Description
Risk-taking is foundational to the structure and goals of higher education. Encouraging students to consider new, diverse, even uncomfortable ideas is needed to develop a critically informed view of the world and establish one's own values and beliefs. Yet, students and parents are increasingly averse to risk-taking in higher education; a shift evidenced by calls for colleges and universities to provide an education that shelters students from diverse and potentially controversial ideas and topics. This tension over the necessary role of risk-taking in higher education represents a critical moment for American education. This volume includes authors from numerous academic disciplines to emphasize both the importance of risk-taking across higher education and to highlight the varied approaches to incorporate risk-taking into classroom practices. The authors' collective works in this volume reaffirm the critical need to reject intellectual coddling and commodification in the college classroom, and to promote intellectual risk-taking as an essential aspect of higher education. Sustained, systematic emphasis on risk-taking in higher education is key to promoting innovation, critical thinking, life-long learning, and moral-ethical development.
About the Author
Ryan Kelty is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. He earned his B.A. from Middlebury College and his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. Bridget A. Bunten is Associate Professor and Chair of Education and Coordinator of the Elementary Education Program at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. She earned her B.A. from Gettysburg College, her M.A. from UMass Boston and her Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University.
Reviews
Opinions abound as to what ails higher education and the way to improve our colleges and universities. This volume begins from the perspective that intellectual risk-taking is central to a transformational education, and should be a central value, not just an added benefit, to an educational experience which can all too often be motivated by performance metrics alone. Authored by those on the front lines of today's college classrooms, the essays in these pages demonstrate that the most effective change will happen classroom-by-classroom, professor-by-professor, student-by-student. As a result, citizens working for the public good, and not just credentialed individuals, will graduate from our campuses. And if we, too, take the risks encouraged in these pages, our students will be energetic, resilient, and thoughtful throughout their creative lives. -- Laurie L. Patton, President, Middlebury College
The strengths of this volume are its practicality, interdisciplinary scope, timeliness, and frankly, its breakthrough spirit on what to do rather than what not to do. Kelty and Bunten's argument to emphasize risk-taking in higher education challenges students and professors to be their best selves, reclaiming higher education as a place to grapple with the myriad challenges of the human condition. New and seasoned professors and administrators alike - indeed anyone interested in higher education - will find inspiration in this volume. -- Morten Ender, Professor of Sociology, West Point
This is a timely, provocative, and much needed book. In an atmosphere of heightened sensitivities, polarized politics, outcomes assessment, and litigiousness, faculty may fear at risk but discouraged to take risks. But teaching is not following a recipe; it requires risks. The articles in this volume explore the intellectual, social, and pedagogical risk-taking that creative teaching requires. It celebrates the adventure of teaching that makes learning vital for students. -- Daniel R. DeNicola, Professor of Philosophy at Gettysburg College, Author of Learning to Flourish: A Philosophical Exploration of Liberal Education
Book Information
ISBN 9781475832495
Author Ryan Kelty
Format Paperback
Page Count 190
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield
Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
Weight(grams) 259g
Dimensions(mm) 232mm * 148mm * 12mm
About the Author
Ryan Kelty is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. He earned his B.A. from Middlebury College and his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. Bridget A. Bunten is Associate Professor and Chair of Education and Coordinator of the Elementary Education Program at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. She earned her B.A. from Gettysburg College, her M.A. from UMass Boston and her Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University.
Reviews
Opinions abound as to what ails higher education and the way to improve our colleges and universities. This volume begins from the perspective that intellectual risk-taking is central to a transformational education, and should be a central value, not just an added benefit, to an educational experience which can all too often be motivated by performance metrics alone. Authored by those on the front lines of today's college classrooms, the essays in these pages demonstrate that the most effective change will happen classroom-by-classroom, professor-by-professor, student-by-student. As a result, citizens working for the public good, and not just credentialed individuals, will graduate from our campuses. And if we, too, take the risks encouraged in these pages, our students will be energetic, resilient, and thoughtful throughout their creative lives. -- Laurie L. Patton, President, Middlebury College
The strengths of this volume are its practicality, interdisciplinary scope, timeliness, and frankly, its breakthrough spirit on what to do rather than what not to do. Kelty and Bunten's argument to emphasize risk-taking in higher education challenges students and professors to be their best selves, reclaiming higher education as a place to grapple with the myriad challenges of the human condition. New and seasoned professors and administrators alike - indeed anyone interested in higher education - will find inspiration in this volume. -- Morten Ender, Professor of Sociology, West Point
This is a timely, provocative, and much needed book. In an atmosphere of heightened sensitivities, polarized politics, outcomes assessment, and litigiousness, faculty may fear at risk but discouraged to take risks. But teaching is not following a recipe; it requires risks. The articles in this volume explore the intellectual, social, and pedagogical risk-taking that creative teaching requires. It celebrates the adventure of teaching that makes learning vital for students. -- Daniel R. DeNicola, Professor of Philosophy at Gettysburg College, Author of Learning to Flourish: A Philosophical Exploration of Liberal Education
Book Information
ISBN 9781475832495
Author Ryan Kelty
Format Paperback
Page Count 190
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield
Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
Weight(grams) 259g
Dimensions(mm) 232mm * 148mm * 12mm
