Customer Reviews

Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This small volume is an excellent compendium of practical advice for students, faculty, and university administrators on how build strong educational environments. The author, Richard Light, is a professor of education and an educational researcher, and the conclusions he presents are powerful because they are based on more than ten years of detailed interviews with students.

The students were asked to describe their best teachers, the classes that had the greatest impact on their lives, the social experiences on campus that have been most valuable to them, and the things that universities could do to further strengthen the educational environment. What makes a great professor? (It's not theatricality.) What makes a great class? (It's not the quality of the PowerPoint slides.) What makes for great advising? (It's not telling students to get their requirements out of the way.) How can teachers constantly improve their classes? (It's not by handing out an evaluation form at the end of the term.)

Light places particular emphasis on the social environment that universities provide for their students. This is something that has been woefully neglected for more than a generation on many large campuses, and attention to it by faculty is badly needed. I am an advocate of decentralized residential colleges within large universities, and such colleges can provide precisely the kind of environment that Light recommends: stable, rich, genuinely diverse, and full of opportunity.

One popular topic is notable for its absence: technology. There is no discussion of teaching via the web, nothing about distance learning, nothing about video conferencing, yadda, yadda, yadda. The message is clear: outstanding education comes from personal contact, not remote access.

If you are a college professor, this book may be the only general-purpose "education" book that you will ever need. And if you are a student, or the parent of a student, this straightforward guide will help you "make the most of college."

As a professor, I found the book excellent, both for its many insightful suggestions and as a reminder of the student experience. If I were evaluating this book for faculty, I'd give it five stars.

But the book's title and marketing indicate that this is a how-to book for college students. That's deceptive: It is a summary of findings by Harvard's self-assessment team. Suggestions for students are good when they come, but they're spread between suggestions more useful to college faculty and administration. As an example, one idea is to schedule discussion classes just before dinner, so that students in the class could eat together afterward and possibly continue discussion. That's a great idea for administrators, but students can't make much use of it. The book would be stronger if it were separated for the two potential audiences.

The book also suffers from not being up-front about its origins: It summarizes findings of an assessment project at Harvard, but you won't find it described until you reach the appendix. I realize that fewer copies would be sold if they admitted this in the introduction. But until I reached the appendix, where the project's major questions were finally described, I was left wondering why the book's organization was so lopsided. Particularly, the part on campus diversity was much longer than I expected; it wasn't until I reached the appendix that I learned why. (The appendix was one of the best parts. In fact, I recommend reading it first.)

I'd certainly recommend the book to faculty and administrators from any college. The work is clearly based on extensive, well-done interviews, and the analysis is both well-organized and rich in ideas. Just recognize it for what it is.

Richard Light has written a volume that every college educator, high school principal/teacher, and parent should read. His insights into the college experience, ranging from living arrangements to coursework to volunteer experiences are drawn from hundreds of interviews with current and graduated Harvard students. Although at first glance, the reader might want to make the assumption that Harvard students are different from the norm, quite the opposite is true. Light's lecturing at various higher education institutions has come up with correlations from large state universities and small liberal arts colleges alike.

The main crux of the study isn't overly shocking - students need close contact with faculty and other students who will challenge their minds and engage their hearts. Attention from others is the key correlating factor to having a successful and rewarding college experience. Of particular interst are the chapters on diversity and on study skills; both might be of particular interest to high school educators in terms of equipping high school students with the personal and study skills necessary to succeed in college.

Read MAKING THE MOST OF COLLEGE: STUDENTS
SPEAK THEIR MIND by Richard Light . . . this is a book
that is definitely NOT for everybody . . . but if you're a high
school or college student, a parent of either, or a teacher or
administrator at any level of education, then you should
obtain a copy and devour it as soon as possible! . . . Light,
a professor at Harvard's Graduate School of Education,
researched students at that institution for over 10 years . . . but
what he has to say applies to virtually any school at any level.

I've been teaching for some 30 years--can you believe it? (I was
a child prodigy, of course, having started at the tender age of
7. NOT.) . . . Yet even I managed to get several ideas that I plan
to implement just as soon as I can.

I liked the author's use of verbatim quotes from
students . . . in addition, his overall findings made sense to me:
1. Learning outside of classes, especially in residential settings
and extracurricular activities such as the arts, is vital.

2. A large number of students say they learn significantly more
in courses that are highly structured, with relatively many quizzes
and short assignments.

3. Professors increasingly are encouraging students to work
together on homework assignments.

4. Some undergraduates, when asked to identify a particularly
profound or critical experience at college, identify a mentored
internship not done for academic credit.

5. For most students the impact of racial and ethnic diversity on
their college experience is strong.

6. Students who got the most out of college, who grew the most
academically, and who are happiest organize their time to include
activities with faculty members, or with several other students
focused around accomplishing substantive academic work.

7. I was surprised by students' strong attitude toward writing.

8. A large majority of undergraduates describe particular
activities outside the classroom as profoundly affecting their
academic performance.

9. Students talk about [foreign] languages with special
enthusiasm.

This book is a report on an assessment project initiated by Harvard and directed by Mr. Light. The project assesses how various aspects of life at college - both in and out of the classroom - contribute to an overall learning, growing experience for the undergraduate.

Mr. Light places great value on listening to what students had to say about their own college experiences. In fact, by conservative estimate, perhaps at least one third of the content of this book is material quoted from the students who were interviewed. The book contains countless candid comments, observations and reflections from students regarding their experiences at college. The findings are recounted in anecdotal form which makes for interesting and engrossing reading. This is not a dry reporting of findings - it is, rather, filled with personal stories from the lives of students. At least one "overarching theme" was revealed through the interviews: that of "the interplay, the complex interaction, among different parts of campus life." (p. 209)

Who is this book for?
· of equal benefit to students, faculty and administrators
· provides potentially useful advice and suggestions for all parties involved in the education process of undergraduates
· While some of the material presented would seem to be advice directed toward students, it can also prove helpful to faculty and administrators as a way to give some insight to the mind, emotions and life of the students they are there to serve.

Because it is anecdotal and personal with many lengthy quoted stories from students, this book is an easy and enjoyable read. It would be quite accessible for students and might make a good read for freshman orientation classes. I'd certainly suggest any college bookstore sell and prominently display this book at the opening of each school year. However, for this purpose, I would want to see a paperback version with a colorful cover to appeal to students.

Content summary:

Following an introduction, chapter 2 ("Powerful Connections") discusses how beneficial it is for students to integrate various aspects of their lives in college.
Chapter 3 ("Suggestions from Students") reviews many of the different kinds of extracurricular activities students partake in.
Chapter 4 ("The Most Effective Classes") looks at various ways that pedagogy can contribute to effective learning. Some concrete ideas are mentioned that faculty reading this might incorporate in their own classes. This chapter also takes a specific look at issues related to science and foreign language classes.
Chapter 5 ("Good Mentoring and Advising"): the most important advice for students: get to know at least one faculty member reasonably well and have that faculty member get to know you reasonably well. (p. 86)
Chapter 6 ("Faculty Who Make a Difference") looks at what "good" teachers do.
The remaining three chapters (one third of the book) deal with issues of diversity on American college campuses. I found these chapters exciting and almost inspiring! I can see students reading these chapters and being inspired to take active steps to build personal relationships across ethnic, racial and religious lines. Chapter 7 ("Diversity on Campus") discusses the ways diversity provides for rich learning experiences both inside and outside the classroom. Chapter 8 ("Learning from Differences") begins with an extensive look at religious differences (of personal interest to me). There are several kinds of learning noted here that can take place through an exposure to religious diversity. This chapter also discusses the value of diversity in living arrangements to add to the learning experience. In fact, much of this learning does not take place in a religion class but, rather, in the larger context of the college campus. Chapter 9 ("What College Leaders Can do") reinforces the findings of the prior two chapters by stressing that the college sets the pace and models the encouragement to look on diversity as a positive and potential learning experience.

As an admission officer for a selective liberal arts college, I know I am biased about this subject, but this truly is a great book offering insights about an effective four year college education.

Professor Light does an excellent job of weaving a tapestry of tales from college students about the seminal events of their collegiate experiences. Having just read the Game of Life and The Shape of the River which were primarily statistical analyses, the first hand account style was both fresh and easy to comprehend (although some empirical data would have been nice).

The chapters on interaction with faculty are problably the most useful for families and prospective students, while the final chapters on diversity are most applicable to colleges themselves. Of course what other colleges have the ability to shape a diverse class like Harvard? Some of the ideas presented are great for schools who are 20-30% multi-cultural.

Students and families who take the key lessons from this book to heart and utilize it when selecting a college will find an institution that will be value-added and will make a difference in the student's life.

My college suggested all new students at my university buy this book. I am thrilled they did. The author gives many suggestions for taking the best advantage of opportunities to get a good start in the choices I will make.

The three best ideas in this book are:

1. Make sure to make an effort to take at least one small class each term, and to get know at least one professor each term. I am amazed how obvious this is, yet I see that many of my friends who arrived here at college do not actually do it. This book gives several suggestions for how to get to know professors.

2. Connect the classes that I choose to take here at college with some of my personal interests in life beyond college. I love the example in this book of the young woman who did ballet dancing before college, and was therefore encouraged to study biology when she was struggling to deal with her own stress fractures in her legs. I found this example actually inspiring.

3. Choose professors who give lots of opportunities to make, in the author's words, "mid-course corrections." Thanks to reading this book, I chose an English class where I am asked to write a short paper each week, and I get feedback so I can improve my writing. Some of my friends ignored the advice and instead are choosing courses that only require one, final paper at the end of the term. There is no way they can "improve" the way they write because the only feedback they will get comes after the course ends.

Overall, my guess is that the advice from Making the Most of College will apply to just about any student at any type of college. There is certainly nothing in this book that applies to specific places - - just an enormous number of suggestions that I found very helpful.

A great book, fun to read for me as a new,first year student. It gave me more advice, and better advice, than my advisor here at my college. I hope all my professors read it too.

A Book About College Life Unlike Any Other.

Reading this book actually made me a bit emotional. I bought it as a gift for two nephews now at two colleges. It is the best gift I could have given them. I say emotional because if only I had known some of the simple ideas and suggestions that Light offers in this book, I myself would have done lots of things differently many years ago when I was a student. Well, too late for me now.

Since I now do some teaching, I have followed Light's work on improving college life for many years. In fact, his two publications that he distributes for free that were written in the early 1990s give all the statistical and scientific technical back-up for his findings in this, his new book.

Yet I am a lot less interested in the details of his survey and interview response rates, and stratified random samples, and other such technical back-up, all of which are in his earlier reports that he mailed to me for free when I requested them, than in his substantive findings and suggestions.

That is why both of my nephews love this book and have made active choices at their colleges already, by using it.

Light offers an enormous number of actionable suggestions in this book. Some are for students. Others are for faculty. Here are those that my nephews, as the current students (I am the old guy in the family) found most useful and actually acted upon this term:

1. Choose courses that at least try to link rigorous and abstract ideas, say in economics or political science or history, with something the kids personally care about. One of my nephews changed the economics course he chose at his college. He found a new one that deals with labor issues, and that is what happens to interest him.

2. Find courses that require some writing. Yet where the professor doesn't assign a long, final paper - - rather he or she assigns a series of shorter papers so that my nephew is able to make, in Light's terms, "some mid-course corrections" that actually lead to improvement and substantive learning. My other nephew did just that when choosing a world history course. It requires him to write just a two page paper to hand in each week. My nephew was a bit stunned when the professor mentioned Light's book, and said he found the suggestion for many short papers with some feedback to the students a compelling idea, which he had decided to implement.

3. The third point is my own, not from my nephews. At a time of political correctness that often drives me crazy, the author obviously made herculean efforts in preparing this book to strike a fair-minded balance in his three chapters about "how students can make the most of the new racial and ethnic diversity on so many campuses." It is not left wing or right wing - - just thoughtful. It sure made me thing hard. And the students' anecdotes about the good and the not so good about diversity, are riveting

When I started the first chapter, I expected to see some left wing drivel. I was wrong. I honestly couldn't even figure out Light's own, personal politics as I read through his suggestions and dozens of anecdotes about racial and ethnic diversity. What I did figure out is that there are a handful of very specific things that my nephews could do, and that hopefully their campus leaders WILL do, to benefit from the diversity on their campuses. Whether it is a summer mailing that brings students from different backgrounds together to discuss a common reading (I wish that common reading were the common sense ideas in THIS BOOK), or implementing a policy of "inclusion" wherever it is possible, or several others in the book, I just hope my nephews' Deans get and read this.

One last thought. I express admiration whether it is to Light or to his editors for the quality of the writing. It is stunningly crisp and clear. Lots of active verbs. Crisp, short, easy to understand sentences. Fun to read. Having seen his earlier, more statistically based work on this same area, I would not have guessed he could pull this off. This book is just unlike any other, and my nephews have both benefited big time.

Overall, an excellent book. Well written, and interesting. The advice is very down-to-earth, and many ideas can easily be implemented in any college classroom. Especially Light's chapter on the role of student writing in college, filled with advice on specific classroom techniques, will help anyone teaching composition or using writing as a substantial element in a college course, even if they have considerable experience.

I am just starting freshman year here in Birmingham, at UAB, and plan to major in math. I expect this will be hard.

The suggestions in this book, which was recommended by my high school college counselor over the summer, have given me several ideas about how to succeed in freshman year.

I plan to get to know at least one professor each term, plan to choose classes that have many short homeworks instead of one long one, and plan to track how I spend my time, and plan to work in study groups outside of class. I just hope other students are willing to do this too.

This book seems to have many practical suggestions for me as a new college student, and I enjoyed reading it.