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Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

A call to advance integrative teaching and learning in higher education. From Parker Palmer, best-selling author of The Courage to Teach, and Arthur Zajonc, professor of physics at Amherst College and director of the academic program of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, comes this call to revisit the roots and reclaim the vision of higher education. The Heart of Higher Education proposes an approach to teaching and learning that honors the whole human being—mind, heart, and spirit—an essential integration if we hope to address the complex issues of our time. The book offers a rich interplay of analysis, theory, and proposals for action from two educators and writers who have contributed to developing the field of integrative education over the past few decades. Presents Parker Palmer’s powerful response to critics of holistic learning and Arthur Zajonc’s elucidation of the relationship between science, the humanities, and the contemplative traditions Explores ways to take steps toward making colleges and universities places that awaken the deepest potential in students, faculty, and staff Offers a practical approach to fostering renewal in higher education through collegiality and conversation The Heart of Higher Education is for all who are new to the field of holistic education, all who want to deepen their understanding of its challenges, and all who want to practice and promote this vital approach to teaching and learning on their campuses.

Students' perceptions concerning quality in education, the norm-reference approach to student evaluation, and the problem of assessing how much learning has occurred are discussed. To one sample of students, quality meant desirable institutional characteristics and outcomes concerning their own learning and development. Institutions are likely to have difficulty in measuring up to expectations for quality since students have different educational expectations, social and educational background, academic preparation, age, learning styles, and personal development. In addition, the norm-referenced approach to evaluation is not appropriate for a diverse student body. Problems in student evaluation include: each institution and teacher establishes private performance norms, the criteria for performance are seldom clearly articulated, and grades awarded depend primarily upon one student's performance relative to another. Responses to the issue of educational quality and to the underlying complexities of evaluation and grading are recommended. Attention is directed to: the need to recognize different types of competence and knowledge, the fact that standards should vary for different individuals and objectives, and the need to articulate evaluation criteria, methods, and evidence. (SW)

Improving Higher Education Environments for Adults uses numerous real-life vignettes to examine the changing needs of adult learners as they move through the higher education system, and it suggests ways student development professionals and other educators can make higher education more responsive to these needs.

This comprehensive, hands-on guide is ideal as a lifelong resource for planning and action that readers can use anytime they move through a significant educational endeavor (not just college). They can use and reuse the guide to help them make the transition into new environments, new experiences, new activities; to maximize their learning in any situation; and to help them move on with their lives in ways that build on their knowledge, competence, and personal growth. Features an abundance of self-diagnostic exercises/planning activities and illustrative case studies. Your Purpose: You Can Learn More than You Think. Taking Stock. What Your Need to Know about Learning. Maximizing Learning from Courses and Classes. Maximizing Learning beyond Courses and Classes. Developing Mature Relationships. Time Management, Learning, and Test Taking. Taking Control and Keeping It. Seven Principles for Doing Your Best. Where Are Your Going from Here? Taking It with You. For "students" in any learning context.

This completely revised and updated edition of Chickering's classic work presents new research and findings from the last 25 years and describes policies and practices in higher education that will foster the broad-based development of human talent essential to our society in the 21st century. The authors examine such factors as institutional objectives, size, curriculum, student services, student-faculty relationships, and more to describe the characteristics of educationally powerful environments--and tell how to create and sustain them.

Demands from legislators and parents and repeated calls from within colleges and universities are pushing for significant improvements in undergraduate education. Research and rumblings during the 1960s and 1970s spilled out into a series of reform reports during the early 1980s. In addition, dramatic changes in social conditions and economic requirements make effective post-secondary education a critical requirement for effective citizenship, productive work, and global competitiveness. Experience to date suggests that the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, and the Faculty and Institutional Inventories, can help us respond to these social and economic imperatives for change and to the calls for improving undergraduate education. This volume of New Directions for Teaching and Learning aims to help those interested in improving undergraduate education use these resources effectively at their own institutions. This is the 47th issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Teaching and Learning. For more information on the series, please see the Journals and Periodicals page.