Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses
Review
“Fink’s book is full of excellent suggestions.” — Community College Week, September 1, 2003″Overall, this is an exciting and important book. This is a five star book.” — Teachers College Record, August 6, 2003″This book…inspires faculty members to undertake a new direction in college teaching.” (Exchanges, 6/28/2004) “Overall, this is an exciting and important book. This is a five star book.” (Teachers College Record, August 6, 2003) “Fink’s book is full …
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January 17th, 2010 at 2:46 am
Fink starts with an interesting proposition: What do you want your students to know several years from now?
To be realistic, while it would be great for my students to have a working sociological vocabulary five years from now – I would rather they look at their world with respect and understanding, treat other people with dignity and grace, and be able to think critically about the world around them.
Fink proposes that curricula and teaching methods can (and should) be changed to meet the ever changing educational needs and dynamics of today’s students. The text soundly lays out justification for the change in educational environments, and provides a sound framework to build classes that reach beyond memorization and regurgitation. Fink advocates setting students up for success by meeting their needs for core subject components, tying subject matter together with other subjects, personal life experiences, and the student’s social context. The logical effect being, students who learn more, because they want to, and retain the material longer.
January 17th, 2010 at 2:51 am
Creating Significant Learning Experiences by L. Dee Fink is essential reading for all educators who are dedicated to becoming part of an exciting frontier in education that is destined to be established as the model of educational excellence. Fink demonstrated throughout this text that he has developed expertise about higher education, from which he formulated a methodology that is presented as a road-map for others to transform their teaching into significant learning experiences. Creating change is never easy and Fink thoroughly delineated this message as he provides the step-by-step processes required by educators and institutions to create significant learning experiences. In addition to detailed, explicit explanations of how to engage in the process of creating significant learning experiences in all higher educational settings, Fink provided his supportive rationale that reveals the necessity for transforming higher education from what most of us have experienced to a dynamic, active involvement that stimulates adults to become life-long learners.
This book offers detailed explanations and examples that are pertinent to the process of creating significant learning experiences. Diagrams and charts further enhance the author’s efforts to clearly convey his ideas and strategies that he has tested and proven to be effective and necessary when creating significant learning experiences. Thus, this book is not one to be quickly read as pleasurable prose. The optimal manner in which to gain all that is presented by Fink, is to respond to his invitation to embark on his journey toward the fulfillment of his dream, to “see people, all people, living their lives full of learning. …” (p. 254). The reader is invited and encouraged to embrace a process of change that will impact the lives of all who are willing to make the necessary effort that will produce worthwhile results in our society. Creating Significant Learning Experiences is a book that requires reading over a prolonged period of time, in order to allow for the concepts and explanations to be digested slowly and deliberately. The information presented by Fink is well-worth the time and effort required to reading this book; however, if time is at a minimum, gaining an overview of the concepts provided is better than not reading this book at all. For all educators and administrators of higher education, don’t hesitate to add this book to the top of your reading list.
January 17th, 2010 at 4:02 am
This book changed the way I design my college level courses in a very effective and enjoyable way. It will give you a lot of insight on the design of courses that will encourage students to continue learning. I also enjoyed all the reference on the results of scientific work that deals with innovative teaching methods. You will love this book.