Ending Strong: Considerations for Your Last Day of Class
Regan A. R. Gurung
December 4, 2023
Does your class end with a bang or a whimper?
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
The rapid rise of livestream content development and consumption has been nothing short of remarkable. According to Ceci (2022), 126.7 million users in the United States viewed livestreaming content on mobile devices in 2019; the same year, 23 percent of Americans livestreamed content themselves. In
There are dozens of teaching methods that a teacher might use, but instead of emphasizing their differences, I want to focus on what they have in common. These are practices that all teaching methods value. Used correctly, they are universal components of effective teaching. I
The asynchronous discussion forum greatly improved the breadth and depth of discussion that is possible in a class. Whereas face-to-face class discussion is mostly students talking to the instructor, the LMS discussion forum facilitated student conversations with one another.
Like so many other professors, I’ve noticed that student engagement is lower now than it was even five years ago. Students are skipping class, skipping assignments, and getting AI to do their reading and writing for them in ever-increasing numbers. When I sign in to
The increasing prevalence of stress and overload among students in higher education continues to be a point of concern for educators, administrators, and mental health professionals alike. In this essay, I will first discuss the core elements
This article appears in The Best of the 2023 Teaching Professor Conference (Magna Publications, 2023).
All the world’s a stage—particularly your seated, online, or hybrid classroom, where slides can set the scene, provide drama, and sing backing vocals. Unfortunately, many faculty matriculated in an era when
