Teaching is Deciding: University Teaching Beyond the Methos

TEACHING IS DECIDING
UNIVERSITY TEACHING BEYOND METHOD

Teaching is Deciding is grounded in a simple conviction: university teaching cannot be reduced to the application of methods, techniques, or recipes. Teaching involves interpreting contexts, assuming responsibilities, making decisions, and sustaining them through a particular understanding of learning, knowledge, and the university itself.

This book is an invitation to view teaching as a complex and deeply human professional practice. It does not seek to offer yet another method; rather, it aims to open a conversation about what we do when we teach, what assumptions we make, and how the decisions we take shape our everyday practice.

It is written primarily for university educators, programme leaders, academic managers, and anyone interested in thinking about teaching beyond innovation as a slogan or methodology as a universal solution.

The book is freely available under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-SA).

READ THE BOOK

You can download the complete book free of charge here:

Download Teaching is Deciding

Reference

Castañeda, L. (2026). Enseñar es decidir. La docencia universitaria más allá del método. LMI Collection – Transmedia XXI. Universitat de Barcelona. https://hdl.handle.net/2445/229777

At the moment, the book is only available in Spanish. Over time, I hope this page will evolve and perhaps include translations or complementary materials in other languages.

If the topic interests you, you may find that machine translation tools do a surprisingly good job of helping you read it. Or, if you are feeling adventurous, this might even be a reason to practise a little Spanish.

LISTEN TO THE AUDIOBOOK

I have also recorded an audiobook version, chapter by chapter, for those who prefer listening.

Listen to the audiobook on my website

It is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iVoox.

THE CENTRAL IDEA

This book starts with a simple question: what does it really mean to teach at university?

For years, we have discussed methodologies, techniques, technologies, and innovations. Yet much of teaching consists of something both simpler and more demanding: making decisions. Decisions about what to teach, why, with whom, under what conditions, and with what consequences.

From this perspective, the book proposes understanding university teaching as a professional practice grounded in judgement, responsibility, and informed decision-making.

MATERIALS AND CONVERSATIONS

I will try to gather here materials related to the book: presentations, interviews, reviews, posts, and resources that may help continue the conversation about university teaching.

CITING THE BOOK