As another successful semester begins to wind down and summer approaches, I look forward to the improvement opportunities that will be available regarding my teaching and communication skills.  When was the last time any of us really considered our learning objectives prior to building a syllabus for a class?  I mean, deeply considered.  I think for most of us, especially after years of teaching, the learning objectives become more of an afterthought.  Oftentimes, our deeper analysis of learning objectives comes prior to or during a period of University accreditation.  We, as educators, know that our syllabi may be heavily scrutinized by internal and external reviewers in an effort to confirm the following items are in place:

I recently read an article in Forbes magazine titled College is Dead According to the New Book ‘Leveraged Learning’.  With a title like that, it garnered my immediate attention.  I obviously don’t believe college is dead.  My assumption was the article would be about how teaching and learning need to be disrupted.  The book Leveraged Learning by Danny Iny is a critique of the ways society views education, how college is not providing its promised returns for the multitudes of struggling students, and the inefficiencies associated with modern college education.  In the article, Iny is quoted as saying: