Abstract
Over the last decade, I have invested my energies seeking to address two questions: "What differentiates the very best learners from those who achieve less than their talents suggest they could?" "How can I learn to structure and guide students' learning to enhance the capacity for excellence in their personal, professional, and civic lives while we enjoy the process?" In my ongoing quest to answer these questions, I have learned that a triumvirate of approaches - teaching, assessment, and curriculum design - represent powerful tools to scaffold students' learning and engagement. This presentation outlines some of the ways we might focus our and our learner's pursuit of excellence. The principles I will outline represent goals towards which academics may strive to enhance the quality of students' learning and expertise. The aspirational goal of this presentation focuses on establishing practices designed to ensure learners can achieve more than their talents suggest they could.