April 14, 2006

From Fad to Worse

By JOEL BEST

I have spent nearly 25 years chairing academic departments at three universities. Department chairmen attend many meetings where the future is unveiled, priorities are articulated, and innovations are announced. Over the years, I have been assured that our university — if not all of higher education — was about to be transformed by the Pacific Rim, assessment, active learning, cooperative learning, distance learning, service learning, problem-based learning,