Teachers of traditionally discussion-intensive courses can have a hard time translating their classes into an online format. Most courseware has only a forum module, and those may not structurally encourage the students to interact with each other much, for example with “reply” links and threaded
Trying to support students in an online course can create an unsustainable burden on the instructor. “I’ve heard faculty members say things such as, ‘When I first started teaching online, I drowned in my course. I was making myself available 24 hours/seven days a week.
I am on my way to speak at another professional development day at a college. I do these events with misgivings—frequently persuading myself on the way home that I really shouldn’t be doing them.
Some time ago, a colleague and I reviewed the literature on
Lots of good writing on the science of learning is coming out now and it’s needed. For too long we have known too little about learning—I won’t digress into the reasons why. We need to take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about this
I just taught a dear friend how to knit, and in doing so I revisited how very challenging it is to teach something you can do easily.
Knitting, like so many of the skills we teach, including concrete skills like running a lathe and
With the academic year nearly over and final exams upon us, it’s a good time to consider how we assess student knowledge in our courses. Cumulative finals are still used in many courses, but a significant number of faculty have backed away from them because
Four of us who teach four separate courses (statistics, English, reading, and College Success) met to discuss student PowerPoint presentations and how they could be improved. Based on our experiences, we identified these common problems: slides overloaded with words and data; students who read their
Goals for my First-Year Seminar students include proficiency with a host of study skills as well as course content based on what we call “learning about learning.” To support new college students in understanding what, exactly, learning is, my colleagues and I introduce a number
In “Calculating Final Course Grades: What About Dropping Scores or Offering a Replacement?” (The Teaching Professor March 2014), the editor notes that “some students … assume that course content is a breeze, [so] the first exam serve[s] as a wake-up call.” (p. 6) In two
Students have been known to do annoying things in class: they come late and leave early; they talk to each other but won’t answer teacher’s questions; they look at the teacher but with emotionless faces. Behaviors like these and others can get under a teacher’s
