College Matters from The Chronicle The Year in Teaching Was …
4 snips
Dec 3, 2025 Beth McMurtrie and Beckie Supiano, seasoned writers at The Chronicle of Higher Education, dive into a transformative year for higher education. They discuss how the impact of AI, political pressures, and financial constraints reshaped teaching. McMurtrie highlights AI's role in the classroom and the concerns it raises about learning rigor. Supiano emphasizes the importance of community and engagement in rebuilding student motivation. Together, they paint a picture of a profession navigating unprecedented challenges with resilience and hope.
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Change Is The New Normal
- Stability in teaching has vanished; continuous change is now the norm after the pandemic and AI emergence.
- Financial limits and shifting student preparedness compound this new, unstable baseline.
AI Amplifies The 'Why Bother' Problem
- AI reveals and amplifies existing problems by making the question "why bother?" acute for students.
- Human interaction remains central to learning and cannot be fully replicated by AI tools.
Rebuilding Engagement At A Community College
- Jamie Moore at College of the Sequoias faced a class where students stopped handing in work and the room felt empty.
- She rebuilt engagement by revisiting early readings, using small groups, and weaving community-building into the semester.