Excellent teaching from well prepared and supported professors can address the challenges facing higher education and restore public confidence in the quality of a college degree. This message was delivered by hundreds of great teaching advocates convened in Minneapolis last week at the National Higher Education Teaching Conference '24. Celebrating its second year, NHETC is the only gathering of administration and faculty leaders, funders, and policymakers exclusively focused on higher education’s core purpose — great teaching and learning.

In her parting remarks, Shonda Gibson, Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Chief Transformation Officer, Texas A&M University System, reflected on the last academic year and the ways its events have made great teaching even more crucial, “It has been another challenging year. We have been tested in unrivaled ways: enrollment struggles, financial stressors, legislative restrictions, free speech challenges, increased scrutiny from lawmakers, regulators, and the public, the ongoing debate – Is college worth it? And AI burst on the scene. None of us were ready for it. We’re now all racing to learn what to do with it.

“At our core – you and I know what we are doing here together — and as we take all this knowledge and inspiration home— has everything to do with world-changing events and has everything to do with our ability to impact these world-changing events.”

Attendees were inspired by higher ed luminaries and social change agents, including Michael Sorrell, Ed.D., President of Paul Quinn College; Jonathan Rausch, author, activist and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute; Jamira Burley, Head of Youth Engagement and Skills for the Global Business Coalition for Education; and Yolanda Watson Spiva, Ph.D., President of Complete College America. An engaging student panel shared their voices on their higher ed experiences, what they value and what they believe is great teaching. Three institutions whose leaders are tireless advocates for teaching excellence were honored at the conference’s awards gala. 2024 “Movement Makers” are the University of Texas System, the Ohio Association of Community Colleges, and Palm Beach State College.

“This was one of the best conferences I’ve ever attended, filled with strategies and ideas that resonate deeply with the heart of higher education: teaching. There were so many excellent sessions on equitable grading, student engagement and success, online learning, supporting non-traditional students, assessment, faculty development, educational technology, and policy change, plus a lot of opportunity to network with faculty and administrators from across the country,” said Shawn Orr, Ph.D., Dean, Ashland University. “I left motivated to ‘be an architect of solutions’ (thanks Dr. Sorrell!) and to continue to deeply engage in the great teaching movement that is sweeping across higher education.”

ACUE unveiled two new resources at NHETC ’24 – the ACUE Commons and the ACUE Learning Lab. The Commons is a virtual hub where educators trained in ACUE’s Effective Practice Framework come together for networking, knowledge sharing, and peer-to-peer development. The Learning Lab features self-paced Quick Study Courses designed to help professors build on their ACUE certification. These short, asynchronous offerings deliver ACUE’s trusted learning experience with content developed in collaboration with subject matter experts, well-defined learning objectives, implementation videos showing best practices in action, opportunities for self-reflection, and downloadable implementation guides. Beta launched in January 2024 with four AI Quick Study Courses, three new Quick Study Courses were recently added to the Learning Lab, focusing on creating a culture of constructive conversations, developing students’ critical thinking skills, and putting media literacy at educators’ fingertips.

“The country is watching. How we return to campuses this fall will directly impact the confidence that American’s place in higher education,” said Jonathan Gyurko, Ph.D., ACUE President and Co-founder. “NHETC is about excellence in every college class. It is accelerating a movement to ensure that faculty have the training and support they need, so that every student feels welcome, heard, and appropriately challenged to learn and grow. I applaud the leadership of NHETC’s excellent teaching champions.”