There are several adjustments that first-year BGSU students must make. Many new students will learn how to manage new responsibilities, make new friends, meet new expectations, and negotiate a number of other new experiences. One of the ways that BGSU works with new students and the adjustments to college life is through the Common Reading […]
Continue Reading August 3rd, 2009
Plagiarism is one of the unavoidable topics that must be talked about in higher education. Instead of discussing how common it is and/or how to detect its occurrence, according to Dustin Wax, there are significant lessons that can be learned from someone who plagiarizes. Wax, an instructor and published author, believes that there are five […]
Continue Reading May 29th, 2009
We have written a few postings that mentioned some of the debate behind the academic use (or non-use) of online websites for research or as a teaching resource in higher education. While many academics openly discourage the use of websites like Wikipedia or the process of “Google’ing” a topic for research, there are some scholars […]
Continue Reading April 15th, 2009
Instructors can have a less than easy time trying to implement teaching strategies that are outside of certain methods, like lecturing. There are other effective alternatives to lecturing, however. One of these alternatives is group learning, which has its merits. Team-Based Learning is also one of these alternatives that is growing in momentum and offers […]
Continue Reading April 3rd, 2009
We found this list of ten “commandments of lecturing” by Rob Weir interesting. Weir generated a list of ten policies for instructors to follow when they lecture. Please read the list and feel free to share your own ideas. I. Thou shalt connect new lectures to previous ones. II. Thou shalt move beyond chalk and […]
Continue Reading 1 comment March 24th, 2009
The use of Wikipedia for class assignments or as a citation source has been an ongoing debate. Some professors accept the website’s use, usually after encouraging their students to caution what they take from the website. Other professors absolutely abhor the use of the website by their students. Robert E. Cummings says that he has […]
Continue Reading 1 comment March 20th, 2009
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
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
