The Yins and Yangs of College Teaching
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I read a lot of faculty portfolios. Don’t get me wrong, I love to do it—seeing how faculty find meaning in their work warms the heart, especially when I read reflections on one’s teaching. What I find most fascinating, however, are the two ways I commonly see this activity framed. For some, it is described from the perspective of the instructor—things they do in the classroom, or in preparation for a class session. Depending on the purpose of the portfolio—retention, tenure, promotion, or range adjustment, for instance—the author may expound on the evolution of technique over time, often using a robust amount of “I” statements. For others, it is described from the perspective of the student—things that lead to deeper learning, elements of design that enable rich student engagement with content, and moments of bliss when students’ light bulbs go off or an unsolicited letter of appreciation is received. Portfolio authors of this stripe, like their counterparts, also tend to integrate points of wisdom through experience, although with fewer “I” statements.
In both cases, though, there are often moments of reflective disappointment that something that may have worked before in teaching, or for learning, doesn’t always lead to the desired outcome. When such portfolio prose expresses a faculty member’s vulnerability or acknowledgement that the teaching thing is hard, and about ongoing improvement throughout one’s career, that’s what I most like to see because it is true.
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The cover of Ken Bain’s bestselling book, What the Best College Teachers Do, features a photograph of a professor balancing a set of books on their head, inferring that the teaching craft is not easy. Yet, Bain is also clear—teaching is not only about what a professor knows or does, but that they value human learning and ask the right engaging questions that provoke it. Furthermore, they BELIEVE their students are capable of learning. Interestingly, a few years after publishing his seminal book, he released another, What the Best College Students Do. Its cover metaphor was a fish leaping out of its comfortable environment with other fish to forge ahead into the unknown.
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Here the principles of a growth mindset, comfort in failing as a step to learning, and intellectual curiosity as the building block to real-world problem-solving prevails. Although this book is written to students, any reader of his prior book will see the connection—being guided by the former can create the environment that enables the latter.
My take on this is perhaps best captured by my favorite higher education article of all time, titled From Teaching to Learning: A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Education. Barr and Tagg led the way in accelerating a shift from seeing teaching as an exercise in instruction to a craft about learning.
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The Faculty Senate has been engaged in an important exercise around inclusive teaching, one for which there are elements that link to what makes for optimal student learning. I invite the campus to visit the Faculty Senate website and see the fruits of that work. I also look forward to what comes next: how to improve its assessment through peer review.
The yin and yang reminds us that life is a balancing act and most fulfilling when we embrace its ups and downs, its good times and bad, its joys and challenges. Enabling learning is an exercise in humility at times, and one of bravery in others.
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Continued Progress on Building a Portfolio of Certificates. The Educational Policy and Student Development Committee of the Board of Trustees recommended 12 new certificates for approval to the full Board. In contrast to minors, certificates are a tightly configured set of courses (typically 9 to 12 credits) with a specific aim of creating unique value for students. A subset of the 12 are some that are partnerships across departments and colleges. Furthermore, some are lower division-focused and others upper division, both with the intent of flowing naturally within one’s major. In just one year (Spring 2023 to Spring 2024), enrollment in undergraduate certificates has more than doubled, from 47 to 103 students, and increased at the graduate level by about a third, from 363 to 496. Thank you to the faculty who are visioning these new opportunities, and for their additional potential of attracting new students just to pursue a certificate.
Commencement 2024. There will be one undergraduate ceremony in the Prudential Center on Wednesday, May 22, at 9 a.m., and two graduate ceremonies in the William Paterson Sports and Recreation Center on Monday, May 20—at 12 noon for the College of Education and the College of Science and Health, and at 6 p.m. for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and the Cotsakos College of Business. Faculty and staff participation is expected. You can RSVP through the link on the Commencement website. Additional details for faculty can be found on the Provost’s Office News, Events & Reports website.
Academic Affairs Mid-Year Update Presentation. The PowerPoint for the presentation held on February 9, as well as a transcript of the Provost’s remarks, are now posted to the Provost’s Office News, Events & Reports website.
Study Abroad Opportunities for Students. Studying abroad can be a life changing opportunity for a student. Watch for an announcement and information on upcoming workshops. For more information, see our Study Abroad Programs website.
Grant Forward Going Live in March. Grant Forward, the mechanism by which faculty receive weekly information on grant opportunities (or however they arrange information push settings) will start this month. Thank you to Gladys Vega, Office of Sponsored Programs Fellow, who has worked with each college to provide information about this new and exciting tool.
Chamber Choir – No doubt you will make us proud on your European tour! The Chamber Choir heads to Belgium and France for Spring Break. We wish you the best on your tour. Go Pioneers!
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International enrollments at WP as of Spring 2024: |
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Goal by Fall 2026: 5 percent of the main campus population.
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“You don’t learn from experience, you learn from reflecting on experience.”
— Ken Bain, bestselling author on teaching excellence.
“The point of saying that colleges are to produce learning—not provide, not support, not encourage—is to say, unmistakably, that they are responsible for the degree to which students learn.”
“I thought I was a good teacher until I discovered my students were just memorizing information rather than learning to understand the material.”
— Erik Mazur, Harvard professor and acclaimed expert on student learning, particularly in STEM. Click here for his videos on the topic.
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The Provost’s Office is Brenda L., Claudia T., Claudia C., Jonathan, Kara, Rhonda, Sandy, and Josh. You can reach us at 973.720.2122 [email protected]
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