I found a nice set of online discussion activities that strike me as good in-class discussion activities as well. One of the reasons discussion so often fails or doesn’t realize much of its potential is the absence of structure. The discussion is too open-ended. It
A recent classroom observation reminded me that student participation can be encouraged and supported by attention to small but important presentational details. In this article I have highlighted these details in the form of questions, and I hope that you’ll use them to reflect on
I’ve been thinking lately about the relationship between what we teach and how we teach. Part of that relationship is pretty obvious: If you teach something with problems to solve, you spend time problem-solving when you teach. If you teach a skill (like writing or
In the July 10, 2013 post, I shared some ideas about learning with students precipitated by an article that made an interesting distinction between “doing for” students and “learning with” students. The post generated some good responses and prompted Aron Reppmann, a philosophy professor at
The University of Wisconsin’s Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning is a good place to keep abreast of current trends in distance education. This year the two hottest topics were open education and mobile learning.
At the University of Wisconsin’s Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning, Francesca Catalano, associate professor and faculty director of STEM at the American Public University System, offered several ways to engage students in the discussion board.
Gary Ackerman, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Mount Wachusett Community College, works with faculty to incorporate active learning into their online and face-to-face courses, and while there are differences in these learning environments, active learning can be implemented just as well
We’ve heard a lot about the “flipped classroom” lately. The premise makes perfect sense. The traditional classroom devotes class time to pushing content to the student, while the student engages that content outside class as “homework.” The problem is that if the student encounters problems
Educators need to understand international students’ challenges in online classrooms. Both language and cultural differences influence how well they can fit in U.S. universities. To promote international students’ academic success in online classrooms, faculty should not only focus on teaching their subject matter knowledge, but
The multicultural classroom is found in nearly every online course. It blends students from a variety of cultures, resulting in a rich and diverse learning environment. Some students may use English as a second language (ESL) or English as an additional language (EAL), while others
