Learning and Teaching in Higher Education
The Reflective Professional
- Greg Light - Northwestern University, USA
- Roy Cox
- Susanna Calkins - Northwestern University, USA
—Ken Bain, Vice Provost for Instruction, Montclair State University
Praise for the First Edition
"For too long we have waited for a book that brings together the best contemporary thinking about learning and teaching and that connects with academics' everyday teaching practice in an engaging way. At last, in this book, we have it."
—Ronald Barnett, Institute of Education, University of London
Around the world, higher education services are challenged by increased numbers and diversity of students, tougher demands for professional accountability, increasing calls for educational relevance and thinning resources. This new edition addresses key issues in the practice and theory of teaching and learning in the sector and includes updated and revised discussions of:
- the professional in academic practice
- mentoring
- teaching with technology
- the relationship between learning objectives, outcomes and assessment
- the novice teacher
The authors draw upon theory, practice and current research to provide a new way of thinking about the many aspects of learning and teaching in higher education, enabling the reader to critically reflect upon their teaching. They also propose a model for developing, conducting and producing evidence for continuous professional development appropriate to the higher education academic community.
Learning & Teaching in Higher Education: The Reflective Professional is intended for lecturers, researchers, staff developers and others providing and/or supporting teaching in higher and professional education.
Some very good chapters on learning and teaching in higher education.
The reflective practitioner is an important part of this module so this book will fit nicely into their wider reading.
Very useful, enabling the student/teacher to build further knowledge and skills through theory relating to practical examples of case studies/diagrams within this publication.
Very good for HE teachers - it is one I will recommend in my capacity as Teaching and Learning coach.
A useful book that will be used as reference material, by academic staff, to reflect further upon their practice for the benefit of our student cohort.
An excellent and well written text, the theory is explained and given good reference to practice. We will be making direct reference to sections of the text.
This book complies with all the needs of the course.
This is an excellent book well structured and written. In terms of putting together educational content for learning technologies or teaching a class this text has been reported by staff and students alike to be useful.
The staff in particular reported finding the section on providing student supervision very useful in relation to supervising: projects, dissertations and thesis guidance essential with reference to (1) discussing supervision issues – p. 156; (2) the student supervisor relationship – p 159; (3) accessing research -- 174; (4) Issues on creativity and originality p. 174; (5) attributes of a thesis p. 175; and (6) ideological incompatibility.
Students reported finding sections that were useful as follows: (1) the academic as reflective professional – pp. 22-32; (2) a critical matrix of learning and teaching – pp. 48-72; (3) genres of teaching in higher education – pp. 73-104; (4) innovating: teaching with technology – pp. 179-198; and (5) assessing: student assessment – pp. 200-235. For our purposes this book covered the basics of good teaching which my students were able to use when designing learning technologies projects. In particular the section on teaching with technologies and learning objectives, outcomes and assessment were of practical relevance.
I have found this book extremely useful for my own understanding and learning in relation to reflective practice which is applicable in the areas of health & education that are of interest to me. As a result I have been able to recommend this text to students.
Highly recommended as a text for reflective practice in Higher Education
While the essential character and approach of this book have been retained, this new edition has been substantially updated with references to recent research, literature and teaching practices. When the book was first published, the millennium had just happened. Now, after almost a decade, we have seen startling changes in the use of technology in higher education and the increasing globalization of learning and teaching.
Having been situated in both London and Chicago during this time, the authors were also conscious of the international tensions differentiating the study and practice of learning and teaching – particularly between the UK and the US. This new edition consciously draws upon the diverse body of international literature and describes key areas of agreement.
