Getting Learning Right: The Promise of Higher Education

An action-oriented guide to revitalizing higher education by putting learning at the center of institutional action.

As the challenges to higher education continue to mount, we believe that the surest path forward is a renewed commitment to the primary purpose of colleges and universities: higher learning. In Getting Learning Right, Chris Gallagher, Kristi Girdharry, and Kevin Smith argue that institutions can meet today’s challenges—public skepticism, AI, political pressure—by orienting decision making around a deep understanding of their learners and how learning actually works.

The book examines institutional practices undertaken by colleges and universities that get learning right: listening to students; designing learning-focused environments; employing collaborative and project-based learning; helping students build networks of support and opportunity; offering flexible learning pathways; and codesigning and cocreating with students. Each practice is illustrated through key learning concepts, real institutional examples, and firsthand student accounts, whose reports offer fresh insights into more established concepts such as experiential learning and learning transfer.

Written for practical and effective use, the book includes reflective questions at the end of each chapter that are designed to facilitate conversation and inform learning-grounded design.

Chris W. Gallagher is Professor of English at Northeastern University. His most recent book is College Made Whole.

Kristi Girdharry is Associate Teaching Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center at Babson College. Her writing can be found in Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, Double Helix, and College Composition and Communication.

Kevin G. Smith is Associate Professor of English at the University of Virginia, where he codirects the University Writing Center. He has written for College Composition and Communication, Digital Humanities Quarterly, and Reflections.