Suggestions and opinions for ways to improve the quality of higher education is not a new discussion topic. Different scholars, studies and projects suggest different strategies for improving higher education. Paul Basken and Kevin Carey are two known researchers and writers who have ideas of why higher education needs improvement and strategies for bringing about […]
Continue Reading February 7th, 2009
The idea of a college administrator or professor enrolling as an undergraduate student or even living in college dorms is uncommon, but both events have happened. In 2004 Roger Martin, former Harvard University Dean and President of Randolph-Macon College, enrolled himself as a college freshman at St. John’s College. Rebekah Nathan, a university professor at […]
Continue Reading January 30th, 2009
A recent string of ideas came across the Lilly Conference on College Teaching listserv recently. Here is a sampling of some ideas you can try in your large lecture class to remember students’ names: From L. Dee Fink (author of a great book – Creating Significant Learning Experiences): …(L)earning names is extremely helpful but challenging […]
Continue Reading January 20th, 2009
As the semester is about to begin, it’s time to think about the most important day of the entire semester… the first day of class. The first day of class sets the tone for the entire semester. While most of us plan to simply go over the syllabus, there are other things that we can […]
Continue Reading January 9th, 2009
Lecture, arguably, is the most common method of teaching in higher education. It is not uncommon to walk into any classroom and find students can be busy trying to keep notes on what their instructor is saying. In the latest issue of Science, Eric Mazur, a physics professor at Harvard University, offers his own perspective on […]
Continue Reading January 6th, 2009
A group of several BGSU instructors, from tenured professors to a graduate teaching assistant, attended the “Science of Learning” discussion session last Friday. The discussion centered on Diane Halpern’s keynote from earlier this spring at the 2nd Annual BGSU Teaching and Learning Fair. She began her keynote with the quizzical, yet rhetorical question: If I […]
Continue Reading December 16th, 2008
Collaborative skills are essential skills that students must learn in order to succeed in their chosen fields. How can we teach students collaborative skills? Through group projects. While most students grumble at the announcement of group work, there are ways to make group work more rewarding and effective. In an article titled “Collaborative peer evaluation: […]
Continue Reading 1 comment November 7th, 2008
Michael Nelson is a political science professor at Rhodes College. As a “guest blogger” for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Nelson recently wrote a short blog post that shares a different way for instructors to grade papers. Nelson writes that he intends to break a habit that he (and many other instructors) tend to have […]
Continue Reading October 15th, 2008
Are you trying to find a way to make your classroom environment more engaging? In a College Teaching article, Tara Gray and Laura Madson provide the following 10 tips for engaging students: Always 1. Maintain sustained eye contact. 2. Ask before you tell. 3. Create a structure for note taking. 4. Let the readings share […]
Continue Reading October 15th, 2008
Instructors have long talked about how classrooms should be havens for teaching and learning, not a forum preaching politics or “saving the world.” In teaching a touchy and charged topic like the war in Iraq, Joseph J. Gonzalez reveals how it’s the transformations for students that instructors aid in maturing, which is interesting and a […]
Continue Reading 1 comment September 15th, 2008
