by our experienced yet anonymous “Points of View” professor

It’s an exciting time—and a challenging one—to be a teacher at the University of Cincinnati.  Many of us are a bit nervous as we face semester conversion, collegiate restructuring, and the One University initiative. I’ve spent years honing my skills to deliver effective didactic lectures coupled with readings, assignments, and exams,  and now I’m being asked to rework my ten week-long courses into a fifteen week-long format.

by Kevin Grace

When I teach a class, a song from The Who’s rock opera Tommy always seems to course through my brain.  In “Go to the Mirror, Boy,” an exchange between Tommy and the doctor results in lyrics most of us have heard at one time or another: “See me, Feel me, Touch me, Heal me.” Like those lyrics, it all comes down to “experiential” learning, our pedagogical emphasis on hands-on curricula.  For me, experiential learning boils down to putting primary documents—15^th century manuscripts, 17^th century rare bindings, 19^th century letters, early 20^th century photographs—into the hands of students so they can see them, feel them, and of course, smell them.