Recommended Books

This is a set of rec­om­mend­ed books that every post-sec­ondary instruc­tor should engage with — and reflect upon. Clas­sics, foun­da­tion­al resources, key authors, speak­ers, researchers — all lead­ing to essen­tial learn­ing! Park­er Palmer, Stephen Brook­field, Maryellen Weimer, Lin­da Nil­son, Ken Bain, John Big­gs to Todd D. Zakra­jsek and Jesse Stom­mel —  and oth­er authors form this col­lec­tion with reviews, and loca­tions of where to find.

20 Essential teaching and Learning Books for Instructors
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What is it About?
Where to Find It?
What the Best Col­lege Teach­ers Do by Ken Bain (First Edi­tion, 2004)
  • pro­files exam­ples of edu­ca­tors who had achieved remark­able suc­cess in help­ing stu­dents learn in ways that made a sus­tained, sub­stan­tial and pos­i­tive influ­ence on how those stu­dents think, act and felt
  • based on a 15-year study of  60–70 teach­ers — look­ing at the prac­tices and the think­ing of the best teach­ers not the actu­al class­room per­for­mance
  • key points: it is not what teach­ers do, it is what they under­stand (engage stu­dents, val­ue human learn­ing, pro­voke response)
  • all great teach­ers believe two things: teach­ing mat­ters and stu­dents can learn
McK­eachie’s Teach­ing Tips: Strate­gies, Research And The­o­ry for Col­lege And Uni­ver­si­ty Teach­ers by Wilbert James McK­eachie (2005)
  • hand­book of help­ful strate­gies for deal­ing with both the every­day prob­lems of teach­ing at the uni­ver­si­ty lev­el, and those that pop up in try­ing to max­i­mize learn­ing for every stu­dent
  • sug­gest­ed strate­gies are sup­port­ed by research and are ground­ed in enough the­o­ry to enable teach­ers to adapt them to their own sit­u­a­tions
  • does not sug­gest a “set of recipes” to be fol­lowed mechan­i­cal­ly, but gives teach­ers the tools they need to deal with the ever chang­ing dynam­ics of teach­ing and learn­ing.
The Skill­ful Teacher: On Tech­nique, Trust, and Respon­sive­ness in the Class­room by Stephen D. Brook­field (3rd Edi­tion, 2015)
  • a clas­sic foun­da­tion­al read about what makes for a skill­ful teacher
  • both inspir­ing but also prac­ti­cal advice for new and expe­ri­enced teach­ers
  • he uncov­ers what stu­dents most val­ued in their teach­ers and explains how one can devel­op and demon­strate the cred­i­bil­i­ty and authen­tic­i­ty to fill that role
  • chap­ters on crit­i­cal think­ing, cre­ativ­i­ty, help­ing stu­dents take respon­si­bil­i­ty for learn­ing, racism and exer­cis­ing teacher pow­er respon­si­bly
Becom­ing a Crit­i­cal­ly Reflec­tive Teacher by Stephen Brook­field (2nd Edi­tion, 2017)
  • key guide to crit­i­cal reflec­tion with prac­ti­cal tools to con­struc­tive­ly self-cri­tique for any edu­ca­tor at any lev­el
  • the book helps you uncov­er and assess your assump­tions and then view them through your stu­dents’ eyes, your col­leagues’ per­cep­tions and rel­e­vant the­o­ry and research
  • easy to fol­low and explore in con­text of your own prac­tice
The Courage to Teach: Explor­ing the Inner Land­scape of a Teacher’s Life by Park­er Palmer (20th Anniver­sary Edi­tion — 2017)
  • a clas­sic must-read
  •  this book is for teach­ers who have good days and bad days, refuse to hard­en their hearts because they love learn­ers, learn­ing and the teach­ing life
  • builds on the sim­ple premise that good teach­ing can­not be reduced to tech­nique but is root­ed in the iden­ti­ty and integri­ty of the teacher — they are authen­ti­cal­ly present in the class­room, deeply con­nect­ed with their stu­dents and their subject/discipline area
  • these con­nec­tions are in the teacher’s heart
Cre­at­ing Sig­nif­i­cant Learn­ing Expe­ri­ences: An Inte­grat­ed Approach to Design­ing Col­lege Cours­es by L. Dee Fink
  • pro­vides a step-by-step guide to build­ing cours­es from scratch or redesign­ing exist­ing course using back­wards design
  • focus­es on dif­fer­ent cat­e­gories of learn­ing out­comes and eas­i­ly shows you how to build learn­ing expe­ri­ences
Small Teach­ing: Every­day Lessons from the Sci­ence of Learn­ing by James M. Lang (2nd Edi­tion, 2021)
  • shares a col­lec­tion of tech­niques for instruc­tors to eas­i­ly imple­ment in class­room
  • com­bines how peo­ple learn to those prac­tices that best sup­port stu­dent learn­ing
  • orga­nized into three parts: Knowl­edge, Under­stand­ing and Inspi­ra­tion — with­in each part are prac­ti­cal exam­ples of how to use prin­ci­ples of how learn­ing hap­pens

 
Small Teach­ing Online: Apply­ing Learn­ing Sci­ence in Online Class­es by Flower Dar­by with James. M. Lang (2019)
  • small and strate­gic changes have enor­mous pow­er to improve stu­dent learn­ing — small teach­ing strate­gies that will pos­i­tive­ly impact the online class­room
  • prac­ti­cal and fea­si­ble appli­ca­tions of the­o­ret­i­cal prin­ci­ples to help your online stu­dents learn
  • includes cur­rent best prac­tices around edu­ca­tion­al tech­nolo­gies, strate­gies to build com­mu­ni­ty and col­lab­o­ra­tion, and minor changes you can make in your online teach­ing prac­tice, small but impact­ful adjust­ments that result in sig­nif­i­cant learn­ing gains
Learn­er Cen­tered Teach­ing: Five Key Changes to Prac­tice by Maryellen Weimer (2nd Edi­tion — 2013)
  • Maryellen Weimer―one of the nation’s most high­ly regard­ed author­i­ties on effec­tive col­lege teach­ing
  • for those who are famil­iar with core ped­a­go­gies and prac­tices and want­i­ng to take to next lev­el of reflec­tive prac­tice and renew­al
  • learn­er-cen­tered teach­ing focus­es atten­tion on what the stu­dent is learn­ing, how the stu­dent is learn­ing, the con­di­tions under which the stu­dent is learn­ing, whether the stu­dent is retain­ing and apply­ing the learn­ing, and how cur­rent learn­ing posi­tions the stu­dent for future learn­ing
Tak­ing Stock 2.0: Trans­form­ing Teach­ing and Learn­ing In High­er Edu­ca­tion by Julia Chris­tensen, Joy Mighty and Denise Stock­ley (Sec­ond Edi­tion, 2022)
  • chal­lenges every­one who facil­i­tates learn­ing at the post-sec­ondary lev­el – and our insti­tu­tions – to crit­i­cal­ly exam­ine how the Cana­di­an post-sec­ondary land­scape is chang­ing
  • draw­ing on a broad spec­trum of Cana­di­an and inter­na­tion­al schol­ar­ship, con­tribut­ing authors crys­tal­ize key dri­vers that are dis­rupt­ing the sta­tus quo in Canada’s post-sec­ondary con­text and iden­ti­fy key areas for devel­op­ment and research over the next decade
How Learn­ing Works: Eight Research-Based Prin­ci­ples for Smart Teach­ing by Mar­sha C. Lovett, Michael W. Bridges, Michele DiPeitro, Susan A. Ambrose and Marie K. Nor­ma (2023)
  • Read­ers will find eight essen­tial learn­ing prin­ci­ples that dis­till the over­whelm­ing research lit­er­a­ture into: real-world teach­ing and learn­ing sce­nar­ios, exam­ples that reflect a diverse set of teach­ing envi­ron­ments and learn­er pop­u­la­tion through 150 prac­ti­cal strate­gies 
  • based on research from cog­ni­tive psy­chol­o­gy, devel­op­men­tal psy­chol­o­gy, edu­ca­tion, anthro­pol­o­gy, and more―this book makes learn­ing work for you and your stu­dents
 Ungrad­ing: Why Rat­ing Stu­dents Under­mines Learn­ing (and What to Do Next) Edit­ed by Susan D. Blum
  • moment is right for crit­i­cal reflec­tion on what has been assumed to be a core part of school
  • fif­teen edu­ca­tors write about their diverse expe­ri­ences going grade­less — some con­trib­u­tors are new to the prac­tice and some have been engag­ing in it for decades.
  • based on rig­or­ous and repli­cat­ed research, this is the first book to show why and how fac­ul­ty who wish to focus on learn­ing, rather than sort­ing or judg­ing, might pro­ceed — includes hon­est reflec­tion on what makes ungrad­ing chal­leng­ing, and tes­ti­mo­ni­als about what makes it trans­for­ma­tive
 Teach­ing for Qual­i­ty Learn­ing at Uni­ver­si­ty by John Big­gs, Cather­ine Tang and Gre­gor Kennedy (2022)
  • a clas­sic on the top­ic of teach­ing, learn­ing and cur­ricu­lum design in high­er edu­ca­tion
  • focus­ing on the con­cept of con­struc­tive align­ment with stu­dent learn­ing out­comes being iden­ti­fied first and then the teacher designs the activ­i­ties to align with the out­comes
  • each chap­ter out­lines how to design the learn­ing out­comes, teach­ing and assess­ments for suc­cess in learn­ing
  • pro­vides a com­pre­hen­sive, research-based the­o­ry of teach­ing for teacher reflec­tion
Cre­at­ing Self-Reg­u­lat­ed Learn­ers: Strate­gies to Strength Stu­dents’ Self-Aware­ness and Learn­ing Skills by Lin­da B. Nil­son (2013)
  • an easy book to fol­low with trea­sure trove of short activ­i­ties any instruc­tor can embed into an exist­ing course or class to increase stu­dents’ aware­ness of how to learn
  • most of our stu­dents nei­ther know how learn­ing works nor what they have to do to ensure it, to the detri­ment both of their stud­ies and their devel­op­ment as life­long learn­ers
  • Nil­son pro­vides the the­o­ret­i­cal back­ground to stu­dent self-regulation,the evi­dence that it enhances achieve­ment, and the strate­gies to help stu­dents devel­op it
Online Teach­ing at Its Best: Merg­ing Instruc­tion­al Design with Teach­ing and Learn­ing Research by Lin­da B. Nil­son and Lud­wi­ka A. Good­son (2nd Edi­tion, 2021)
  • schol­ar­ly resource for online learn­ing that address course design, teach­ing, and stu­dent moti­va­tion inte­grat­ing those with ped­a­gog­i­cal and cog­ni­tive sci­ence and lat­est research
  • prac­ti­cal, real-world advice for online instruc­tors, instruc­tion­al design­ers and admin­is­tra­tors for remote, hybrid, hyflex and full online learn­ing
 Teach­ing at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for Col­lege Instruc­tors by Todd D. Zakra­jsek and Lin­da B. Nil­son (5th Edi­tion, 2023)
  • high­er edu­ca­tion play­book pro­vides a wealth of research-backed prac­tices for near­ly every aspect of effec­tive teach­ing through­out high­er edu­ca­tion
  • filled with prac­ti­cal guid­ance and proven tech­niques designed to help you improve stu­dent learn­ing, both face-to-face and online
  • one of the most com­pre­hen­sive books on effec­tive teach­ing and learn­ing
 How Humans Learn: The Sci­ence and Sto­ries Behind Effec­tive Col­lege Teach­ing by Joshua R. Eyler (2018)
  • iden­ti­fies five broad themes run­ning through recent sci­en­tif­ic inquiry-curios­i­ty, social­i­ty, emo­tion, authen­tic­i­ty, and fail­ure-devot­ing a chap­ter to each and pro­vid­ing prac­ti­cal take­aways for busy teach­ers
  • Joshua inter­views and observes col­lege instruc­tors across the coun­try, plac­ing the­o­ret­i­cal insight in dia­logue with class­room expe­ri­ence
Tools for Teach­ing by Bar­bara Gross Davis (Sec­ond Edi­tion — 2009)
  • prac­ti­cal, acces­si­ble ref­er­ence man­u­al for fac­ul­ty in any dis­ci­pline
  • more than six­ty-one chap­ters designed to improve the teach­ing of begin­ning, mid-career, or senior fac­ul­ty mem­bers
  • tra­di­tion­al tasks of teach­ing as well as broad­er con­cerns, such as diver­si­ty and inclu­sion in the class­room and tech­nol­o­gy in edu­ca­tion­al set­tings
Class­room Assess­ment Tech­niques: For­ma­tive Feed­back Tools for Col­lege and Uni­ver­si­ty Teach­ers by Thomas A. Ange­lo and Todd D. Zakra­jsek (Third Edi­tion, June 2024)
  • com­plete­ly revised and updat­ed third edi­tion pro­vides a research-based, engag­ing guide to assess­ing stu­dent learn­ing where it mat­ters most―at course and class­room lev­els
  • field-test­ed guid­ance, tools, and advice for plan­ning, design­ing, and imple­ment­ing for­ma­tive assess­ment in face-to-face, hybrid, and ful­ly online class­rooms, ana­lyz­ing result­ing data, and using that data to improve stu­dent learn­ing
An Urgency of Teach­ers: the Work of Crit­i­cal Dig­i­tal Ped­a­gogy by Jesse Stom­mel and Sean Michael Mor­ris
  • col­lec­tion of essays explores the authors’ work in, inquiry into, and cri­tique of online learn­ing, edu­ca­tion­al tech­nol­o­gy, and the trends, tech­niques, hopes, fears, and pos­si­bil­i­ties of dig­i­tal ped­a­gogy
  • It is urgent that we have teach­ers. In a polit­i­cal cli­mate increas­ing­ly defined by obsti­na­cy, lack of crit­i­cal­i­ty, and deflec­tion of fact and care; in a soci­ety still divid­ed across lines of race, nation­al­i­ty, reli­gion, gen­der, sex­u­al­i­ty, income, abil­i­ty, and priv­i­lege; in a dig­i­tal cul­ture shaped by algo­rithms that nei­ther know nor accu­rate­ly por­tray truth, teach­ing has an impor­tant (urgent) role to play