By Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F.

Gamson
From The American Association ror rIigher Education Bulletin, March 1987
Reprinted with permission.
Apathetic students, illiterate graduates, incompetent teaching, impersonal campuses
-- so rolls the drumfire of criticism ofhigher education. More than two years of
reports have spelled out the problems. States have be en quick to respond by holding
out carrots and beating with sticks.
There are neither enough carrots nor enough sticks to improve undergraduate
education without the commitment and action of students and faculty members.
They are the precious resources on whom the improvement of undergraduate
education depends.
But how can students and faculty members improve undergraduate education?
Many campuses around the country are asking this question. To provide a focus for
their work, we offer se ven principIes based on research on good teaching and
learning in colleges and universities.
Good practice in undergraduate education:
1. encourages contact between studens and . ~ , . ~ ..,'
2. develops reciprocity and cooperation among students,
3. encourages active learning,
4. gives prompt feedback,
5. emphasizes time on task,
6. comm unicates high expectations, and
7. respects diverse talents and ways of learning.
We can do it ourselves - with a little bit ofhelp...
These se ven principIes are not ten commandments shrunk to a 20th century
attention span. They are intended as guidelines for faculty members, students, and
administrators -- with support from state agencies and trustees -- to improve
teaching and learning. These principIes seem Iike good common sense, and they are
-- because many teachers and students have experienced them and because research
supports them. They rest on 50 years of research on the way teachers teach and
students learn, how students work and play with one another, and how students and
faculty talk to each other.
While each practice can stand alone on its own, when aIl are present their effects
multipIy. Together they employ six powerfuI forces in education:
.. activity,
.. cxpectations,
.. cooperation,
.. interaction,
.. diversity, and
.. responsibility.
Good practices hold as much meaning for professional programs as for the liberal
arts. They work for many different kinds of students -- white, black, Hispanic,
Asan, rich, poor, older, younger, male, female, well-prepared, underprepared.
But the ways different institutions implement good practice depend very much on
their students and their circumstances. In what follows, we describe several
different approaches to good practice that have been used in different kinds of
settings in the last few years. In addition, the powerful implications ofthese
principIes for the way states fund and govern higher education and for the way
institutions are run are discussed briefiy at the end.
As faculty members, academic administrators, and student personnel staff, we have
spent most of our working lives trying to understand our students, our colleagues,
our institutions and ourselves. We have conducted research on higher education
with dedicated colleagues in a wide range of schools in this country. With the
implications ofthis research for practice, we hope to help us all do better.
We address the teacher's how, not the subject-matter what, of good practice in
undergraduate education. We recognize that content and pedagogy interact in
complex ways. We are also aware that there is much healthy f;rment within and
among the disciplines. What s taught, afier aB, s at least as important as how it is
taught. In contrast to the long history of research in teaching and learning, there is
little research on the college currculum. We cannot, therefore, make responsible
recommendations about the content of good undergraduate education. That work is
yet to be done. This much we can say: An undergraduate education should prepare
students to understand and deal intelligently with modern Jife. What better place to
start but in the cIassroom and on our campuses? What better time than now?
Seven PrincipIes of Good Practice.
1. Encourages Contad Between Students and FacuUy
Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of cIasses is the most important
factor in student motivation and involvement. Faculty concern helps
students get through rough times and keep on working. Knowing a few
faculty members well enhances students' intellectual commitment and
encourages them to think about their own values and future plans.
2. Develops Reciprocity and Cooperation Among Students
Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort that a solo race.
Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive
and isolated. Working with others ofien increases involvement in learning.
Sharing one's own ideas and responding to others' reactions sharpens
thinking and deepens understanding.
3. Enconrages Active Learning
Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting
in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and
spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write
about it, relate it to past experiences and apply it to their daily lives. They
must make what they learn pan ofthemselves.
4. Gives Prompt Feedback
Knowing what you know and don't know focuses learning. Students need
appropriate feedback on performance to benefit from courses. When getting
started, students need help in assessing existing knowledge and competence.
In classes, students need frequent opportunities to pedorm and receive
suggestions for improvement. At various points during c:ollege, and at the
end, students need chances to reflect on what they have learned, what they
still need to know, and how to assess themselves.
5. Emphasizes Time on Task
Time plus energy equals learning. There is no substitute for time on task.
Learning to use one's time well is critical for students and professionals
alike. Students need help in Iearning effective time management. Allocating
realistic amounts of time means effective Iearning for students and effective
teaching for facuIty. How an institution defines time expectations for
students, faculty, administrators, and other professional staff can establish
the basis of high performance for all.
6. Communicates High Expectations
Expect more and you will get more. High expectations are important for
everyone -- for the poorly prepared, for those unwilling to exert themselves,
and for the bright and well motivated. Expecting students to perform well
becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when teachers and institutions hold high
expectations for themselves and make extra efforts.
7. Respects Diverse Talents and Ways ofLearning
There are many roads to Iearning. People bring different talents and styles
of Iearning to college. Brilliant students in the seminar room may be all
thumbs in the lab or art studio. Students rich in hands-on experience may
not do so well with theory. Students need the opportunity to show their
talents and learn in ways that work for them. Then they can be pushed to
learn in new ways that do not come so easily.
Teachers and students hold the main responsibility for improving undergraduate
education. But they need a Iot of help. College and university leaders, state and
federal officials, and accrediting associations have the power to shape an
environment that is favorable to good practice in higher education.
What qualities must this environment have?
" A strong sense of shared purposes.
.. Concrete support from administrators and faculty leaders for those
purposes.
.. Adequate funding appropriate tor the purposes.
" Policies and procedures consistent with the purposes.
.. Continuing examination of how well the purposes are being achieved.
There is good evidence that such an enviromnent can be created. When this
happens, faculty members and administrators think ofthemselves as educators.
Adequate resources are put into ereating opportunities for faculty members,
administrators, and students to celebrate and reflect on their shared purposes.
Faculty members receive support and release time for appropriate professionaI
development activities. Criteria for hiring and promoting facuIty members,
administrators, and staff support the institution's purposes. Advising is considered
important. Departments, programs, and classes are small enough to allow faculty
members and students to have a sense of community, to experience the value of
their contributions, and to confront the consequences oftheir faHures.
States, the federal government and accrediting associations affect the kind of
environment that can develop on campuses in a variety of ways. The most
important is through the allocaton of financial support. States also influence good
practice by encouraging sound planning, setting priorities, mandating standard s,
and reviewing and approving programs. Regional and professional accrediting
associations require and peer review in makingjudgments about
programs and institutions.
These sources of support and influence can encourage environments for good
practice in undergraduate education by:
1/1 settng policies that are consistent with good practice in undergraduate
education,
.. holding high expectations for institutional performance,
.. keeping bureaucratic regulations to a minimum that is c:ompatible with
public accountability,
.. allocating adequate funds for new undergraduate programs and the
professional development of faculty members, administrators, and staff,
.. encouraging employment groups among
administrators, faculty members, and student services professionals, and
.. providing the support for programs, facilities, and financial aid necessary
for good practice in undergraduate education.