Event

Promoting Excellence in Undergraduate STEM Education

Oct 30, 2019 |
Washington, D.C.
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The Fall 2019 issue of Dædalus, Improving Teaching: Strengthening the College Learning Experience, features 12 essays exploring the quality of students' college experience in the classroom.

The issue's editors, Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson, spoke at an event in Cambridge that was webcast live before the discussion in Washington, D.C. Baum and McPherson discussed the importance of attending to quality and noted that it's woefully absent in most public policy discussions of higher education. As they write in the introduction, "Paying for college and even getting a credential ultimately will not mean much unless college students have high-quality educational experiences that add real value for them in their careers and in their civic and personal lives."

Washington D.C. Discussion

Following the conclusion of the webcast on teaching, learning, and the larger educational environment, Mary Sue Coleman, Tobin Smith, and Emily R. Miller led an in-person discussion on the essay they contributed to the Fall 2019 issue of Dædalus "Catalysts for Achieving Sustained Improvement in the Quality of Undergraduate STEM Education." Their essay explores the importance of fostering excellent undergraduate STEM education at major research universities. The authors acknowledge key challenges and opportunities facing STEM teaching and learning at research universities.