Miscellaneous
Reaching
All Students
A Resource Book for Teaching in Science,
Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM). Contains resources on topics
like Preparing to Teach, Teaching methods, Teaching as a Research -
Continually Improving Your Teaching and more...
The
Traditional Classroom, and The Contemporary Work Environment
Just comparison between the traditional classroom and the contemporary
work environment.
The
teacher as an Organizer
Teaching may best be defined as the organization of learning. So the
problem of successful teaching is to organize learning for authentic
results& Characteristics of a Teacher as an Organizer
Modes
of Teaching (PDF file)
Through long period of time, it has taken on various modes as human
society evolves. In college and university settings, some teaching techniques
have been used for centuries, such as lectures and labs, while others
have emerged only in the las decade or two, such as problem-based and
web-enhanced learning. This chapter attempts to discuss some teaching
techniques that are commonly used at present, to identify their strengths
and weaknesses, and to introduce some best practices.
Growth
as a Teacher (PDF file)
There are many values to an active approach to growth as a teacher.
Of course, it makes teaching easier and more enjoyable, as well as making
one more competitive in job searches and tenure and promotion reviews.
Universal
Design for Learning (Elements of Good Teaching)
Universal Design allows the student to control the method of accessing
information while the teacher monitors the learning process and initiates
any beneficial methods.
Ten
Changing Demands on College Teachers in the Future
Class
Size Research in Higher Education
Class size has been studied extensively in elementary and secondary
education. These studies have produced mixed findings but a major meta
analysis (still disputed by some) concluded that small class size is
better. There are fewer studies in the postsecondary setting and the
heterogeneity across institutions and disciplines make these studies
harder to do.
The
Employed Student
With increasing frequency, faculty have been noting the effect that
student employment has had on learning. Over the past several years,
they have been noting that work is used more regularly as an excuse
for absence or uncompleted assignments, that student schedules are so
complex that out-of-class project groups or field trips are almost impossible
to schedule, that students are more stressed than ever, and that students
priorities and interests sometimes seem to be placed on their outside
employment instead of their studies.
Instructors'
Template for Preparing Guidelines to Help Students Succeed in Your Courses
The purpose of this document is to help teachers write a list of
student-directed guidelines that will assist students in "how to
take" a specific course. The "Guidelines" would be given
as a handout in addition to the Course Syllabus and Objectives.
The
Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (JoSoTL)
Effective
Learning Practice Collection For The Service Learning
Teaching
Resource Exchange
If you are looking for a web site, journal, organization, listserv
or other resource to support your teaching in a higher education setting,
you've come to the right place. This site is built by members of the
higher education community for members of the higher education community;
so if you know about a resource that isn't already in the Exchange,
please contribute a pointer to it.
Teaching
Rhythms
The school year has a rhythm that teachers and students recognize.
Some classes have a weekly rhythm. There are even daily rhythms.
Researchers have been able to detail the patterns that guide some of
these rhythms. And while these rhythms may lie just below our
consciousness, they are powerful organizers of our educational relations.
You
are always Communicating
There are two kinds of communication -- verbal and nonverbal. One
is with words, and the other has been called the language of the sensitive.
We are senders and receivers of both types of communication when we
deliver lessons. Both types of communication reinforce, complement,
accent, and help each other.
Conducting
Groups
There are times when covering course content is not enough. When
classroom goals call for involvement, the effective teacher uses well-designed
group work to create a learning environment where students can explore
ideas, practice applications, or share insights. Below are some tips
to help you design successful group activities.
Presenting
for Learning
The most common role for professors in the classroom is to present
ideas. The lecture is the primary presentation strategy and can be a
very effective one. In fact, the reason most students complain about
lectures is not because they are presentations but because they do not
use effective presentation strategies.
Getting
to Know Your Students
A common belief among college teachers is that they only need to
know subject matter. Recent scholarship states that teachers must know
something about their students if they want to enhance learning in their
classrooms.
Knowing,
how, what, why
Problems caused by hidden assumptions range from the simple to the
profound. Whether following the steps of an assignment or understanding
a task's purpose, ambiguities can leave students guessing what to do.
The following tips offer suggestions for clarifying essential elements
in the learning process.
Thinking
Harder
While there are different expectations about what thinking skills
are necessary (we can send you Harold Bloom's classic description of
cognitive levels), there is nonetheless a general agreement that students
should be doing more than recycling the teacher's notes. This week's
tips focus on ways to encourage higher order thinking habits in your
classroom
Stress
The end of the semester is a stressful time for students and teachers.
People are fatigued from the semester, many different assignments are
due, sleep and meals are getting skipped, and everyone is worried about
how he or she will be evaluated. All this adds up to an unhealthy way
to reach peak performance. While the end-of-semester crunch seems an
inevitable part of college life, there are some ways teachers can help
students deal with these stresses.
Metaphors
We Learn By
Students sometimes struggle because they have made or adopted mixed
analogies for the learning process. One way that teachers can sort out
these unintelligible conceptions is to show how to think and plan through
metaphor.
Teaching
Academic "Know-How"
Even better news is that doing so is a wise time investment; students
can eventually become more self-reliant and effective learners with
some coaching. The following tips are designed to target areas where
we can help students become more self-aware and more strategic as learners.
Academic
Advising Tips
We are writing this special edition of Teaching Tips to give you
a few strategies that will ensure that your time with your advisee results
not only in schedule decisions, but also in a generally positive learning
experience.
Facilitating
Help-Seeking
A challenge that continues to face all faculty concerns "effectively"
encouraging students to seek academic assistance.
Constructivism
Constructivism's central idea is that human learning is constructed,
that learners build new knowledge upon the foundation of previous learning.
This view of learning sharply contrasts with one in which learning is
the passive transmission of information from one individual to another,
a view in which reception, not construction, is key.
Inquiry-Based
Learning
The inquiry approach is more focused on using and learning content
as a means to develop information-processing and problem-solving skills.
The system is more student centered, with the teacher as a facilitator
of learning.
Learner
Centered
Overall, learner-centered environments include teachers who are aware
that learners construct their own meanings, beginning with the beliefs,
understandings, and cultural practices they bring to the classroom.
Novice
and Expert Learners
Experts notice features and meaningful patterns of information that
are not noticed by novices. Experts have acquired a great deal of content
knowledge that is organized, and their organization of information reflects
a deep understanding of the subject matter.
Prior
Knowledge
Making peer assessment function as an active, supportive reflection
on learning progress rather than as a token-economy of performance rewards
is the litmus test of collaborative learner-centered teaching approaches.
Improving
Class Attendance
Student absenteeism appeared to me to be the greatest factor contributing
to student dropout and failure. The pattern was consistent: The
student would miss several lessons, become lost, fail the next quiz
or test, then dropout.
Asian
Student Name Pronunciation
Implementing
the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever
Since the Seven Principles of Good Practice were created in 1987,
new communication and information technologies have become major resources
for teaching and learning in higher education. If the power of the new
technologies is to be fully realized, they should be employed in ways
consistent with the Seven Principles.
Writing
Your First Letter of Recommendation
For the professor who are writing his/her first letter of recommendation.
Guide
for Teaching Fellows on Writing Letters of Recommendation
Writing letters of recommendation is a skill that will be of great
importance throughout your teaching career, and perhaps should be viewed
as an almost integral part of your teaching experience. Students in
your sections or tutorials who have had a positive experience - in terms
of what they have learned, or the work they have produced - are likely
to come to you for a letter of recommendation.
Medical
Emergencies in the Classroom
You’re lecturing to a classroom full of students, when one of them
suddenly begins convulsing in his/her seat. All eyes are on you…. would
you know what to do?
Distribute
a bibliographic list on each major topic
Distributing a bibliography of recommended readings on each major
topic covered by the course.
Prepare
two lists of references for each course topic
Preparing two lists of references for each major topic in the course
to respond to student diversity.
Simulations,
Games, Role-Playing, and Dramatization
Do you know how to use these four forms of experiential learning
activities in ways that engage students' identity and feelings, thereby
promoting a fuller understanding of the meaning of the subject of your
course?
Teacher
Credibility
Do you ever wonder what your students really think of you as a teacher?
As teachers, we cannot help but wonder what kind of impression we are
making on our students, i.e., what are our students' attitudes about
us? The reality of the situation is that it is our students who determine
our "worth" or "credibility" as teachers.
Contract
for Academic Success
One of our E.O.P.S. counselors, fresh from an On Course Workshop,
created a Contract for Academic Success. This contract helps students
take responsibility for their past choices and learn better self-management
skills for future success. It could easily be modified and used in any
academic class, any study skills or counseling class, or any other situation
in which a student needs to identify ways of improving behaviors.
Intellectual
Property and Fair Use
US Copyright Law is contained in Title 17 of the US Code. Section
107 of Chapter 1 specifies the conditions for the use of copyrighted
material for teaching, scholarship, or research:
Web
Tutorials
These are web-tutorials about excel, powerpoint, creating web page,
and so on. The following resources are made available to assist faculty,
staff, and students in developing multimedia presentations:
Effective
Communication
Communication is inseparable from many of the recognized qualities
of a good teacher. It has an impact on the way you present your material,
create rapport with the students, and establish your credibility in
and control of the class. And remember, communication involves receiving
as well as sending - in other words, a good communicator is also a good
listener.
Laboratory
Safety
As the TA present in a classroom or laboratory, it is your responsibility
to be aware of all safety rules and regulations. This is true even if
you are not the formal authority (i.e. Instructor or Professor) normally
present; make sure you can handle an emergency in the absence of the
faculty member. The most effective way of ensuring you can handle a
potential emergency satisfactorily is to be prepared.
Tips
to Help Ensure Laboratory and Classroom Safety
There are a few tips to help ensure laboratory and classroom safety
Erikson's
Development Stages
Psychoanalyst Erik Erikson describes the physical, emotional and
psychological stages of development and relates specific issues, or
developmental work or tasks, to each stage.
Maslow's
Hierarchy of Needs: Basic human needs and their educational import
Abraham Maslow developed a theory of personality that has influenced
a number of different fields, including education. Maslow has set up
a hierarchy of five levels of basic needs. Beyond these needs, higher
levels of needs exist. These include needs for understanding, esthetic
appreciation and purely spiritual needs. In the levels of the five basic
needs, the person does not feel the second need until the demands of
the first have been satisfied, nor the third until the second has been
satisfied, and so on.
Core
Abilities
Core abilities are essential workplace skills that cut across occupational
and academic titles. They are broad, common abilities that students
must possess to be prepared for the work force. They are "the broadest
outcomes, skills, or purposes that are addressed throughout a course."
The Process of Education
Time
management tips
Scheduling and managing time wisely are important for the college student.
If you miss important appointments and deadlines you will cause complications
to both your academic and social lives. This causes anxiety, frustration,
guilt, and other nasty feelings.
Ten
tips for time management (PDF file)
Ten Tips For Better Time Management
23
Time Management Techniques
Study When: Study Where: You and the Outside World:
Academic
Advising for Student Success: A System of Shared Responsibility
Although most college students are advised about their courses of
study, few people view academic advising as a means of enhancing the
positive outcomes of college. Research on college students suggests
that activities like advising could increase students' involvement in
their college experiences.
Empowering
the Faculty: Mentoring Redirected and Renewed
The concept of quality improvement has been incorporated into higher
education within the last decade. Incumbent with this concept is the
empowerment of college and university faculty to harness their unique
talents and skills and promote their professional growth.
Learning
Centers for the 1990's
In order to realize their academic missions and respond to state
demands for access, assessment, and accountability, the nation's community
colleges, along with all other institutions of higher education, are
focusing increasingly on the enhancement of academic support services.
Learning centers are being used on two- and four-year campuses alike
to test students at entry, provide learning assistance supplementary
to the classroom, and retest students to demonstrate their acquisition
of basic skills.
The
"Change-Up": A Good Pitch to Have in Your Teaching Repertoire
Individual students pursue various strategies to cope. Some gamely
attempt to stay alert, the telltale sign of which is often a noticeable
snapping back of the head at the precise moment they lose consciousness.
Others deliberately opt for a short sojourn in hopes of avoiding a longer
recess from sentience.
A
Sequence of Assignments Leading to a Formal Paper
In order to provide writing instruction for students, it helps to
break down an assignment into its component parts. Between the time
that an assignment is announced and the time that it is due in final
form, there is a series of steps and stages for which you can design
activities.
What
Is Authentic Assessment?
Authentic assessment refers to assessment tasks that resemble reading
and writing in the real world and in school. Its aim is to assess many
different kinds of literacy abilities in contexts that closely resemble
actual situations in which those abilities are used.
Learning:
From Speculation To science
Today, the world is in the midst of an extraordinary outpouring of
scientific work on the mind and brain, on the processes of thinking
and learning, on the neural processes that occur during thought and
learning, and on the development of competence.
Learning
and Transfer
Processes of learning and the transfer of learning are central to
understanding how people develop important competencies. Learning is
important because no one is born with the ability to function competently
as an adult in society. It is especially important to understand the
kinds of learning experiences that lead to transfer, defined as the
ability to extend what has been learned in one context to new contexts.
How children learn
Children differ from adult learners in many ways, but there are also
surprising commonalities across learners of all ages. A study of young
children fulfills two purposes: it illustrates the strengths and weaknesses
of the learners who populate the nation's schools, and it offers a window
into the development of learning that cannot be seen if one considers
only well-established learning patterns and expertise.
Repackaging
for the 21st Century: Teaching Copyright and Computer Ethics in Teacher
Education Courses
In today's world it is quite common to see old ideas repackaged and
presented to consumers in sleek new containers. This repackaging also
occurs in the educational realm. Many of these instructional programs,
although possibly called by a different name, have been in the curriculum
of schools for years. Regardless of the fact that these programs have
been operational in some schools for extended periods of time, recent
violence in schools dictate that the effectiveness of these programs
must be questioned.
Establishing
a Technology and Teacher Education Digital Scholarship Portal
These organizations have convened two National Technology Leadership
Retreats (NTLR I and II) that examined best practices and developed
draft guidelines for use of technology in teacher education in each
content area.
Usefulness
and Enjoyableness of Teaching Materials as Predictors of On-task Behavior
This article reports on a small-scale study that investigated the
relationship between on-task behavior, usefulness of materials as perceived
by learners, and enjoyableness of materials.
The
“Course Evaluation Follow-up” Form
While the primary purpose of the “Course Evaluation Follow-up” is
to identify and distill recurring and representative feedback on the
course, the form provides a place for teachers to highlight specific
praise and to address embarrassing, frustrating remarks.
Why
are Teaching Skills Important for Residents?
Residents do a lot of teaching. Medical students receive a significant
part of their education from residents.
Faculty
Development
You will find a wealth of material — handbooks, policies, criteria
— from colleges and universities that have grappled with this issue.
Suggestions
For Faculty Who Wish to Enhance Their Own Vitality
Writing
in the Disciplines: Monday, 12/13/04
The growing prominence and institutionalization of “writing across
the curriculum” (WAC) and “writing in the disciplines” (WID) programs
throughout the United States and abroad has occasioned considerable
renewed reflection during the past decade.
World
Lecture Hall
Welcome to World Lecture Hall, your entry point to free online course
materials from around the world. Please browse, search, learn and enjoy.
Low
Threshold applications/Activities (LTA's):
a fresh approach to help faculty members directly and to help with faculty
development, professional development, and course improvement.
Collections
& Repositories of Instructional Resources
Includes links to a wide range of collections of free resources such
as MERLOT. We're working with MERLOT; if your institution wants
to work with both TLTG and MERLOT, let us know; we're developing a discount
program.
