A Self-Study of College Teaching

T WO years ago, at the annual meeting of the American Association of University Professors, a significant address was given by President Wilkins, of Oberlin College. In the course of this address Mr. Wilkins expressed the opinion that the problem of improved college teaching was one that ought to be handled by the professors themselves and not left to administrators or to experts from schools of education. No substantial progress toward improved teaching in our colleges could be made, he intimated, until college teachers themselves were ready to conduct a self-study of their work and decide in their own way what might be done to better it. In a word, President Wilkins placed the obligation squarely on the shoulders of those who are, or ought to be, best able to fulfill it. No one has more to gain from improved teaching than the teacher himself. On the other hand, no one who is not an active teacher can appreciate the difficulties involved in securing this improvement. If a general betterment in the effectiveness of college teaching were as easy to bring about as some educationalists seem to believe, the goal would have been attained long ago. At any rate, the American Association of University Professors decided to venture upon a preliminary investigation of the problem, and with this end in view sought assistance from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The Foundation responded generously and the survey has been in progress during the past twelve months. It is being conducted under the direction of a committee with a membership representing the general divisions of the curriculum. Unlike most studies of its sort this is keeping clear of that fact-finding

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