The End of Reading or a New Beginning?

10/31/24 • 36 min

Many students arriving at college seem to be less able and less willing to read. It’s left faculty frustrated and anxious, with some wondering, are we witnessing the end of reading? According to Donna Battista, a 20 year veteran of higher education publishing, where there's a crisis, there’s also opportunity—to rethink and reimagine what we ask students to consume. With new tools, a pragmatic approach, and an eye to affordability, we might just be able to reclaim a love of reading after all.

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AI's Future in Higher Education with Dr. Kevin Yee

At a time when AI offers students the easy button, how do we motivate them to do hard things? And how do we help students reclaim the sense of purpose, agency, and self-confidence vital to a meaningful, productive life. Who better to ask than Dr. Kevin Yee, Director of the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Central Florida and a lead organizer of the university’s wildly successful Teaching with AI conference. Dr. Yee gives us his take on our promethean moment in a conversation equal parts practical and philosophical.

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Guest Bio
An internationally-renowned instructor, author, and speaker, Flower Darby inspires educators to bring an equity-minded lens to enhance their teaching practices. As Associate Director of the Teaching for Learning Center at the University of Missouri, she draws on 28+ years of teaching across diverse subjects and modalities. Darby’s work empowers faculty to create inclusive learning experiences, and her publications include The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching (2023) and Small Teaching Online (2019).

Higher Listenings - The End of Reading or a New Beginning?

Transcript

Speaker 200:00:03.645

I had a wonderful moment this summer . It wasn't a beautiful sunset or anything like that . It was when my 17-year-old who only ever read for school , and grudgingly at that suddenly decided to plunge into the Stand by Stephen King . A phase perhaps Not so , because a few weeks later he consumed the Road by Cormac McCarthy . As someone who's always loved reading , I was elated , t