Two of the most important developments in education over the past 10 years are (1) the emergence of digital tools that allow faculty to assign students new and interesting learning activities and (2) the proliferation of open educational resources (OER) to broaden access to
Discussion forums have brought both promise and disappointment to online educators. They promise to allow all students to lend their voice to a discussion without worry of being interrupted or slowing down the class. But they often degenerate into places where students repeat one
In the life of a professor, what’s more satisfying than a successful class discussion? A classroom abuzz with ideas, students who are energized and alert, sinking their teeth into the assigned material, riffing in surprising, productive ways. Isn’t this why we got into the
Brainstorming is a near ubiquitous means for groups to initiate planning for a project, whether in business or in class. The assumption is that by starting with a blank slate, asking people to throw out ideas without judgement, groups will get a wider range
Author note: This essay is meant to be a bit tongue in cheek. Just to be clear: I am not advocating for academic dishonesty.
Years ago, I was asked to address the new faculty at my institution and give advice about becoming good teachers.
The learning management system (LMS) discussion forum comes off as archaic and overly controlling to today’s students, who are used to working in a much richer social media environment. Whereas the LMS forum is designed for lengthy text comments, young people are used to
“How do I fill up four hours a week of class time?” At first, this exclamation from a first-year graduate student preparing to teach her first class seemed alien to my experienced teacher mindset. Perhaps I have long stopped thinking about how much time
The learning management system (LMS) transformed class discussion by introducing an asynchronous forum that allows each student to participate without the time limit of a live class. But it has become a bit long in the tooth as apps have made video many students’
As educators, we’ve often found that one of the greatest impediments to creativity in the classroom is, quite literally, the classroom. At a large public university, where class sizes of 80 students are on the smaller side, it can be hard to come to
If you’ve considered using virtual reality in your course but are daunted by the tech required, there is a simple version that requires nothing more than a smartphone and free online apps. Three-hundred-sixty-degree panorama images, the kind made famous by Google Street View, can
