• Dan gives his backstory
• Dan tells us why he decided to study how college works
• Dan shares the funding he got to do this 10-year project
• Dan shares the methods he used to do the study
• Dan shares the challenges involved in doing this study
• Dan shares the most surprising takeaways from the study
• Dan unpacks the one sentence that really explains the essence of the book’s findings
• Dan talks about how colleges should deploy teachers
• Dan talks about the misunderstandings about introductory classes
• Dan talks about the importance of physical space
• Dan tells us what he regards as the worst idea in higher ed in the last 25 years
• Daniel talks about the disconnect between how professors think and how students think
• Dan talks about the importance of your peer group
• Dan talks about ideas colleges can do to bring students together
• Dan talks about Living Learning Communities
• Dan talks about Honors Colleges
• Dan talks about what he learned from studying world-class competitive swimmers
• Dan talks about the importance of focusing on having great experiences at the start of the college experience
• Dan talks about orientation programs
• Dan talks about the disconnect between how professors feel versus how students think when it comes to fun, and the students’ social lives
• Dan talks about affinity groups
• Dan explains what he means by the importance of the arithmetic of engagement
• Dan talks about the importance of mentorship, but he talks about what works and what doesn’t work
• Dan talks about the importance of spaces, including architecture
• Dan talks about the importance of high-contact activities
• Dan talks about what he learned from the Hamilton school choir, from sports teams, and from certain dormitories
• Dan talks about the importance of keeping your social and academic options open
• Dan talks about the importance of friendships
• Dan explains why he valued residential colleges
• Dan takes on some sacred cows and exposes the myths of several things that administrators often think are crucial for quality teaching and educational impact
• Listen to what Dan said about strategic plans, pedagogical innovation, and curriculum
• Dan talks about the importance of motivation
• Dan explains what you can do as a professor to bring out the best in students
• Dan talks about how those in student life have used his book, those in alumni life, Presidents, and by architecture firms, but he explains why the book didn’t resonate as much with professors
• Dan talks about how the concepts in the book were cost-neutral so that they could be applied
• Dan talks about how he applied the results of the book in his own teaching and how the book made him a much better professor
• Dan talks about the most important thing in college
• Dan goes on the hot seat in the lightning round, and he gets sincere and open with us
• Dan talks about a great book from a former student of his, called Creating a Class
• Dan talks about what he would write about if he had another book in him

You can also listen on Episode 573/a>, Episode 575, Episode 577, and Episode 579