Daedalus 149:2 (Spring 2020): Meeting the Challenges of a New Nuclear Age

by Robert Legvold, Christopher F. Chyba, Steven E. Miller

An odd feature of the public policy discussion of higher education is the near absence of attention to the quality of teaching. In contrast to K–12, where such conversations are prominent, all agree, teachers and teaching matter. Yet questions about what and how much students are learning and how their learning is related to the quality of instruction they receive tend to take a back seat in postsecondary education. The Fall 2019 issue of Dædalus, “Improving Strengthening the College Learning Experience," guest edited by Sandy Baum (Urban Institute; Skidmore College) and Michael McPherson (Academy Member; Spencer Foundation; Urban Institute), is one of several research projects to come out of the Academy’s Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education, which concluded that serious examination of the quality of the college education students are receiving needs to take a central place in deliberations about higher education’s future. This issue’s thirteen essays from a diverse group of scholars, educators, and practitioners make a persuasive case for the importance of broadening the scope of discussions on the future of higher education. While ensuring widespread access to affordable college education is vital, as the inconsistent outcomes of today’s students suggest, getting people into college is not enough. Nor is just getting them through their programs. We have to understand more about how students learn, about how to develop and support effective teaching at the college level, and about how to ensure that we are truly educating students, not just providing them with credentials.

253 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 13, 2020

About the author

Robert Legvold is Professor of Political Science at Columbia University.