Guilt-Free Book Club

Welcome to TLC’s Guilt-Free Book Club! Join Josh Luckens to explore texts about the art and science of teaching and learning in the higher education classroom. Although reading will enrich your experience, our programming is designed to benefit you even if you don’t get to the reading in time!

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Questions? Email teach@wit.edu

Guilt-Free Guidelines

  • Come even if you haven’t had a chance to read- your perspective will enhance our community of practice!
  • All sessions hosted on Zoom
  • Register for upcoming sessions in advance via the links provided below or via our TLC Events page
  • Missed a session? Watch a recording- all session recordings are below!
  • Feel free to request access (by emailing teach@wit.edu) to our collaborative notes documents from specific sessions- our thinking made visible!

Spring, 2025

Our next book will be Grading for Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practices that Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education by David Clark and Robert Talbert.

  • Check out the Grading for Growth Substack site featuring a fabulous array of resources.
  • Wentworth affiliates can access the book though the Wentworth Library via this link.
  • Check this website for forthcoming info about dates for book club programs in the spring semester of 2025.

What is Grading for Growth?

Grading practices in higher education and elsewhere need a reboot. For too long, grades have gotten in the way of learning, and learners have focused on scoring points and playing school instead of on learning and growth. The good news is that we can change these practices, and many instructors are doing just that, using innovative grading methods that work with rather than against student learning: specifications grading, standards-based grading, ungrading, and more. Grading for Growth is a guide to this emerging revolution in grading. We hope it inspires you to reimagine assessment in your classroom. (Source: David Clark and Robert Talbert’s website)

Past Semesters

Fall 2024: Panel Discussion Series on Meeting Today’s Students Where They Are

Fall 2024

Our fall book club theme was meeting today’s students where they are. We featured 3 panel discussions that brought together student, faculty, and staff voices to discuss timely topics in teaching and learning.

Generative Artificial Intelligence

Our first program on 10/8/24 was a collaboration with the Colleges of the Fenway’s Artificial Intelligence Think Tank. TLC’s Josh Luckens moderated an interdisciplinary panel of students, faculty, and staff from across the COF. They shared diverse perspectives on the transformative role of generative artificial intelligence in higher education.

Academic Support Strategies

On 11/7/24, TLC collaborated with Wentworth’s Success Studio on a program about meeting the academic support needs of today’s learners. TLC’s Josh Luckens co-hosted the discussion with Tom Batcho, the Associate Director of Academic Support, and featured a panel of Wentworth student Peer Tutors. We discussed instructional strategies targeted to Gen Z that can be applied to both tutoring and classroom teaching.

These resources informed our discussion:

All In This Together: Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Classroom

On 11/14/24, TLC collaborated with Wentworth’s Center for Wellness on a program about supporting the unique needs of today’s college students in the classroom from a mental health perspective. We examined a variety of resources and strategies to address the challenges of teaching and learning in an age of anxiety and distraction.

TLC’s Josh Luckens co-hosted the discussion with Maura Mulligan, Associate Dean of Health and Wellness, and Leanne Fisher, Associate Director of Health Promotion and Education. We featured a panel of Wentworth students from the Wellness Education and Empowerment Team.

These resources informed our discussion:

Summer 2024 Pop-Up: Belonging in Higher Education

The Teaching & Learning Collaborative partnered with Wentworth’s Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Center for Wellness in sponsoring this discussion about Belonging in Higher Education.

Watch our discussion from June 11, 2024.

TLC’s Josh Luckens was joined by special guests Kathleen Portillo from DEI, Maura Mulligan from Wellness, and Professor Kelly Colón from the School of Management. Through our partnership with the Colleges of the Fenway, we also featured Sarah Rose Cavanagh from Simmons College’s Center for Faculty Excellence. Dr. Cavanagh is a psychology professor, celebrated author, and frequent contributor to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Our inspiration was the research of Stanford Psychology Professor Geoffrey L. Cohen, the author of Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides. Here are some learning options:

  • An article, featuring a short interview with Dr. Cohen, entitled “The Science of Belonging and Connection”
  • A 12-minute video lecture in which Dr. Cohen shares key takeaways from his research
  • A 27-minute podcast audio interview (with a transcript) in which Dr. Cohen discusses key ways to apply his research to educational settings with young adults
Fall 2023 & Spring 2024: Learning That Matters: A Field Guide to Course Design for Transformative Education
Learning that matters book cover

During fall 2023 and spring 2024, we read selections from Learning That Matters: A Field Guide to Course Design for Transformative Education by Cynthia Alby, Karynne Kleine, Julia Metzker, and Caralyn Zehnder, winner of the 2022 Society of Professors of Education book award.

Wentworth library card holders can access the book online through the Wentworth library at this link.

Fall Session 1

Watch our discussion from 9/29/23, focusing on chapter 1, “Teaching Matters,” and chapter 2, “From the Foundation Up.”

Fall Session 2

Watch our discussion from 10/26/23, focusing on chapter 5, “The Dilemma, Issue, or Question Approach.”

Fall Session 3

Watch our discussion from 11/13/23, focusing on chapter 6, “Connected Assessment,” featuring remarks from Dr. Betsy Kranz, Wentworth’s Director of Academic Assessment and Program Review.

Spring Session 1

Watch our discussion from 2/21/24, focusing on chapter 7, “The Power of Projects.” This interdisciplinary conversation about project-based learning featured Wentworth Professors Carol Burns (architecture), Susannah Gal (biology), Afsaneh Ghanavati (engineering), Liza Lynch (industrial design), and Cindy Stevens (management).

Spring Session 2

Watch our discussion from 3/18/24, focusing on chapter 8, “Strategies that Matter,” featuring a plethora of inclusive instructional strategies that can be applied across the disciplines. This session was co-sponsored by Wentworth’s Faculty Ambassadors of Inclusive Excellence, a program of Wentworth’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Spring Session 3

Watch our discussion from 4/19/24. We focused on on chapter 9, “Supporting Students,” and chapter 10, “Your Turn: Self and Collective Efficacy.” Our discussion was co-hosted by TLC’s Josh Luckens and Wentworth Professor Susannah Gal, Associate Dean of the School of Sciences and Humanities. Our special guest was the book’s co-author, Dr. Julia Metzger, Director of the Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education.
Summer 2023: Relationship-Rich Education

This summer, we read selections from Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College by Peter Felten and Leo M. Lambert.

Session 1

Watch our first discussion, focusing on Chapter 4: Creating Relationship-Rich Classrooms

Session 2

Watch our second discussion, focusing on Chapter 6: Mentoring Conversations
Spring 2023 Pop-Up: Practical Responses to the Artificial Intelligence Revolution
In this pop-up program, we discuss teaching strategies that professors across disciplines can implement in response to the new generation of generative AI tools like Chat GPT that are transforming our world.

Check out the resources on this topic that we shared during this program.

Fall 2022: What Inclusive Instructors Do

Come read with us! (But come discuss even if you aren’t able to — we’re guilt-free!) This fall, the Guilt-Free Book Club is partnering with Wentworth’s Equity in Learning group to read and discuss What Inclusive Instructors Do (Tracie Addy et al., 2021). All sessions are conducted via Zoom and open to faculty and staff within the Colleges of the Fenway (COF) community.

Session 1

At our first session of Fall 2022’s Guilt-Free Book Club, we discussed how to “Grow Relationships” in campus classrooms and communities, using the book What Inclusive Instructors Do as our reading guide.

Session 2

At our second session of Fall 2022’s Guilt-Free Book Club, we discussed how to “Reimagine Representation” in campus classrooms and communities, using the book What Inclusive Instructors Do as our reading guide.

Session 3

At our third session of Fall 2022’s Guilt-Free Book Club, we discussed how to “Optimize Learning through Accessibility” in campus classrooms and communities, using the book What Inclusive Instructors Do as our reading guide.

Session 4

At our fourth session of Fall 2022’s Guilt-Free Book Club, we discussed how to “Work Toward Awareness and Self-Reflection” in campus classrooms and communities, using the book What Inclusive Instructors Do as our reading guide.
Summer 2022 Pop-Up: Trauma-Informed Pedagogy

TLC’s Josh Luckens and Megan Hamilton Geibert partnered with Maura Mulligan and Amber Goulart from Wentworth’s Center for Wellness to discuss trauma-informed pedagogy alongside colleagues from the Colleges of the Fenway.

Recorded on Wednesday, June 29, 2022.

Trauma-Informed Pedagogy

Trauma-informed pedagogy is a holistic approach to teaching and learning that recognizes and responds proactively to the collective and individual traumas that both students and faculty experience.

Underpinned by the neuroscience of learning, this approach brings heightened awareness of the crucial role of emotion in cognition.

Trauma-informed teaching practices seek to create classroom communities in which students feel safe, empowered, and connected. Such thoughtful promotion of student and faculty well-being fosters deeper engagement and more equitable learning outcomes.

Resources

These resources will help you prepare for our upcoming discussion about trauma-informed pedagogy. Each link below offers actionable strategies to help you support student success in your classroom:

Spring 2022: Teach Students How to Learn

Back cover: “For more than a decade, Dr. Saundra Yancy McGuire has been acclaimed for her presentations and workshops on metacognition and student learning, because the tools and strategies she shares have enabled faculty to facilitate dramatic improvements in student learning and success. This book encapsulates the model and ideas she has developed in the past 15 years, ideas that are being adopted by an increasing number of faculty with considerable effect.”

Session 1

At our first session of Spring 2022’s Guilt-Free Book Club, we discussed Chapter 5 of Saundra McGuire’s Teach Students How to Learn– Metacognitive Strategies at Work. 

Session 2

At our second session of Spring 2022’s Guilt-Free Book Club, we discussed Chapter 6 of Saundra McGuire’s Teach Students How to Learn– Mindset Matters.

Session 3

At our third session of Spring 2022’s Guilt-Free Book Club, we discussed Chapter 8 of Saundra McGuire’s Teach Students How to Learn– What Faculty Can Do to Boost Motivation, Positive Emotions, and Learning.

Session 4

At our final session of Spring 2022’s Guilt-Free Book Club, we discussed Chapter 11 of Saundra McGuire’s Teach Students How to Learn– Teaching Learning Strategies to Groups.