Students are overwhelmingly positive about the value of racial and ethnic diversity, with white students being the most positive about it. Surprisingly, only about 20 percent of that learning occurred in the classroom, while 80 percent occurred in residence halls and while pursuing group activities such as rehearsals for theater or dance performances. Light hopes that high school and college students will read his book and pick up information that will help them to make the most of their academic careers. But he also has a lot of advice for professors. Light suggests that these papers simply summarize the main point of a lecture or discussion, raise any questions the student may have, and be anonymous, to relieve the pressure to perform that many students feel.
Teams can then present their sides in class, generating discussion, debate, and learning.
Students should present papers to their classroom peers, rather than simply submitting them to a professor, because they work harder and think more critically when their papers are for an audience of fellow students. Then came that call from Derek Bok in 1986. After a short discussion in which they realized that no one at Harvard was assessing the effectiveness of undergraduate teaching, Bok offered to put up some seed money and Light formed the Harvard Assessment Seminars. The idea was not just to offer suggestions for better teaching and advising, but to make sure those ideas were generated from solid data. Eventually, Light also enlisted students to conduct interviews and interpret them.