I teach a lot of 100-level courses—the kind all students need to take from multiple disciplines to satisfy general education requirements. Often these courses are full of college first-years, but I’ve discovered that, whatever year they are, students harbor deep misconceptions about how learning works.
Faculty are increasingly using open educational resources (OER) to reduce textbook costs for students. But many faculty limit themselves to textbooks when in reality there are OER in nearly all formats, including videos, images, and complete lesson plans. Here are some of the best places
On a recent walk across campus, I ran into a student who had taken my class last year. She is Latina and a first-generation student who I remembered being politically outspoken in class and a fierce advocate for immigrant rights. I asked how she was
In teaching, unaddressed countertransference has profound implications for educators and students alike. Consider the story of my past student who experienced heart-wrenching life circumstances during the semester: He lost both parents and became the primary caregiver for his younger siblings. Naturally, his GPA fell significantly
The asynchronous nature of online learning makes it hard for students to develop a structured schedule since they lack the built-in class times of traditional courses. Additionally, online education attracts many nontraditional adult learners who juggle numerous responsibilities, further straining their schedules.
Just ahead of the spring semester’s start, I received an email from a colleague who had been on a yearlong sabbatical, and the subject read, “Returning, somewhat trembling, to that brave new world.” The body of the email went on to acknowledge the growth of
Over 40 years of teaching, I’ve been to enough departmental grading norming sessions and scoring workshops to notice that not even English teachers agree on exactly what the term grammar means. For example, some of my colleagues get really bent out of shape when a
Student success in online course discussion assignments depends on not only understanding the learning material but also developing fundamental academic skills needed for future course success. While online instructors often create videos focused on course content, and institutions might provide general skill-building resources or access
What is the best way for teachers to develop student expertise in a subject area? Currently, there are two competing schools of thought. One school, which I will refer to as inquiry-based instruction, believes that pedagogy should prioritize teaching conceptual understanding using complex problems so
Group work is a fixture in college courses, with faculty using it for any number of reasons: to promote engaged learning, to prepare students for future work in their careers and communities, and even to reduce grading load. In thinking about how to ensure that
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