A Closer Look at Deep Learning
What the Best College Teachers Do
Ken Bain
Harvard University Press, 2004
Pages: 207
ISBN: 9780674013254
Price: $32
★★★★✩ (4.5/5 Stars)
Review by David Winkler.
At first glance, Ken Bain’s What the Best College Teachers Do might appear to be concerned with teaching and assessment methods alone. After reading, perhaps a more apt title would be “What the Best College Teachers Desire.” This book captures the heart behind what teachers do to construct and encourage a student desire for deep-learning. Bain’s work is driven by a search for teachers who produce these deep-learners. A helpful tool for seasoned professors and novice practitioners alike, What the Best College Teachers Do draws on what the most effective college educators understand and do well inside and outside of the classroom.
While Bain’s primary audience is professors from both research and liberal arts universities, he contends the book’s conclusions could also be of interest to students and their parents. This book raises questions about the practices and philosophies of highly successful teachers in varying fields. It should be noted that “success” is defined as something more than students’ acing departmental final examinations. Success in teaching students results in “sustained influence” in learning, even beyond the classroom (9).
Bain’s background in higher education learning initiatives (founding multiple “teaching centers” at universities such as NYU, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, and Montclair; serving as Provost of the University of the District of Columbia; and currently serving as the President of the Best Teachers Institute) qualifies him for such a task as uncovering the best teaching practices and philosophies. Bain admits he, like most college and university professors, had no formal preparation for helping anyone else learn, thus suggesting the purpose this book serves in the academic community (181).
This book is first and foremost a study of what it is outstanding teachers do really well. Bain divides his research into six major conclusions concerning teaching: knowledge and learning, preparation, expectations, method and practice, treatment of students, and evaluation or assessment. “The ideas here require careful and sophisticated thinking, deep professional learning, and often fundamental conceptual shifts” (15). A paradigm shift from transmission of information to transformation of the student learner is of utmost importance.
In summarizing the book, Bain first centers on what the best teachers know and understand. The most outstanding teachers are without a doubt experts in their field. Their immense, while specific, knowledge helps to qualify them for the task of teaching and training. Of course, those teachers are also aware that “knowledge is constructed, not received” (26). It should be understood rather than merely absorbed. Bain suggests a student’s interest should be in a mastery of learning over failure avoidance. Bain then shifts his focus from what these teachers know and understand to how they prepare to teach. With a baker’s dozen worth of weighty questions, Bain advocates for engineering a natural critical learning environment that is student-centered. Discerning the abilities and skills of students, understanding the pre-established mental models they bring to the classroom, assessing the student’s difficulty of grasping material, and sustaining long-term student interest and thinking all play a role in creating this environment. “Highly effective teachers design better learning experiences for their students in part because they conceive of teaching as fostering learning” (67). Moving forward from knowledge and preparation, Bain discusses the expectations successful teachers place on their students. A combination of high standards and the assurance of authentic learning goals ring through as critical. Bain emphasizes the importance of intellectual and personal development of the student for meaningful learning. The best teachers in the study expected more from their students — that “more” is tied to critical thinking and acting rather than completion of mounds of meaningless coursework.
Method and practice emerge in Bain’s argument for effective teaching, and once again touches on a natural critical learning environment. Bain makes a case for gaining and keeping the attention of students with something they care about, seeking academic commitment from students, and engaging students inside and outside of class with a diverse set of learning experiences. Particular methods are far less important here than directing and shaping the learning environment. Bain voices his concern for the treatment of students by promoting common decency, acknowledging that professors should conceive of themselves as “fellow students” (144). Lastly, proper evaluation and assessment conclude the research. Bain stresses student assessments should be used as an additional avenue for helping students learn and teaching assessments should be used as a way of promoting learning-based instruction that is student-focused. Bain states, “Excellent teachers develop their abilities through constant self-evaluation, reflection, and the willingness to change” (172). Together, these create a system of evaluation dependent upon how well evaluators know and understand human learning.
Bain’s approach was thoroughly considered. Organizing parts of this research study as a kind of “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ), each chapter informs the reader of different aspects of teaching and learning. This tool makes the book incredibly useful as a resource. While reading the book in its entirety generates a better understanding of the process, scope and reasoning for conclusions, returning later for study concerning specific topics of interest is made easier and more accessible. I appreciated the student-centeredness Bain presented in his work. As the primary beneficiaries in the classroom, teaching should reflect students’ learning potential. It is suggested the best teachers “displayed not power but an investment in the students” (139).
Bain’s work, in some respects, enhances an understanding of learning that exhibits sustained change in students’ lives. I found the information on “mental models” brought into the classroom as a result of each student’s background and rearing in education to be very insightful. Framing teaching in a way that moves beyond encouraging students to absorb information and toward understanding the underlying structures deep-learning requires is by no means a revolutionary conclusion or suggestion, but does act as a good reminder for practice.
Critiques offered for What the Best College Teachers Do focus on data and the research methods of gathering that data. Bain’s primary prerequisites for the study are appropriate in direction, but the question arises of the data’s measurability. “Ultimately, the judgment to include someone in the study was based on careful consideration of his or her learning objectives, success in helping students achieve those objectives, and ability to stimulate students to have highly positive attitudes toward their studies” (183). There was great breadth to this study. Because of that, the conclusions offered are cursory at times. While “careful consideration” is admirable, it is not completely objective or measurable. This is where the data and research meet experience and discernment. I commend Bain for his efforts in rationalizing his subjective research methods but still fall on the side of caution in exact implementation or replication of his conclusions.
While some similarities in learning theory across fields can be assumed, all cannot. The universities and subjects surveyed surely do not represent a comprehensive view of the American university system. Only sixty-three professors and teachers were studied closely in the final rounds of research (all but twelve were exclusively from research universities [188]). This study is hardly meant to be exhaustive, but is still valuable for graduated growth toward teaching students to learn deeply.
Bain’s book is absolutely worthwhile and recommended for any professor or college teacher who is seeking to generate deep-learning motivation in their students. In many ways, it can be customized to each reader’s needs or desires. At just shy of two-hundred pages, the book is easily read in one sitting and well divided for later reference. I believe Bain’s sentiment can best be summed up in his thoughts on the potential and purpose of learning: “Learning doesn’t just affect what you know; it can transform how you understand the nature of knowing” (42).