Caddo Gap Press

The judicious professor; a learner-centered philosophy for teaching and learning in higher education.

Are professors the gatekeepers of knowledge or merely the folks who hold the gates open? Paul Gathercoal (education, California Lutheran U.) and his brother Forrest Gathercoal (education emeritus, Oregon State U.) believe they are the gatekeeper, but with a difference; the rigor, quality of understanding and discipline they exercise in that role benefits students as well as knowledge. However, they understand well that students exist to learn, not to merely jump through hopes placed in their path arbitrarily by those who were students before them. They propose a professionally responsible model for professors that they believe produces a healthy and ethical teaching and learning relationship, delineates the motivation and goals behind learning, and encourages establishing and nurturing mutual goals and expectations. They arm this model with the practicalities, including legal, ethical, educational, ideological and political considerations, and include a questionnaire professors can use to assess their abilities in judicious learning. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Key questions for educators.

For preservice and graduate students, teachers, and educational administrators, Hare (education, Mount Saint Vincent U., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada) and Portelli (education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, U. of Toronto, Canada) present 40 essays in the form of questions and answers on topics in education that are of importance today. Contributors address educational movements and ideologies, philosophies of teaching, ideas about good teaching and schooling, and topics such as curriculum, leadership, postmodernism, professionalism, critical thinking, media literacy, multiculturalism, feminist pedagogy, social justice education, and accountability. Contributors are scholars of moral and social philosophy, education, educational policy, ethics, and other fields in the UK, Canada, Australia, and the US. There is no index. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)