College educators who seek to reflect seriously on the practice of teaching and to improve it have few comprehensive resources to draw from. Many publications focus on a singular aspect of teaching, the documenting of teaching practices for summative evaluation, or a particular learning theory. Phil Race's The Lccturer's Toolkit attempts to provide a more integrative and practical guide to enhancing student learning through good theory and practice. While some subjects within the book (also available in an expanded loose-leaf notebook version appropriate for institutional purchase and workshops) are focused on needs specific to teaching in the UK, most of the material is directly applicable to the needs of educators in American institutions. Topics covered in the book include integrated theories of learning, feedback and assessment of student learning, improving lectures, small-group teaching, using written and Internet resources effectively in the learning process, and faculty self-care and development.

One of the most attractive features of this book is that it is grounded in both cognitive and behavioral learning theories. The author integrates the two perspectives into a model of learning that is holistic and devoid of abstract jargon. Race's model of learning identifies four core student learning needs (wanting/needing to learn; doing; digesting; and feedback) and their links to each other. The college teacher can use this model to help diagnose an existing course for "missing links," to aid in the development of a new course or unit within a course, and to improve lecturing and student assessment.

As a complement to the model of core student learning needs, the author discusses the nature of student competency and the goal of developing "conscious" competence in students (educators need to help students recognize the competencies they do have, and to become aware of "uncompetence" that students have not recognized). As the author states, "[t]he more we can help students to be aware of their competencies, the better their motivation. In other words, conscious competence links to the wanting to learn factor. It breeds competence." Helping students recognize their acquired competencies, then, becomes a way of increasing student motivation. Race suggests the need for developing assignments and tests that emphasize the process of learning, feedback, and formative assessment in addition to the more standard kinds of summative assessment. Race's chapter on assessment and feedback offers ways for educators to focus on these goals while simultaneously managing the workload involved in giving helpful feedback to students and helping students' skills in self-assessment. The author offers guidelines for evaluating the appropriateness of a wide range of assignments, from traditional and open-book exams to papers, presentations and poster displays, and work-based learning.

Race's discussion of how to embody good teaching practices in large classroom lectures invites the educator to consider the four core learning needs of students and their implications. The lecture format is often understood to be limiting in particular because it does not allow students to engage in active learning or in practicing what they are learning. These kinds of concerns can be addressed by lecturers if they are willing to modify what actually occurs during a lecture so that at least some of the elements focus on student tasks. There are also helpful sections on producing overheads and hand-outs that are sensitive to the learning needs of students. Similar strategies are offered for working in small-group settings and in particular for facilitating small group processes. Ideas for "icebreakers," managing conflict, and sensitivity to gender dynamics are also discussed.

Race's book offers sound advice for new teachers or for more experienced teachers wishing to update or review their teaching practices. Many of the suggestions are quite practical. The model of learning needs and the discussion of competencies offer intellectual tools that could be useful for the individual teacher or for faculty development groups. While the author discusses factors that affect student motivation to learn, the author is less sensitive to the question of what factors affect faculty motivations for improving their own teaching. Later chapters in the book often read as lists of "pros and cons" or as lists of techniques and tips, and fail to engage this reader. In addition, the comprehensiveness of the book is almost a detriment in that it offers so much in the form of advice that one can become lost seeking for where to start or what to focus on. If the reader can take the models offered in the early sections of the book and begin a reflective practice based on a few principles rather than on a series of tips, then it may prove useful, particularly in a group context where colleagues can use Race's ideas as a framework for formatively assessing and critiquing each others' assignments and syllabi.

Karin E. Peterson
UNC Asheville