Photo by Darya Tryfanava on Unsplash What would happen if we started over? If we wiped the slate clean. IF there were no inherited policies, no century-old traditions, no “we’ve always done it this way”, and we built a university designed for students, educators, and the societies of today? This isn’t meant to […]
Reclaiming the Scholarship of Learning and Teaching: Why We Need to Learn About Learning Again
“Universities are overflowing with experts in knowledge — but too few scholars of how knowledge is learned.” In most universities, research is the key to success. Promotion policies, institutional rankings, and professional recognition all rely on metrics that reward discovery and publication. Journal articles serve as symbols of impact and […]
Beyond the Algorithm: How Do We Bring Higher Education Back to the Learning?
For me, it feels as though AI has become the focal point in higher education. Every conference, workshop, and committee meeting now appears to revolve around the same question: What does/will AI mean for…? Then fill in the blank with anything from teaching, assessment, academic integrity, or any other education […]
Beyond the Tick Box: Why Curriculum Mapping Isn’t Evidence of Learning
I was recently listening to The Grading Podcast when Marc Aronson, Dean of Academics at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut, described their practice, in which students undertake Final Demonstration of Learning (FDoL) activities. Listening to this, I couldn’t help but question: When, in a university course, do students truly demonstrate the course learning outcomes […]
Why Are We Locking Students Into Early Judgments? Rethinking Point-in-Time Assessment
In my previous post, I explored the distinction between assessment and assessing. Assessment is usually the fixed product, a grade, a test, an assignment. While assessing is the ongoing process of feedback, dialogue, and growth. I also raised the possibility that we might need different language altogether, such as narrative evaluation, to better describe this developmental process. But […]





