Teaching Strategies and Techniques

students do not like group work

“We Don’t Want to Work in Groups”

If students don’t come right out and say they don’t want to work in groups, the nonverbal message comes through loud and clear. “Get together with those sitting near you. I’ve got something I want you to work on as a group.” Some students stretch

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active learning in the online classroom

Active Learning for Asynchronous Online Learners

Active learning improves student performance and increases enthusiasm for learning. But despite its known benefits, active learning can be challenging to implement for asynchronous online learners. The most popular active learning techniques—such as think-pair-share, audience polling, and game-based learning—center around students working together in a

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brief writing exercises

Strategies to Engage Students in Writing to Think

We often think of writing as a reflection of finished thinking, whether it be via a term paper, final exam, or other culminating project. However, writing is also a powerful tool for thinking, to help students construct meaning and to deepen their understandings of complex

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creating better online videos to boost student learning

Transforming Your Lectures into Online Videos

When I was asked to create an online course 20 years ago, I simply transcribed my face-to-face lectures into 10–15 page Word documents that I posted in our LMS. Don’t ask me how my students managed to get through them.

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students who participate too much

When Students Participate Too Much

At a workshop not so long ago, we were talking about the over-participator problem—you know, those two or three students who would happily answer every question or express their opinion whenever one is needed. We talked about why it’s a problem. How the rest of

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why do we ask questions in class

Why Do We Ask Questions?

It makes me cringe when I ask a question and a student responds with, “I’m not sure if this is the answer you want, but…” Somehow students have the impression that our sole purpose for asking a question is to find someone to give us

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OER textbooks - faculty adoption

Getting Faculty to Adopt Open Educational Resources

It is no secret that the cost of textbooks has skyrocketed over the past years, with students spending on average around a thousand dollars a year on textbooks (Meyer, 2016). It should thus come as no surprise that the majority of students have opted out

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learning technologies

Technologies for Serving Different Learning Needs

Just as all students are different, so are all instructors. We need to ensure we are implementing instructional technology tools that fit our teaching style, availability, and technology skill level. If any instructor wishes to incorporate a new technology tool, it is vital we first

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online learning tools - Softchalk

How to Add Interactivity to Your Online Courses

Faculty across disciplines have been increasingly embracing online learning, with the goal of enhancing student learning. The intention is good, but it doesn’t always produce the desired outcomes. Much of the traditional online content lacks interactivity and fails to engage students.

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