Higher education has been in the news a lot lately and, at least at my institution, the issues in the news become topics of our hallway chatter. This week’s roundup reflects some of the current events I thought were most applicable to both higher ed and K12 colleagues.

Try: 7 Ways I’m Minimizing Decision Fatigue in my Daily Life

Making the decisions required by life can be exhausting. I’d venture to guess that most of us know the reality, even if we don’t know the science. Even so, the research is clear: we have a limited amount of energy and making decisions - however big or small - depletes that energy. Additionally, decision-making is like a muscle in that we can train our brains to do some things repeatedly without consciously deploying effort. To preserve energy and eliminate decision fatigue, we can eliminate decisions or establish habits. Anne Bogel, author of Reading People, suggests a few ways in which she has done both. Her mornings follow the same routine: wake, write, drink coffee, drink water, send three emails, and exercise. She eats the same things. She stops work at a certain time each day. Since reading this, I’ve eliminated a few decisions of my own: I now eat the same things each day and do the same things each morning in the same order. If you decide to minimize decision fatigue in your life, here are my suggestions:

1. Eliminate or systematize the things you don’t like to do. For me, this means emails. Twice a week, I set a timer and clean out anything that needs a response.
2. Similarly, do the things you love every day. I’ve been trying to take my pup for a walk immediately upon arriving home from work each day. In order to make it a habit, I’ve started dropping my keys, grabbing the leash, and heading straight back outside.
3. Even if tasks are variable, they can fit into a specific time in your day. I’ve built in fifteen minutes before I go to bed to do some general tidying. The exact tasks might be different but I no longer have to think about when they will fit into my schedule (and it definitely beats a two-hour weekend cleaning marathon).

Read: Academia’s #metoo moment

Despite increased presence in the news and in conversations, the prevalence of sexual misconduct, harassment, or assault on campuses continues to be shocking. News of the Larry Nassar trial and subsequent leadership changes at Michigan State University ripped through my friends and colleagues in the higher education world. Thousands more cases like that, in which the power of an institution or a position protected a predator, are likely to come to light and have begun to do so. This article recounts just a few of the situations in which women reckon with their abuse and abusers in the context of a college or university. (Importantly, not all victims of campus sexual assault are women, but this article features women exclusively.) Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust is just one of the university administrators coming to terms with campus sexual harassment - particularly between faculty and students - as “endemic”. She goes on: “We intend to have our faculty be accountable for how they use their power.”Each of us at AEC will be following closely the development of these accountability systems.

Share: Why We Must Stop Relying on Student Ratings of Teaching

Faculty and course evaluations are built into the fabric of higher education. Whether conducted online or using bubble sheets, they have implications for course enrollments, university rankings, and faculty tenure evaluations. Here’s the problem: they do not measure teaching quality and they are biased against women, people of color, and faculty who teach challenging courses. Research has affirmed this for nearly forty years. Why have course evaluations persisted? They are quick, easy, and efficient. In most cases, they are now done online and while this seems like a way of obtaining a greater number of valid responses, response rates have in fact tanked and comments are now more reminiscent of online trolling than actionable feedback. What’s an institution to do? This article recommends multiple assessments of faculty teaching, including peer reviews of their course planning and delivery as well as reflective statements of teaching. I’m still untenured, so this is particularly salient to me. My plan is to poll students at least twice throughout my next class so that I have time-series data for the course in addition to the university-mandated evaluations. These are exactly the kinds of structures AEC is designed to help institutions understand and change, so if you’re ready to build better tools for evaluating instruction, let us know.

Lead: Campus Sexual Assault Tool Kit

If this week’s “Read” section had you feeling overwhelmed or in search of resources, AAUW offers a really good place to start. Their Campus Sexual Assault Tool Kit provides tools for faculty, students, and advocates who want to see sexual assault eliminated from campuses. They include a few talking points regarding the relevant statistics and why people should care, as well as ways of preventing sexual assault such as hosting bystander intervention trainings. They also offer ideas for obtaining funding to support your campus safety efforts. We recommend that you start with the description of Title IX and learn about the federal government’s role in ending sexual violence and particularly violence against women. For even more about how you can participate, check out our Resources page.

- Lauren