Improving Teaching and Learning /
In the article, “Are Small Classes Best? It’s Complicated“, from the Chronicle of Higher Education, Beckie Supiano describes the conversation surrounding the relationship between effective teaching and course size. Intuition tells us that small course sizes likely lead to more effective instruction, but studies have yet to arrive at a consensus to prove this. The […]
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In the article, “Dissecting the Classroom“, from the Chronicle of Higher Education, Dan Berrett describes the procedure for, and importance of, classroom observation protocols. During a classroom observation, an individual will document both what the instructor is doing and what the students are doing at periodic intervals throughout the class. Through these observations instructors are […]
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In the article Does Redesigning Classrooms Make a Difference to Students? from the Chronicle of Higher Education, Shannon Najmabadi examines the impact that classroom design can have on student engagement and student learning. The research discussed in this article indicates that classroom spaces impact student engagement for a variety of reasons, from lowering the barrier for […]
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In the article “Small Changes in Teaching: The First 5 Minutes of Class” from the Chronicle of Higher Education, James M. Lang provides four strategies for immediately engaging students in your course material. These four strategies—opening with a question, asking students what they learned during the previous class, revisiting prior knowledge and low-stakes writing assignments—can be […]
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Derek Bok, president emeritus of Harvard University and author of The Struggle to Reform Our Colleges, calls for a comprehensive effort on the part of colleges and universities towards building a more civically-minded generation of Americans in his recent Chronicle of Higher Education article. In “Crisis of Civic Education,” Bok suggests that developing more opportunities […]
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Improving Teaching and Learning /
As we enter these weeks before midterm, we might consider how we can focus our feedback to deepen student learning. In this Journal of College Science Teaching article, “It’s Not Wrong to Tell Students When They’re Wrong,” authors Robert Ehrlich and Stanley Zoltek consider the value of corrective feedback in student learning. The authors note that […]
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As you look towards the new year and refine your syllabi and course assignments for the coming semester, you might consider “Doing Your Own Assignments First” from time to time, as suggested in a recent post in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s blog “Pedagogy Unbound.” Benefits of this practice range from identifying teachable moments in problem solving and in the development […]
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This brief Chronicle of Higher Education article, “20 Things Students Say Help Them Learn,” provides students’ perspectives on what best supports their learning. While this conversation that captures students’s views on learning is of course useful at the start of the term, it can also be a helpful activity midway through your course to refocus and reenergize students in their learning […]
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The middle of the semester is the perfect time to gather feedback on your teaching, whether from your students or a colleague.
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