As we prepare for the Spring semester to begin on Monday, January 10, it is a great time to take another look at the student evaluations you have received for the last few semesters. This is especially useful if you are teaching the same subject. I am reading an interesting book by Richard Light called Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds. It is a phenomenological study of how students at Harvard experienced college. Many of the anecdotes are filled with practical advice. I will share more as the read progresses. This will be the third semester that the ACES Fellows have been implementing changes by using active and collaborative teaching methods in their classrooms. As we have discussed in previous blog posts, the data show that the program is making a difference both from a student and faculty perspective. We will share more of the successes from the second semester as they arrive. Convergence is the new interdisciplinary. Advances in medicine and biotechnology -- from the sequencing of the human genome to the development of small chips to detect cancer in the bloodstream -- were driven largely by scientists coming together from diverse disciplines to work on common problems. Convergence is more than simply bringing together experts in two or more disciplines to swap insights; it is an exchange of mindsets. It sounds like the scientists are adopting active and collaborative methods for their research endeavors. Are your students taking the right notes in class? If not, it may be because you are giving them the wrong cues according to research by Mark Huxham. Looking forward to Monday!