We’ve all faced it—that moment when a meticulously planned lesson falls flat. You set the stage with clear objectives, a captivating PowerPoint, a class activity, discussion, and an in-class assignment. But during the activity, you notice blank stares and disengaged students. Then comes the dreaded
In recent years, many of my students have told me they feel bored, anxious, and lonely. Some explain that they often reach for their phones and scroll just to fill the silence. Listening to them, I’ve learned that this habit is not really about killing
“Are those handouts for us?” my student asked, gesturing toward the copies of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29 that I’d carried into class. “Nope,” I replied. “They’re for the Brit lit class that I teach after yours.” “Oh, OK.” he said, disappointedly.
I have been spouting off for over two decades in my general education (GE) courses that learning STEM helps students increase their earning potential, well-roundedness, and satisfaction from knowing things beyond their common sense. Unfortunately, these arguments have been falling on deaf ears since the
Like many of our peers, we are fortunate to work at an institution serving individuals from different ethnicities, nationalities, and cultural backgrounds. In this regard, many of us work on campuses with large international populations coming from all parts of the world. Such students
The first day of class is a big deal. Just as there is only one chance at love at first sight, teachers like us only have one chance to demonstrate of each class. As Sarah Rose Cavanagh (2016) writes, “On the first few days
Studies have demonstrated not only a strong correlation between student time devoted to academics and success but also that students spend less time studying than ever before (Brint & Cantwell, 2010). This is a problem in both face-to-face and online classes, but online courses offer
Connectedness and relationships are important for students’ learning experiences. But online instructors may be tempted to think it is too challenging to fully engage all of their students. How can instructors whet their students’ appetites and keep them coming back for more? In this article,
Online faculty tend to assume that all student communication needs to go through the learning management system (LMS). But the LMS is not designed for the more spontaneous synchronous chat that you might get in a campus hallway or coffee shop, where someone might say,
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, relatively few instructors had used web-based conferencing for teaching and learning. With the shift in the spring of 2020, many instructors suddenly found themselves teaching online courses, and many others found themselves teaching onsite with some students using videoconferencing to
