Faculty Reading Community

Overview

Open to all full time faculty, the Faculty Reading Community (FRC) is an opportunity to join Center for Teaching and Learning Educational Development staff for sustained cross-disciplinary conversation on critical topics in teaching and learning. Participants engage in pedagogical conversation revolving around a chapter or group of chapters from a recently published book on teaching and learning. Books are chosen for a combination of their practical advice, evidence-based strategies, and wide applicability to a variety of disciplines. Advanced registration for this reading community is required and registration is limited each semester.

Spring 2026 Faculty Reading Community

Registration is now open!

The featured book for the Spring 2026 Faculty Reading Community will be Productive Failure: Unlocking Deeper Learning Through the Science of Failing by Manu Kapur. From the publisher’s website:

Written by a leading global expert on human cognition, productive failure, and learning methods, Productive Failure shows you how to design the experience of failing. Research shows that repeated experiences of intriguing, constructive failure can help students (and our own children, and anyone else we lead) develop creativity and learn more deeply. When carefully curated, failure can become a signal for learning, not the noise detracting from it. The result? Learners gain a lifelong readiness to push themselves outside of their comfort zones, using setbacks as launchpads for learning and innovation.

The evidence-based principles in this book are powerful, not only in formal schooling contexts, but also for anyone taking charge of and designing their own lifelong learning. From learning a new language or skill to setting up goals that push you past your limits, this book unpacks the science of Productive Failure and describes design principles—and specific strategies built upon them—that let you harness Productive Failure for your own benefit.

• Learn and understand the science of failure
• Apply the research-based Productive Failure framework in classrooms, teams, groups, and organizational settings
• Learn techniques like retrieval practice, generative problem-solving, motivational hacking, culture building, and so on to deepen learning experiences
• Reach new levels of critical thinking, innovation, and success by making failure the norm, not the exception, and learning how to cope with it

This fascinating and actionable book is a must for educators, parents, managers, leaders, and anyone who needs to help others (or themselves) learn how to learn.

Participants are required to attend 4 of 5 meetings. Faculty will receive a print copy of the book courtesy of the CTL. Seats are limited.

Meeting Mode and Time:

The FRC will meet in person at 1PM on the following Fridays:

• Jan. 30th, 2026
• Feb. 13th, 2026
• Feb. 27th, 2026
• March 27th, 2026
• April 10th, 2026
• April 24th, 2026

Our meeting room will be on the Danforth campus and will be announced soon.

The Spring 2026 reading community will be facilitated by Natalie Monzyk, Assistant Director of Educational Technology.

For questions about the Faculty Reading Community, please contact Natalie (monzykn@wustl.edu).

Books Used in Prior Semesters

• Fall 2025: The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI by Tricia Bertram Gallant and David A. Rettinger
• Summer 2025: The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformational Teaching by Elizabeth A. Norell
• Spring 2025: A Pedagogy of Kindness by Catherine Denial
• Fall 2024: Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto by Kevin Gannon
• Spring 2024: Grading for Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practices that Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education by David Clark and Robert Talbert
• Spring 2023: Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom by Kelly A. Hogan and Viji Sathy
• Fall 2022: Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College by Peter Felten and Leo M. Lambert
• July 2022: Promoting Inclusive Classroom Dynamics in Higher Education: A Research-Based Pedagogical Guide for Faculty by Kathryn C. Oleson
• Spring 2022: Connected Teaching: Relationship, Power, and Mattering in Higher Education by Harriot Schwartz
• Fall 2021: Small Teaching: Every Day Lessons from the Science of Learning (Second Edition) by James Lang
• August 2021: What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching by Addy et al.
• Spring 2021: Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It by James Lang
• Fall 2020: Intentional Tech: Principles to Guide the Use of Educational Technology in College Teaching by Derek Bruff
• Spring 2020:How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching by Josh Eyler
• Fall 2019: Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning by James Lang
• Spring 2019: Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, and Mark McDaniel

For more information on the Faculty Reading Community or to suggest a book, please contact the CTL at ctl@wustl.edu.