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Decoding the Disciplines is a process for increasing student learning by narrowing the gap between expert and novice thinking. Beginning with the identification of bottlenecks to learning in particular disciplines, it seeks to make explicit the tacit knowledge of experts and to help students master the mental actions they need for success in particular courses. Decoding is not complete without Disrupting, which focuses on the bottlenecks of colonialism, racism, identity, bias—the hidden curriculum or issues that disciplines do not address, that make people uncomfortable, or that the people tend to turn away from.

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News Volume 18, number 3 (2025) of Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal, subtitled Advancements in Decoding the Disciplines has been published. Featured Decoding Work Five phases which commence group work Group activities are an integral part of teaching. Often they consist of tasks given to students in order to work on them collectively. However, it cannot be assumed that students consciously or subconsciously perform operations that allow them to get started with problem solving in group tasks (Full article ...) Did you know? When mathematicians think of limits, "approaching" has a very nuanced meaning - an amalgam of "dancing" and "getting closer."

Upcoming Events Mar 10, 2026: Decoding SIG online meeting on "Decoding Outside the SoTL Box: Is Decoding More than Scholarship" For details, future and past events see Events. Featured Bottlenecks Scope of formula: When using a mathematical formula students don’t check whether the prerequisites for the applicability of this formula apply. Students have difficulties distinguishing images like paintings from what they depict. Watch an instructor explaining this bottleneck "Artifice in representation." Students find it difficult to view Home as a constructed ideal. See also the list of bottlenecks collected in this wiki. Featured Publication How many sources do I need? is an award winning paper by Leah Shopkow. It covers the bottleneck of identifying sources for a History paper.