Technology has allowed online educators to upgrade their teaching material from pages of text to media formats with images, videos, and interactions. But the syllabus generally remains a text-only document. Now some educators are working to bring the syllabus in line with the rest of
A few years ago, while reviewing a student’s feedback on one of my course evaluations, I came across a profound observation. The student described the class, like many science courses, as “stoic,” yearning for more humanity in the learning experience. It struck a chord with
Educators all want teaching to progress, but right now there are two contrary definitions of progress. I call one form of progress transactional teaching and the other transformative teaching, and they are pulling teaching in opposing directions. Let me explain what I mean.
“Presence” has become a major buzzword in online teaching circles. Authors and speakers repeatedly champion methods and technologies meant to improve instructor presence in the online classroom. But what types of activities best improve instructor presence in students’ eyes, and what do they value? Sharon
An ancient practice that has been adapted to modern times, meditation has a variety of definitions. The Tibetan word for meditation, gom, literally means “to become familiar with,” as with the mind (our thoughts, states of mind, emotions). Meditation methods generally take two forms: focused
Love ’em or hate ’em, student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are here to stay. Parts one and two of this series explored discussing SETs’ bias in the classroom; here, in the final installment, I offer three not-so-obvious ways to put your students’ feedback to work.
Does your class end with a bang or a whimper?
Since January, I have led multiple faculty development sessions on generative AI for faculty at my university. Attitudes from faculty at these events have ranged from concerned to frustrated, overwhelmed to worried, as well as a sense of grim resignation (to be fair, there were
The ubiquitous cell phone and laptop have made student chat a common part of live classes, much to the consternation of instructors. Not only does it distract the teacher, but studies prove the common-sense intuition that distractions undermine learning (Blasiman et al., 2018). But a
Faculty have recently been bombarded with a dizzying array of apps, platforms, and other widgets that may or may not be the Next Big Thing in college education. Though such novel technologies deserve attention, our aim here is to delve into a
