Incorporating the modern learning sciences into one's teaching behavior produces almost immediate benefits and is not particularly disruptive. Faculty and students report higher levels of engagement and enjoyment, more is learned in less time, and what is learned is more behaviorally useful. As I pointed out in previous Briefings, many of those who teach already incorporate the relevant scientific findings and generalizations into their teaching practices; some do so knowingly and systematically, others arrive at science-based practices through experimentation and being sensitive to the needs of students and what methods seem to meet them best.

It would not be necessary to write most of the following were higher education less reflective of its legacy as a guild. Few of us would visit a physician who took guidance from 1906 science yet we think nothing unusual when a professor of learning science teaches, as most do, out of a 1906 playbook. This needs to change.

A recent article in the Chronicle reported issues on the minds of college administrators and faculty as they contemplate the future of higher education. One arguably important issue - whether college instruction and evaluation should conform modern learning and evaluation sciences - was not mentioned. This omission is odd in light of growing concerns about costs, outcomes, institutional effectiveness, impact, time-to-degree, and other matters that rest on effectiveness and efficiency.