Why do students come to class? We may hope it’s for the love of learning, because of our inspirational teaching, or because they know it will help them get jobs or live happier lives in the long run. Of course, these are not the common
Learning management systems (LMSs) are, on one level, another space—beyond the classroom—to “interface” with students, both cognitively and metacognitively. They are spaces, as Merriam-Webster defines the noun interface, where “independent and often unrelated systems meet and act on or communicate with each other”—a function that
Nearly all educational apps have incorporated AI in some way to enhance their functionality, and many new educational AI apps have emerged over the past year. This plethora of choices can leave teachers bewildered as to what to choose, but now we are starting to
The Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) Framework (Winkelmes, 2012, 2016) provides a helpful way to inform and communicate choices about using generative AI tools in higher education. Educators who engage their students in reciprocal, transparent communication about the purposes, processes, and criteria around their
If we named the purposes of college, chief among them would be ideas surrounding the transfer of knowledge and content delivery. This is accurate but incomplete. A more exhaustive list of college goals would also include growth and transformation. Change happens all around, and within,
Higher education has traditionally taught from theory to practice. Students first learn the underlying principles of a subject, such as the forces that determine bridge load, and then apply those principles to examples. But this is not the only way to teach. Socrates taught in
Two truths and a lie is a popular social icebreaker game. In case you aren’t familiar with it, this is the way it goes. Each person thinks of three statements about themselves, two of which are true and one of which is a lie. It
“How do we know students are earning the degrees we confer?”
That question, which a board member at my university recently posed, is deceptively simple, yet it strikes at the heart of our work as educators. And in an era where generative AI tools are
How should we respond when students complain about their professors—aka our colleagues?
Facilitating experiential learning is central to my teaching philosophy. As an instructor of application-based coursework, I continually seek ways to help students engage deeply with course material and explore practical avenues for applying it within their field of study. Research has shown that application-based and
