Madison Institute on Academic Rigor

On June 16-17, 2011, I was asked to participate in a university-wide workshop organized by Provost Benson whose "charge was to gather faculty input and recommendations on how we might enhance the various kinds of academic challenges we already provide our students." Thirty-four faculty from across JMU convened for two full days to answer the questions: What is rigor? and How can it be enhanced at JMU?

While I was not directly involved in writing the final report, I was very engaged in the discussion, particularly in making sure that the debates that ranged around the concept of "rigor" were grounded in sound argument and empirical evidence.

By the end of the two-day Institute, participants generally agreed that academic rigor simply means appropriately challenging our students.

Rigor = "Appropriate Challenge"

I took home some important lessons from this experience:

• A renewed commitment to challenging my students
• If "rigor" equals "appropriate challenge" then it is incumbent upon instructors, i.e. me, to figure out what "appropriate" means
• For me, "appropriate" is NOT an abstract concept that allows me to generalize across the capabilities and needs of students I'm likely to encounter in my classroom
• In order to know what is appropriate for a particular student, I need to get to know that student well enough to make a recommendation
• I also need to gain the trust of the student so that they will be open to challenges issued by me

These lessons reinforced the conclusions that I had reached together with my Madison Teaching Fellows group that had met for all of 2009-2010. It bolstered my conviction that my ultimate goal is to be able to teach to a large group of students, but make them all feel like they're getting one-on-one instruction.