Faculty Reviews
The Keynote was one of the best I have I had heard. Out of the park hit! I had a greater appreciation of the new generation and how to approach them more effectively.
Keynote is a ROCK STAR!! I’ve been coming for 7 years and all were good, but this is amazing. Jose Bowen is an outstanding speaker and the workshop was even better.
The BEST convocation speaker we have had by far in 19 years!! Funny, engaging and USEFUL!! Dozens of ideas I will use next week.
Dr. Bowen has long been my hero for many reasons: he is a lauded teacher, accomplished scholar, celebrated jazz musician, but also because he just thinks differently (and asks better questions). I haven’t met anyone else who would ask if the distance to the toilet in residence halls influenced student success, at least out loud.
Every single comment about your portion of the program has been over the top. My staff, jaded and overworked, wouldn’t go home until we sat and debriefed. I sold out of books, and I had bought out the supply at Amazon and Walmart.
It was provocative which was very helpful to me, who might otherwise be inclined to keep doing pretty much what I had been doing. Examples and suggestions were all understandable and the vast majority very do-able.
Jose Bowen was the best speaker I have ever heard. He challenged every aspect of the process, engaged and drew our people in, and gave practical advice.
Dr. Bowen was inspirational and had a lot of practical suggestions for exciting teaching.
Milestones — my faculty tweeted, tweeted I say, they laughed and took notes, and never looked away. This is ridiculous — today was a firestorm of “how can I tweet” requests, which is completely your doing. Wow. The compliments are piling up for your workshop and keynote.
The speaker was enthusiastic and interesting to listen to. Useful tools were web addresses to find interesting content, the idea of getting students to co create content for courses, using more social in the classroom, using more technology in different ways, inspiring us to be better thinkers.
At one point, a chemist asked you a question about students and googling “puric acid” and we cringed. My office sat forward and said under his breath, “Here we go.” This professor truly enjoys “zinging” people — he’s a fan favorite at our monthly full faculty meeting and is booed every other week at the faculty senate. He is not an early adopter of anything. But you didn’t flinch, you shot, you scored. The provost’s table sat with their mouths open for a good 2 minutes. Chem prof began smiling and typing into his laptop — he sent me a note after the conference congratulating me on my choice for conference keynote. It was stunning for us. No one charms him.
I loved Jose Bowen’s keynote and workshop. I have taken quite a few ideas that I’d like to integrate into my teaching this fall.
I was really engaged by his keynote and am so glad I was able to buy the book!
The speaker was very entertaining and provided many real-life scenarios that made intuitive sense
I liked the exercises he gave us to during the talk. I liked his ideas. They were cool and I can apply them in my class.
Very engaging presentation with helpful information. I look forward to reading the book!
In light of the incredibly positive response we received from faculty after your speaking engagement last spring, I am writing to you to inquiry about your availability to come and speak once again, Will you please come back and do another workshop??!
“In summary, I really enjoyed reading Bowen’s book. I enjoyed his workshop even more. While I was skeptical when I first saw him launching his PowerPoint slides (remember, he advocates for a technology-free “classroom”), I quickly got over that. As a presenter, he’s very engaging, and clearly passionate not just about his course content, but also about teaching as well. (He also uses PowerPoint as a visual very, very well.) Kate Beverage, Worchester Polytechnic Institute, http://wp.wpi.edu/atc-ttl/2012/10/24/teaching-naked-book-and-workshop-review/
Reviews of Teaching Naked
(Winner of theFrederic W. Ness Award, Best Book on Higher Education(2013) from the American Association of Colleges and Universities.)
“What I love about Bowen’s suggestions is that you don’t need fancy technology, specialized classrooms, or even much of a background in digital tools. You just need to change how you think about prioritizing activities, recognizing that you have an incredibly valuable opportunity for exceptional pedagogy…” Link Timothy Phin, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
“I think that teaching naked is an approach that has the potential to re-invigorate many existing post-secondary institutions.” Link Robert Groves, Okanagan School of Business
“It’s true that Bowen is interested in creating classroom space for interaction, discussion, reflection and engagement. But the book—part persuasion, part how-to—spends a great deal more time on what technology offers for the design of educational experiences…. Teaching Naked [is a] good introduction to some of the most notable and/or promising types of resources for higher education.” Link Full Article PDF Mary Taylor Huber, “Books Worth Reading” for Change magazine (January/February 2013), p. 67-72
“In summary, I really enjoyed reading Bowen’s book. I enjoyed his workshop even more…hopefully his book, this blog post, and the other links (which I will reshare below) encourage more dialogue about the use of technology to support teaching and learning activities!” Link Kate, Worchester Polytechnic Institute
“But Bowen doesn’t stop at merely making the case for taking technology out of the classroom. He also offers practical advice to faculty on how to compensate for the missing technology with improved lecture styles and techniques.” Link Tim Goral, Editor-in-Chief, of University Business
“This is one of the most exciting books I have read in a long time. I could not stop sharing quotes from it with my wife (also an educator), while reading it. It provides incredible insight and foresight in a fresh and bold analysis of what we could be doing and should be doing with technology in higher education.” Professor L. Dee Fink, author of Creating Significant Learning Experiences
“This is an important book. Everyone who is concerned about the future of higher education should read it. In a highly readable and lively style, Bowen makes the most intelligent argument I’ve encountered about how we should think about teaching and learning and emerging technologies. It is also a powerful guide to more effective teaching and deeper learning.” Professor Ken Bain, author of What the Best College Teachers Doand Provost, University of the District of Columbia
“Teaching Naked is a persuasive proposal for using technology outside the classroom to free up time inside the classroom for more meaningful student-faculty interaction. Insightful and provocative, it is filled with practical advice for teachers, administrators, and institutions on how to navigate the revolutionary present in order to remain relevant for the future.” Professor Elizabeth Barkley, author of Student Engagement Techniques and Collaborative Learning Techniques
Reviews of Teaching Naked Techniques
“Modeling creative educational practice on every page, Bowen and Watson have given higher education faculty and leaders a spectacularly useful guide to student learning in the age of digital innovation and learning research. Focusing firmly on the big picture goals of a liberal and liberating education, the authors show readers, step-by-step, how to help novice college students become engaged, motivated, integrative, adaptive and even voracious learners. While any faculty member will find this book enormously helpful as a guide to designing an effective course, I strongly hope that it will be used at the program, department, and institutional level. Higher education urgently needs a redesign of students’ educational pathways to better support both engagement and deep learning. This book shows both why creative educational redesign—across the curriculum and co-curriculum– is urgently needed and how innovative faculty across the U.S are starting to make it happen.” Carol Geary Schneider, Fellow, Lumina Foundation and President Emerita, Association of American Colleges and Universities(AAC&U)
“Teaching Naked Techniques masterfully integrates pedagogy and technology. Saving you days of research, it identifies novel online resources for students’ first-exposure assignments and software for developing your own videos, podcasts, quizzes, games, and other learning activities. And what could be more helpful than the step-by-step application guide, examples, key concepts/summary, and annotated resources that each chapter provides?” Linda B. Nilson, Ph.D., director emeritus, Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation, Clemson University
“In Teaching Naked Techniques you have as rich a resource for assisting higher education teachers in how to improve their course design, transform their ideas about what makes a successful teacher and most importantly, how to improve students’ learning as has been written in a generation. The book guides the reader in how to design highly effective learner centered courses that optimize the opportunities for students to be successful learners. It includes real world examples from college instructors on how they have implemented the ideas the authors put forth in each chapter. Whether you are just beginning your teaching career or are a thirty year veteran you owe it to your students to read this remarkable book.” Terry Doyle, author of Learner Centered Teaching and co-author of The New Science of Learning, and Professor Emeritus, Ferris State University
“The authors provide a variety of fascinating, research-based strategies for teachers to use in enlivening their classes. Every teacher would profit from reading this book. I highly recommend it.” Henry L. Roediger, III, James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor, Washington University in St. Louis
“Jose Antonio Bowen’s Teaching Naked helped college faculty think more creatively and strategically about the role that technology should—and should not—play in their course design, classroom practices, and communications with students. Teaching Naked Techniques, a welcome companion to the original, provides updated research on the original premise, provocative new ideas about effective teaching for today’s students, and a wealth of teaching tips from instructors in a wide range of disciplines. The book offers an excellent blend of theory, practical techniques, and resources for teaching faculty.” James M. Lang, Ph.D., Professor of English and Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, Assumption College
Reviews of Teaching Change
“This timely, remarkable, and welcome book offers advice to stem the decline in how we teach in our schools and colleges. Bowen articulates fundamental principles about what learning and teaching should be in the twenty-first century. This book’s clear insights and advice will benefit faculty and administrators as well as students and parents. It speaks directly and without condescension, in plain language, about how we can achieve excellence and equity in education.” Leon Botstein, President, Bard College
“Teaching Change is an essential book for college instructors. Bowen tackles critical questions about the purpose of education, arguing that the goal is to bring about change. This book is grounded in theory and research while simultaneously brimming with practical suggestions for designing and developing instruction that facilitates student learning.” Claire Howell Major, University of Alabama, coauthor of Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty
“In an age of increasing polarization and partisanship, educating for democracy is more critical than ever. José Bowen provides a roadmap for fostering the habits of heart and mind necessary for students to think independently and discern the truth, while preparing them for success in work, citizenship, and life.”Lynn Pasquerella, President, Association of American Colleges and Universities
“Everyone changes as they go through life, but the changes are often not the ones that are needed and are frequently the result of external forces rather than internal monitoring and value-based decisions. This book provides readers with a valuable guide for making self-directed changes in their own lives and for helping students develop this same important life skill.” Professor L. Dee Fink, author of Creating Significant Learning Experiences
“A timely, pragmatic book that will assist educators and students alike as we deal with change and ask critical questions like, “How will I live my life?” and “How will my decisions change my family, community, and society?” Teaching Change will yield a long-lasting impact in the classroom and our students’ lives.” Juan Gonzalez, Former VP Student Affairs Georgetown, UT-Austin, ASU, UCSD
“A pleasure to read.” Betsy O. Barefoot, Gardner Institute, coauthor of The Undergraduate Experience: Focusing Institutions on What Matters Most