Teaching and Learning
Layered Learning: Designing Video with Intention and Authenticity (Bonni Stachowiak, Teaching in Higher Ed, September 11, 2025): A discussion with M. C. Flux on video creation and learning.
Only One-Third of College Students Have Positive Mental Health (Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed, September 11, 2025): A new survey finds poor mental health conditions, particularly anxiety and depression, continue to impact a significant share of college students.
Teaching Sept. 11 Using Virtual Reality (Adam M. McMahon, Inside Higher Ed, September 11, 2025): Seeking a way to convey the import of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to students too young to remember them, the author turned to virtual reality.
How to Teach with AI Transparency Statements (Jason Gulya, Faculty Focus, September 10, 2025): Students describe how they used GenAI and then defend their use of non-use of the technology.
The Student Brain on AI (Beth McMurtrie, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 9, 2025): A panic over “brain rot” obscures a more complex – and surprising – reality.
Teaching American Government During Trump II (Matt Reed, Inside Higher Ed, September 8, 2025): On helping students engage thoughtfully with American politics without sliding into either partisan cheerleading or fatalism.
What 130,000 Student Questions to AI Reveal About Critical Thinking (Muireann Hendriksen, Learning Scientists, September 4, 2025): In a large-scale analysis of student interactions with an AI-powered study tool, the author’s research team found encouraging evidence that students are using AI to build, rather than bypass, their critical thinking skills.
How to Get Students to Do Work Outside of Class (Beth McMurtrie, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 4, 2025): Among the ideas: mini-quizzes, pre-class quiz, ‘extra’ homework.
3 Ways to Liven Up Your Lectures (Kristi Rudenga, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 3, 2025): Small changes that can make a lecture-heavy course more engaging.
Why I Bring Bananas to Class (Fidelindo Lim, American Nurse, August 21 2025): How to get students to do the hard work of learning.
AI in the Classroom: Panic, Possibility, and the Pedagogy in Between (Demian Hommel, Teaching with Technology, August 13, 2025): Suggestions on how to engage, listen, and rethink what meaningful learning looks like in the age of AI.
Higher Ed in Today’s World
Education Dept. to End Funding for Minority-Serving Institutions, Affecting Hundreds of Colleges (Sarah Brown, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 10, 2025): The department said that its move would affect $350 million in discretionary funding that was already allocated by Congress to minority-serving grant programs in the 2025 fiscal year. That money will be “reprogrammed into programs that do not include discriminatory racial and ethnic quotas,” according to the department’s statement.
Students Report Less Tolerance for Controversial Speakers (Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, September 9, 2025): Amid Trump administration attacks on free speech, more students—predominantly conservatives—say they don’t think controversial speakers should be given a platform on campus.
A ‘Volatile’ Climate for Campus Speech Has Worsened Under Trump, New FIRE Report Says (Sonel Cutler, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 9, 2025): Pressure from the Trump administration to crack down on pro-Palestinian student protests and diversity, equity, and inclusion practices has “deepened an already volatile climate for campus expression,” according to FIRE.
Harvard’s Mixed Victory (Jeannie Suk Gersen, New Yorker, September 6, 2025): A resounding win for the university in court still leaves the Trump Administration with plenty of ways to force schools into submission.
President of Northwestern, a School Attacked by the GOP, Will Resign (Anemona Hartocollis, Michael S. Schmidt and Tyler Pager, New York Times, September 4, 2025): The university’s president, Michael Schill, said he would step down following months of turbulence, including Trump administration cuts of $790 million from the university’s research funds.
Harvard Got a Big Win. Here Are 4 Key Quotes (Eric Kelderman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 4, 2025): The excerpts signal how one court reacted to the Trump administration’s strategy for overhauling the university’s policies — a playbook that’s been used nationwide.
Extra Credit Reading
Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity (Lisa Siraganian, Academe, October 2025): The problems with arguments for intellectual pluralism.
College Board Cancels Tool for Finding Low-Income High Achievers (Stephanie Saul and Dana Goldstein, New York Times, September 4, 2025): After the Trump administration criticized the use of what it called “racial proxies,” the group behind the SAT shut down a way for universities to identify promising applicants from disadvantaged communities.
The Coming Collapse of Faculty Diversity (Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev, Chronicle of Higher Education, August 28, 2025): For young scholars of color, the dream of an academic career is slipping away.
Virtual (and in Person) Talks
Wooster’s Democracy and Academic Freedom forum continues on Wednesday September 17th at 7:30pm with Professor Jamal Greene from Columbia Law School. His talk is titled “The Art of the Deal: Free Speech in the Age of Trump.” You can attend in-person at The College of Wooster Gault Recital Hall (525 E. University St.) or watch the live-stream. Recordings of past sessions are also available on the live stream link.
Editor: Steven Volk ([email protected])
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Lew Ludwig ([email protected])
Colleen Monahan Smith ([email protected])