Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Chapter 10- Mindful Teaching, Leadership, And Reflection Practices, Jessie Koltz

Habits of Mind

Feeling confident and excelling personally or professionally may come off as a challenge for educators and students who do not have stress-reducing skills to fall back on. Negative academic or professional stress could then have effects on many aspects of an individual’s life, such as mental health, substance use, sleep, physical health, lackluster achievement in academics and/or personal success, and even school dropout or professional burnout (Proctor, Guttman-Lapin, & Kendrick-Dunn, 2020). How can we engage our students in pedagogical practices focused on how to support mindfulness-based learning, leadership strategies, and reflection practices within higher education settings? How can educators integrate …

Chapter 11- Hindsight Is 20/20: The Role Of Reflection In Learning, Jenifer Evers

Habits of Mind

My teaching philosophy hinges on student-directed learning, creating opportunities for student success, and depth of learning versus rote memorization. Over the years, I have experimented with different ways to assess student understanding of new concepts as well as to stay connected to individual students in a timely and effective manner. I simultaneously recognize the difficulty of accomplishing this in a manner that is not terribly time-consuming for the student or for myself. Ultimately, I created an assignment that achieves my goal using several qualities highlighted in Costa et al.’s Habits of Mind framework (2022).

Chapter 12- Weaving Purposeful Worlds Of Discovery: Merging Cliftonstrengths® With Habits Of Mind For Low-Income, First-Generation Students, Kimberly Hiatt, Kelsey Bushman, Heather Lyman, Sarah Gosney

Habits of Mind

Utah State University (USU) Blanding is a non-tribal institution with close to 70% of its student population originating from the Navajo Nation, Dinétah. Located 388 miles southeast of the main campus in Logan, Utah, USU Blanding serves a population of students living in geographically remote areas, including the largest Native American–populated region in the United States. This vast territory—encompassing some 13,300 square miles, which exceeds the combined area of Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island—is classified as “frontier.” With a population density of 2.0 persons per square mile and a poverty rate of 33% (as compared to the …

Chapter 13- Habits Of Mind Courses For College Success: Empowering Students To Plan And Read, Melanie Chambers, Sharon Lyman

Habits of Mind

Ana takes a deep breath as her professor hands back her midterm. To her chagrin, she sees a red F at the top of the page. As she wonders where things went awry, her mind replays the events leading up to her arrival at the testing center where she took the exam. Poor time management coupled with little to no interest in the assigned readings seemed to be the compounding culprits of her failed exam. Now, in place of the A she had envisioned herself earning, an unsettling feeling sets in. Ana wonders whether she can still pass the class.

Chapter 16- If At First You Don't Succeed: Promoting A Growth Mindset By Quelling Student Fear Of Failure, Jason Twede

Habits of Mind

In response to a colleague’s dismay over failing to successfully design their invention, Thomas Edison famously replied that their efforts were not a failure, but an opportunity to learn. Edison said:

I recall that after we had conducted thousands of experiments on a certain project without solving the problem, one of my associates, after we had conducted the crowning experiment and it had proved a failure, expressed discouragement and disgust over our having failed “to find out anything.” I cheerily assured him that we had learned something. For we had learned for a certainty that the thing couldn’t be done …

Chapter 17- Tiktok Is Not Peer Reviewed: Modifying Assignments To Nurture Habits Of Mind, Rachel Robison-Greene

Habits of Mind

During any given semester, my most engaged students send me materials related to what we are discussing in class. I always appreciate students’ excitement about the course content and the opportunity to experience different forums for conversation with my students. As the years have passed, however, more of the material students pass along comes in the form of YouTube videos. These videos will often star popular YouTube personalities who create content that has millions of views. Sometimes, the ideas the students pass along come in the form of short TikTok videos. This is all fine and even entertaining until this …

Chapter 18- "An Amazing Change In Mindset": Student Psychosocial Development And Social Science Research, Sarah Tulane, Travis N. Thurston

Habits of Mind

Students enroll in social science research methods courses with varying backgrounds and experiences with quantitative methods (Clark & Foster, 2017; Murtonen et al., 2015; Papanastasiou & Zembylas, 2008). Although some students approach research methods with self-efficacy and positive perceptions (Papanastasiou & Zembylas, 2008; Sizemore & Lewandowski, 2009), other students enter the course with misconceptions about research, and potentially apprehension regarding statistics or other unknowns about engaging in research (Earley, 2014; Kawulich et al., 2009; Slocum-Schaffer & Bohrer, 2019; Wishkowski et al., 2022). At the end of a research methods course, some students show improvements in knowledge in research methods while …

Chapter 19- "I See Research Questions Everywhere": Developing Metacognitive Skills In An English-Major Research Methods Course, Joyce Kinkead, John Draeger, Jill K. Singer

Habits of Mind

How many ways can sticky notes—branded as Post-it Notes and introduced in 1980 by 3M—be used by college students? According to the undergraduate who investigated this topic, 31. In the report she produced as a result of a study conducted in English 3470: Approaches to Research in English Studies, the researcher found that “many stationery products have died with advancements in technology, but the Post-it Note has thrived and continues to play a role in productivity in the workplace, continuing at the top of the supply list” (Eralie, 2019). To come to this magic number of 31, Megan conducted a …

Chapter 20- Service-Learning And Community-Engaged Projects For International And Domestic Students, Ekaterina Arshavskaya

Habits of Mind

It’s a good idea to help the local community by sharing something from our cultures and support each other as well. It really makes a big difference for all.

An anonymous student comment, spring 2020

Reflecting on my years of teaching, one of my most gratifying and powerful memories as an educator deals with developing a sense of community and belonging in my students. More generally, higher education instructors have come to understand the value of community building and creating a sense of belonging in various areas of our lives and for different populations in diverse teaching contexts (Hoffman et …

Afterword, Julia M. Gossard, Chris Babits

Habits of Mind

Utah State University (USU) instructors are committed to developing the Habits of Mind that can help students achieve academic, career, and personal success. Many instructors have designed entire courses around Habits of Mind. Others have incorporated Habits of Mind into specific assessments. And some instructors have created course policies that align strongly with the Habits of Mind learning framework. The work highlighted in this edited collection demonstrates how seriously USU takes its mission to educate our students.

Introduction And References, Julia M. Gossard, Chris Babits

Habits of Mind

Although content knowledge remains at the heart of college teaching and learning, forward-thinking instructors recognize that we must also provide 21st-century college students with transferable skills (sometimes called portable intellectual abilities) to prepare them for their futures (Vazquez, 2020; Ritchhart, 2015; Venezia & Jaeger, 2013; Hazard, 2012). To “grow their capacity as efficacious thinkers to navigate and thrive in the face of unprecedented change” (Costa et al., 2023), students must learn and improve important study skills and academic dispositions throughout their educational careers. If we do not focus on skills-building in college courses, students will not be prepared for the …

Teacher Development Multi-Year Study Series. Vanuatu: Final Report, Elizabeth Cassity, Debbie Wong, Jevelin Wendiady, Jennie Chainey

Education Analytics Service

The Australian Government is supporting the Government of Vanuatu through its Vanuatu Education Support Program (VESP) to undertake long-term education reforms. A key focus of these reforms is the rollout of a new national curriculum in conjunction with the National Language Policy (2012), intended to improve teaching quality and student learning outcomes for students in the primary and early secondary years of education. Part of a multi-year study series, the Education Analytics Service (EAS) is investigating how the VESP is making a difference to these teaching and learning outcomes. The new primary curriculum has been rolled out to schools in …

How Honors Advising Is Different, Philip L. Frana

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Section headings:

How honors advising is different

Institutional motivations

Philosophical approaches

Actual practices

How honors students are different

How honors goals and outcomes are different

Last paragraph:

We must guide students into experiences that enable them to develop their potentialities. The emphasis must be on the new and changing nature of life as lived in the twenty-first century. Advisors are fellow travelers with students in the pursuit of lifelong learning and communities of interest, practice, and commitment. Together we struggle to find meaningful, relevant work; to achieve autonomy and intellectual independence; and to develop empathy, humility, and gratitude. Advising as …

Advising Honors Students: Motivational Interviewing As A Tool For Identity Building And Development, Chelsea Mckeirnan

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Section headings:

Advising needs of the honors population

Motivational interviewing

The spirit of motivational interviewing

The four processes of motivational interviewing

Motivational interviewing within an honors advising model

Honors advising and the spirit of motivational interviewing

Honors advising and the four processes of motivational interviewing

Honors advising and the skills of motivational interviewing

Motivational interviewing resources

Conclusion

Arthur W. Chickering and Linda Reisser (1993) noted that “to be effective in educating the whole student, colleges must hire and reinforce staff members who understand what student development looks like and how to foster it” (p. 44). Advising an honors student requires …

Intellectual Humility, Honors, And Appreciative Advising: Exploring With Students That Changing Their Mind Does Not End The World, Alan Sells

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Section headings:

Honors and the foreclosure student

Major changing and intellectual humility

Intellectual humility and appreciative advising

Conclusion and final thoughts

Honors students who change majors often find themselves faced with an identity crisis. Our job as advisors is to support these students by guiding them through this difficult transition. It is easy to look at these students and to regard them as having all of their plans in order and to believe they do not need extra attention (Robinson, 1997). Nothing could be further from the truth. Honors students are, in many ways, like any other student, and they …

Honors Advising For Large Programs, Art L. Spisak, Holly B. Yoder

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

This study was conducted within the Honors Program at the University of Iowa, which is the flagship public research university of the State of Iowa. Its Carnegie classification is Doctoral University with Highest Research Activity (R1), and it is a member of the Association of American Universities. Its current student population is about 21,600 undergraduates and about 9,600 graduate and professional students.

This study was conducted within the Honors Program at the University of Iowa, which is the flagship public research university of the State of Iowa. Its Carnegie classification is Doctoral University with Highest Research Activity (R1), and it …

Advising To Support Meaning Making And Purpose: Helping Honors Students Focus On Priorities And Evaluate Opportunities Through Intention Setting, Kristy Spear, Ron Cahlon, Katherine Mccall

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Section headings:

What is an intention?

The value of setting an intention

Setting an intention with honors students

Ron’s intention

Katherine’s intention

Final thoughts

The experiences provided are just two examples of how, with the guidance of an advisor, honors students might formulate and incorporate an intention into their lives. This simple yet profound technique is a useful addition to the advisor’s toolbox; it presents the opportunity to help students examine their values, who they are, who they want to be, and how they want to live their lives. This critical reflection can result in a clear focus and systematic …

Exploring The Relationship Between Mindset, Mental Health, And Academic Performance Among College Students, Eileen Makak, Douglas A. Medina, Harmony D. Osei

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

In recent years students’ mental health has been one of the most discussed topics at colleges and universities throughout the United States. Brad Wolverton (2019) notes in The New York Times that students are facing anxiety and depression at alarming rates. More than 60% are suffering from “overwhelming anxiety” and over 40% feel “so depressed they [have] difficulty functioning” (Wolverton, 2019). In this chapter, we explore how mental health impacts one’s academic performance and mindset, and vice versa. It is important to acknowledge that the first drafts of this chapter were written prior to 2020, and therefore it does not …

Oxbridge And Core Curricula: Continuing Conversations With The Past In Honors Colleges, Christopher A. Snyder

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

The American honors college, as it exists in the twenty-first century, is idiosyncratic and an amalgam of centuries old European traditions in higher education with pedagogies and practices that have emerged only since about the 1980s and are particular to America. These disparate influences coexist—sometimes uneasily—in American universities, and yet American honors colleges have continued to have conversations with the past in order to seek wisdom for dealing with contemporary issues such as the democratization of higher education, social justice and diversity, the use of instructional technology, and the controversy between vocational training and liberal learning. Because, unlike departments, an …

Should We Start An Honors College? An Administrative Playbook For Working Through The Decision, Richard Badenhausen

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

The last two decades have seen significant growth in honors colleges, though the transition to that model takes many forms. This essay lays out crucial questions for stakeholders considering such a move. While highlighting material advantages that may accrue from the transition, the chapter also notes reasons for not starting an honors college; and it explores some of the new challenges that recently founded honors colleges will face. Above all, the essay frowns upon the so-called “switch out the sign over the door” approach to institutional change in favor of deliberate, thoughtful, and strategic processes that involve many stakeholders and …

Characteristics Of The 21st-Century Honors College, Andrew J. Cognard-Black, Patricia Joanne Smith

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Today, honors education can be found in almost every corner of U.S. higher education. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, there also has been significant growth in the number of honors colleges in the United States, but there have been limited data to describe with any precision how fast that growth has been. Sederberg (2005, 2008) was among the first to document the emergence and growth of a distinct honors college organizational form and to identify unique characteristics that distinguish honors colleges from honors programs, but further growth within the organizational field of higher education necessitates an updated profile …

The Role Of The Honors College Dean In The Future Of Honors Education, Peter Parolin, Timothy J. Nichols, Donal C. Skinner, Rebecca C. Bott-Knutson

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

In this chapter, four honors deans reflect on the unique aspects of the honors dean's role. The authors argue that by being responsive to the challenges, opportunities, and responsibilities they face daily, honors deans can enable honors to deliver on its promises to students and to serve the whole university community. Attentive to changing dynamics in honors education nationwide, the authors address how deans must confront myths about honors that bear the legacy of past realities while actively tending to justice in the admissions process, to recruiting and serving diverse populations, and to supporting an honors environment that addresses the …

“It Is What You Make It”: Opportunities Arising From The Unique Roles Of Honors College Deans, Jeff Chamberlain, Thomas M. Spencer, Jefford Vahlbusch

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Grounded in the shared experiences of three current honors college deans and in comprehensive interviews with another two dozen honors deans at diverse institutions of higher education across the U.S., this chapter argues that the uniqueness of honors college dean roles and work can—and indeed should—lead to innovative and transformative change and improved student experiences, outcomes, and success, not only in honors colleges and within the scope of honors education, but across entire institutions. Ultimately the chapter contends that, while there can be manifold frustrations in running an honors college, the position of honors dean is one of the best …

Honors Colleges As Levers Of Educational Equity, Teagan Decker, Joshua Kalin Busman, Michele Fazio

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

While higher education is widely imagined as a tool for social mobility, the realities of enrollment, retention, and professional trajectories betray the conservative mechanisms through which higher education too often reproduces the status quo of inequality. Honors colleges can and should strive to act as levers of equity in this scenario of entrenchment, but the nature of this project varies depending on the institution’s own class position vis-à-vis its students. Elite, highly selective institutions may advocate for enrollment strategies that target student populations that do not typically attend those institutions, but other institutions likely already enroll such students in large …

Fostering Student Leadership In Honors Colleges, Jill Nelson Granger

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

The architecture of student leadership in honors colleges is a formative decision that affects students’ experience and development. Through a broad view of student leadership structures across U.S. honors colleges, four common modalities are identified and described: governance, programming, mentorship, and ambassadorship. Relevant models, variations, combinations, and specializations are provided. Student leadership, as a hallmark of honors education, is one way in which honors colleges distinguish themselves both within and outside the university. As intentional learning communities, honors colleges incorporate student leadership into the nature of honors education, as part of mission, and as a defining outcome of the honors …

Promoting The Inclusion Of Lgbtq+ Students: The Role Of The Honors College In Faith-Based Colleges And Universities, Paul E. Prill

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

An estimated 11 percent of students at faith-based colleges and universities, identify as sexual-minority (LGBTQ+). Many of those students come from religious backgrounds and attend universities where they have heard and continue to hear that their sexual identity is in fundamental tension with their faith identity, leading to problems with mental health and, at times, physical health. On many such campuses, sexual minority students have become more vocal, asking that the university acknowledge their presence and provide services to help them succeed and thrive in college. Some of the schools have moved in that direction. Others continue to balk at …

Who Belongs In Honors? Culturally Responsive Advising And Transformative Diversity, Elizabeth Raisanen

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Despite a rich body of scholarship that engages with university honors advising, advising to support diversity in higher education, and the overall need for better attention to diversity within honors, the literature has not fully explored the vital role that advising plays in supporting diversity and fostering belonging within honors programs and colleges. This essay brings together the too-often disparate threads of advising, honors, and diversity to advocate for a practice of culturally responsive advising within the honors environment in order to pursue truly transformative diversity. Holistic academic advising and related programming must play a central role in any honors …

Honors Liberal Arts For The 21st Century, John Carrell, Aliza S. Wong, Chad Cain, Carrie J. Preston, Muhammad H. Zaman

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

We argue that honors colleges can deploy the power of the liberal arts to emphasize diversity, equity, global citizenship, ethical leadership, and empowerment by combining liberal arts and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and medicine) fields in interdisciplinary approaches to global challenges, from climate change to the pandemic to forced displacement. As the honors colleges at Texas Tech and Boston University work to be at the forefront of pedagogical and curricular innovation, the twenty-first century has presented us with a student and faculty community becoming increasingly aware of historical, racial, gendered, and socioeconomic disparities, which were further exacerbated by the COVID …

Honors Colleges, Transdisciplinary Education, And Global Challenges, Paul Knox, Paul Heilker

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

The authors contend that the most significant comparative advantage of honors colleges is the combination of gifted and motivated students from every academic discipline and interdisciplinary curricula that train students to integrate diverse perspectives. The authors discuss how to harness this advantage to provide a truly transdisciplinary education through collaborative, project-based learning, both on campus and beyond. They assert that honors colleges are in a unique position to circumvent the siloed structures of academia by convening multidisciplinary groups of students guided by faculty from a wide range of disciplines. Doing so can help reimagine undergraduate education to address urgent and …

Introduction To Honors Colleges In The 21st Century, Richard Badenhausen

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

This chapter introduces Honors Colleges in the 21st Century, a volume containing the work of 56 authors representing 45 different institutions, many of which are at the forefront of innovation in honors education. In addition to offering a brief overview of the nineteen chapters that make up the book, the introduction reviews the historical growth of honors colleges along with research on that trend, including Peter Sederberg’s seminal The Honors College Phenomenon (2008). The essay accounts for the recent vigorous growth in honors colleges by suggesting that they are able to address some of the most pressing needs of …