Weekly Reader

Five Characteristics of Learner Centered Teaching
"In May I finished a second edition of my Learner-Centered Teaching book. Revising it gave me the chance to revisit my thinking about the topic and look at work done since publication of the first edition ten years ago. It is a subject about which there is still considerable interest. The learner-centered label now gets attached to teaching strategies, teachers, classes, programs, departments and institutions. Like many trendy descriptors in higher education, with widespread use comes a certain definitional looseness. Active learning, student engagement and other strategies that involve students and mention learning are called learner-centered. And although learner-centered teaching and efforts to involve students have a kind of bread and butter relationship, they are not the same thing. In the interest of more definitional precision, I’d like to propose five characteristics of teaching that make it learner-centered." -- Maryellen Weimer, PhD, The Teaching Professor Blog, 8/8/12

Story Tutorials for Speakers: 4 Smart Lessons
"Storytelling's a critical skill for today's speaker. A story well-told can do more to put your big idea across than all the slides and handouts in the universe. But it takes practice and planning to tell good stories." -- Denise Graveline, The Eloquent Woman, 8/23/12

Beloit Mindset List
"This year’s entering college class of 2016 was born into cyberspace and they have therefore measured their output in the fundamental particles of life: bits, bytes, and bauds. They have come to political consciousness during a time of increasing doubts about America’s future, and are entering college bombarded by questions about jobs and the value of a college degree. They have never needed an actual airline “ticket,” a set of bound encyclopedias, or Romper Room. Members of this year’s freshman class, most of them born in 1994, are probably the most tribal generation in history and they despise being separated from contact with friends. They prefer to watch television everywhere except on a television, have seen a woman lead the U.S. State Department for most of their lives, and can carry school books--those that are not on their e-Readers--in backpacks that roll." -- The Mindset List, Beloit College

Participatory Culture, Participatory Libraries
"There’s a choice academic and public libraries face. One  is to focus entirely on providing access to the published information that our community members want. The other is to make libraries a platform for creating and sharing culture." -- Barbara Fister, Library Babel Fish, 8/13/12