The Great Campus Charade (Jeonghyun Kim and Cory Koedel, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 28, 2025): Students are learning less, studying less, and skipping class more — yet their grades go up and up.
My Students Use AI. So What? (John McWhorter, Atlantic, October 23, 2025): Young people are reading less and relying on bots, but there are other ways to teach people how to think.
What Do You Think of the Trump Compact’s Take on Grades? (Beckie Supiano, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 23, 2025): Supiano shares highlights from her recent story about why grading is included in the Trump compact.
Analog inspiration: Human Centered AI in the Classroom with Carter Moulton (Bonni Stachowiak, Teaching in Higher Ed, October 23, 2025): 36-minute podcast in which Carter Moulton shares his Analog Inspiration (AI) card deck and human centered AI in the classroom.
The Trump Administration’s and Higher Education
More College Leaders Speak Out Against Compact but Don’t Reject It (Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed, October 30, 2025): Experts say the mixed messaging reflects confusion over the Trump administration’s muddled rollout of the agreement and a desire to keep all options open.
What Does Trump Want from UCLA? The Proposed Settlement Was Just Made Public (Gavin Escott, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 27, 2025): UCLA would pay $1.2 billion, eliminate diversity practices in scholarships and hiring, and adopt the Trump administration’s limited definition of gender.
Americans Think Trump Is Overreaching on Higher Ed (Eric Kelderman, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 24, 2025): 57 percent don’t want the federal government setting colleges’ policies, a new Quinnipiac poll reveals.
Why the Compact Failed (Suzanne Nossel, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 22, 2025): Colleges led the way in bucking Trump’s authoritarian incursions.
What Does UVa Have to Change Under Its Deal with Trump? Here’s What We Know (Kate Hidalgo Bellows, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 23, 2025): Details are scant on how the U. of Virginia can satisfy concerns about its DEI commitments — a contrast with previous agreements between the Trump administration and colleges.
Extra Credit Reading
How the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Threatens Student Success (Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed, October 30, 2025): At a webinar Tuesday, experts shared projections about how the budget bill could impact college students and their financial stability.
Remembering Ken Bain (Bonnie Stachowiak, Teaching in Higher Ed, October 20, 2025): Dave and Bonnie Stachowiak join in remembering Ken Bain in this 17-minute podcast.
Black Student Enrollment Shrinks at Selective Institutions (Emma Whitford, Inside Higher Ed, October 27, 2025): This fall, some colleges reported shrinking Black populations, which in some cases now comprise less than 2 percent of the student body, the Associated Press reported.
As SB-1 Impacts Ripple Across Ohio College Campuses, Students, Faculty Say ‘the Chill Is Real’ (Sheridan Hendriz, Columbus Dispatch, October 26, 2025): Students see its impact as “like a quiet roar.”
America Is Slipping in Higher Education. The Slide Starts Long Before College (Courtney Brown, Lumina Foundation, October 23, 2025): Once a global leader in higher education, the country now finds itself spending more than nearly any of its peer nations while delivering outcomes that fall increasingly short.
‘Who Needs College Anymore?’ (Scott Carlson, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 23, 2025): A debate on how college is and isn’t changing – and who it’s for.
Editor: Steven Volk ([email protected])
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