I often wear sunglasses on my walk from my parking spot on campus to my office. I recently realized that when I have them on, I am seeing but not really seeing. The shaded lenses provide a buffer from the world. I stroll by a
Do people learn in the same way or different ways? According to cognitive science, the answer is the former. There are general principles of learning that apply to everyone, such as the importance of attention and the value of good learning strategies like spacing and
Note to readers: This essay is more than words on a page; it’s a voyage into the most tender recesses of my heart. As I penned these lines, I laid bare emotions typically veiled, not in pursuit of validation but to foster a moment of
Current global events, including a rise in nationalistic rhetoric, have put pressure on faculty from all disciplines to be able to facilitate discussions without disenfranchising or excluding any students. I’ve been teaching discussion-based courses for 25 years, and my own methods have evolved and grown,
If we weigh our educational systems in terms of communication instruction, we find that almost all of the formal attention is given to teaching reading and writing, some is given to speaking and almost none is paid to listening. -Ralph Nichols and Leonard Stephens, Are
As I gave one of my international students feedback at my desk, I noticed he stood too close for my comfort. I inched away from him, and in response, he moved closer. We did this until I could move no further and had to
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
I teach psychology to students who are largely from rural and low-income areas. In my courses we discuss a wide range of topics that have the potential for controversy, such as sexuality and gender, best parenting practices, racism and implicit bias, and the neuroscientific
This article first appeared in The Best of the 2022 Teaching Professor Online Conference (Magna Publications, 2023).
Belonging describes the human emotional need to experience acceptance from a group. As a psychosocial concept, belonging or feeling “part of” allows individuals to develop self-concept or
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
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