Higher Education - Robert Talbert, Ph.D.

Grand questions about grand challenges

Answering questions from a talk on Grand Challenges for STEM Teaching.

How do you measure active learning? And should you?

If you could measure how much active learning really takes place at your university, would you? How would you do it? And what would you do with the results?

Alternative grading

The heart of the loop: Reattempts without penalty

It's hard to have a feedback loop without the ability to revise and resubmit. A reprint from GradingForGrowth.com.

Higher Education

Radical simplification redux

A podcast episode with my thoughts on "radical simplification", and two additional related thoughts.

Alternative grading

Giving marks that indicate progress

Marks are how students interface with feedback loops. How can we make them work for us? (Repost from Grading for Growth)

Teaching

Three things I learned about teaching by taking a short course

Reflections from flipping the script on being a learner. Originally posted in 2012.

Flipped learning

Flipped learning: Extinct or endemic?

Has flipped learning gone away, or is it everywhere in the background? I explore that question in this keynote address from the IFLIP symposium from February.

Higher Education

Losing our nerve

I am worried not so much that we are losing students, funding, or our currency with the general public. My worry is that we're losing our nerve.

Alternative grading

Grading in my Discrete Mathematics class: a 3x3x3 reflection

A postmortem of my Fall semester discrete math course and the specifications grading system it used.

Alternative grading

How specifications grading changed my view of academic dishonesty

What happens to your views about academic dishonesty when you move from a scarcity model to an abundance model. (Reposted from Grading For Growth)

Active learning

A new framework for active learning

A new paper proposes an updated definition of active learning and an "ecosystem" framework to go along with it.

Active learning

Why we should embrace active learning

Three good and three bad reasons to embrace active learning, with reflections on a changing world.

Higher Education

A case for radical simplification in higher education

What I am starting, stopping, and continuing in 2022 as a result of my pandemic experiences. (Reprinted from EdSurge)

Higher Education

Four wishes for higher education in 2022

In 2022, higher education needs less of a few things and more of their opposite.

Higher Education

Maintaining humanity in higher education in a high-tech world

Education has to take place in the context of human relationships, and through technology not in spite of it.

Mastery Grading

Checking in with the system at mid-semester

My students did a Mid-Semester Interview on Teaching recently and taught me some things about our mastery grading system.

Online learning

Can hyflex be made to work?

Hyflex is a toxic brand for many college faculty, but it is still a good idea on paper. What needs to be in place to make it work?

Higher Education

On ceding power to learners

Higher education faces a choice about whether or not it will deliver an empowered educational experience.

Teaching

What we really mean by "buy-in"

We talk about "buy-in" when we discuss teaching innovation, but that's not what we really mean.

Higher Education

Is traditional higher education in trouble from online course providers?

I just completed the much-hyped Project Management certification from Google and Coursera. How much trouble is traditional higher education in?

Grading

Finding common ground with grading systems

We've seen the differences. Now what are the similarities? (Repost from Grading for Growth)

Mastery Grading

Specifications grading and "help"

Can students in a specs grading setting do work without help? Do we care?

Productivity

How to handle Inbox Infinity

How I'd handle an email inbox that's too full even to contemplate.

Grading

Words, numbers, or nothing?

A classic study finds some eye-opening effects of different feedback on learning.

Teaching

Building Fall 2021: Discrete Structures

A work-in-progress report on my Fall 2021 classes, one month before launch.