Last blog about participation, at least for a while, I promise.
Here’s a view that, according to researchers, was repeatedly expressed during interviews. “Students, as consumers, have purchased the right to choose a passive role if they wish. To make them uncomfortable by requiring they participate in discussion was deemed an unreasonable expectation by many of [...]
Archive for July, 2009
Buying the Passive Role
Posted Thursday, July 30th, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerReasons to Participate and Reasons Not to
Posted Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 by Maryellen Weimer
I’m still working on updating my resources on participation and discovering useful findings. Here’s a study where 10 sessions of 16 different classes were observed and the teacher-student interactions recorded. More than half the students in those classes did not participate in any of the 10 sessions observed.
In response to survey questions, students said [...]
Tenure Standards: A Survey of Department Chairs
Posted Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerA survey of almost 400 department chairs inquired about tenure standards at BA, MA, and PhD granting institutions. It asked about a number of issues related to tenure standards and explored (once again) the relative worth of teaching and research.
A Review of Participation Research
Posted Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerI’m preparing some materials related to participation. It’s given me cause to reread some of the research on participation in the college classroom. Although not particularly uplifting, I thought you too, might benefit from a brief review of some of the findings.
A Robust Discipline-Based Pedagogical Journal
Posted Thursday, July 16th, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerMy latest discovery is a new journal that published its inaugural issue in 2007. It is a discipline-based pedagogical periodical, Advances in Engineering Education. Its mission is to disseminate “significant, proven innovations” in engineering education.
Sustaining Excellence
Posted Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerYou don’t remain an excellent teacher by wanting to be one in some amorphous, generic kind of way. Certainly, motivation is needed to drive the efforts, but the required efforts are specific.
Can Students Accurately Self Assess?
Posted Thursday, July 9th, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerCan students accurately assess their work? Most of us would say no with some conviction. But could they accurately evaluate their work under conditions that separated the grade they’d like to receive from the one they think their work deserves? A study in Great Britain found that they could.
Knitting Teacher
Posted Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerEvery teacher aspires for her students to learn and perform well. And in theory every teacher endorses the idea that some students will excel, might come to know as much as the teacher, maybe, after years of dedicated work, even know more than the teacher. But when a student leapfrogs right over the teacher, acquiring the skills and knowledge with such speed and ease, it does test one’s commitment to that theory.