Week of Jan 14 – 18

As the month of November opens, I am in the habit of mind to give thanks for features of life that are positive and meaningful. For students and all lifelong learners, it is a great time to thank our professors, instructors, advisors, and mentors (present and of yester-year). This November, my very first in the Show Me State, I also give thanks to the Mizzou community for envisioning a new Teaching for Learning Center and inviting me to lead it to fruition.

One rainy September day, a small group of faculty members gathered around a conference table in a seminar room at my college to puzzle over an extraordinarily difficult question: Twenty years from now, what do we hope students will remember from our courses?

For well over a decade, I’ve been exploring the science of learning, cognitive neuroscience, research on memory and studies of pedagogy, as well as reading everything I can get my hands on having to do with techniques and methods for meaningful, engaged classrooms.