ABSTRACT

Teaching and Learning the West Point Way is a unique compendium of the best teaching and learning practices from one of the most celebrated and storied undergraduate teaching and learning environments and institutions in America – the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, USA.

Drawing on the broad academic curriculum that the students follow at West Point – in addition to military leadership, character development, and competitive athletics – this book describes proven and effective undergraduate pedagogy across a number of academic disciplines. Case studies, strategies and techniques, empirical teaching and learning research results, syllabi, and assignments developed and deployed by West Point faculty are included, which faculty in other higher education institutions can adapt and apply to their own programs and courses. An accompanying companion website provides additional syllabi, course guides, lesson plans, PowerPoint activities, and lecture slides, as well as videos of the editors and authors discussing how key concepts in their chapters might be applied in different teaching and learning contexts.

This is an opportunity to gain an in-depth insight into the programs and practices inside one of the world’s premier leadership development and educational institutions. It should appeal to new and experienced faculty and administrators interested in course creation and syllabus design across a wide range of disciplines in educational institutions and military academies across the globe.

part |12 pages

Introduction

part |42 pages

Syllabi

chapter 1|8 pages

Military leadership

Purpose, direction, motivation

chapter 2|6 pages

Infrastructure engineering

Appreciating the art and science of our built environment

chapter 3|6 pages

Armed Forces and Society

Thank you for (y)our service

chapter 5|7 pages

Entrepreneurial leadership

Shark tank for warriors

chapter 6|5 pages

Officership

Developing professional knowledge, identity, and inspiration

part |44 pages

Assignments

chapter 7|8 pages

The ethics of AI in war

Digital trigger

chapter 12|9 pages

The Intellectual Giant Model of teaching

Sharpshoot, integrate, and apply

part |95 pages

Teaching notes

chapter 13|9 pages

Synthesizing art, language, and history

Creating empathetic leaders of character in the foreign language classroom

chapter 14|6 pages

Simulating combat modeling in engineering

My roommate was jealous

chapter 15|7 pages

Tapping feature films for classroom debates

Transformational or toxic leaders?

chapter 17|5 pages

Peer assessment and coaching

“As iron sharpens iron”

chapter 18|6 pages

Experiencing social class inequality

Modified monopoly 1

chapter 19|7 pages

Preparing students to lead productive discussions

Discuss till they drop

chapter 21|6 pages

Making leaders at the group level

The cadet company

chapter 22|6 pages

Teaching Russian political discourse

Classroom oral presentation and discussion

chapter 25|7 pages

Deliberately integrating teaching, learning, and assessment

The signature work of the West Point Writing Program

part |78 pages

Empirical articles

chapter 28|18 pages

Understanding positive change in academic performance

The most improved student

chapter 29|11 pages

Epistemic expressions of point of view in Russian

A sample system of classroom activities

part |41 pages

Interdisciplinary articles