Our Topics
Academic Leadership
Setting academic priorities, evaluating faculty, succession planning, making the transition from faculty to administrator, the issues and leadership responsibilities are many, and seem to grow daily. Turn to Faculty Focus for academic leadership articles written to help deans, chairs, and other academic decision makers lead effectively.
App Of The Week
App of the Week is a new feature here on Faculty Focus written by Dave Yearwood, PhD, associate professor and chair of the technology department at the University of North Dakota. Dave is an avid collector of apps and is always on the lookout for new ones that can improve student learning or simply make academic life more organized, productive and fun. Through this column, he’ll provide tips for getting started, app reviews, best practices, sneak peeks, and more. Guest contributors will provide reviews as well.
Asynchronous Learning and Trends
Asynchronous learning, or teaching and learning that occurs when the interaction between the instructor and students is not constrained by time and place, can cause feelings of isolation, resulting in disappointment and low retention rates in online classes. Faculty Focus examines new, proven collaborative learning techniques you can use in the online classroom to promote social interaction and have a positive influence on learning, motivation, and problem-solving.
Asynchronous Learning and Trends
Curriculum Development
Curriculum development includes a variety of activities around the creation of planned curriculum, pedagogy, instruction, and delivery methods for guiding student learning. Turn to Faculty Focus for tips and techniques.
Distance Learning Administration
As a distance education program manager, you know that it’s a constant battle just trying to keep pace. Not only do you have to find ways to separate hype from reality, but there is always pressure to do more with less … and do it better than ever before. These articles provide practical solutions and best practices for creating, implementing, and managing quality distance education programs.
Distance Learning Administration
EdTech News and Trends
As a service to its readers, Faculty Focus has reserved this section largely for news announcements on education technology and campus trends. Faculty Focus welcomes press releases that pertain to technology that is used at today’s higher education institutions as well as studies that relate to higher ed teaching and learning trends. To submit your press release for consideration, please email it to Mary Bart at mary.bart (at) facultyfocus (dot) com.
Educational Assessment
All enterprises require measurement in order to enable their management. Testing, grading and evaluation of education programs are the metrics by which we measure students, teachers and schools.
Effective Classroom Management
Ensuring that your classroom lessons run smoothly, establishing rules, motivating students to participate, maintaining discipline, and creating an environment in which students can succeed are all factors that contribute to effective classroom management. Turn to Faculty Focus for tips and techniques.
Effective Classroom Management
Effective Teaching Strategies
As any experienced teacher knows, “one size fits all” does not apply to instructional programs. Faculty Focus is a resource for developing effective teaching strategies, instruction and curricula.
Faculty Development
Teacher training and professional development never really ends, but is a career-long pursuit by educators and college administrators. Look to Faculty Focus for ongoing, self-directed learning opportunities.
Faculty Evaluation
As part of the educational assessment process, faculty evaluation attempts to assess and quantify the effectiveness of teaching professionals. Turn to Faculty Focus for tips and techniques.
Instructional Design
How can teachers and learners transfer information most effectively? Instructional design, routed in cognitive and behavioral psychology, frequently involves employing new media. Turn to Faculty Focus for the latest developments in instructional design.
Learning Communities
Learning communities are classes that are linked or clustered, often around an interdisciplinary theme, and enroll a common cadre of students. Consult Faculty Focus regularly for the latest trends in learning communities.
Learning Styles
Students process information differently, with some preferring visual, auditory, or tactile processes for acquiring and analyzing new data. You can expect Faculty Focus to report on the latest research on learning styles and how teachers can adjust their instructional techniques to accommodate all learners.
Online Education
With nearly 7 million students taking at least one online course, understanding best practices for teaching online is critical. Turn to Faculty Focus for news on the latest trends in online education.
Philosophy of Teaching
Your concept of teaching, including a description of how you teach and the justifications for your strategies, constitute your personal philosophy of teaching. Read Faculty Focus regularly for new information that will expand and modify your philosophy of teaching.
Teaching and Learning
Teaching and learning strategies evolve over time. Discover some new teaching and learning strategies being used by your colleagues to support student learning.
Teaching Careers
Your love of learning led you to become a teacher. Now you can rely on Faculty Focus for additional instruction, teacher training and advanced professional development that will enhance your teaching career.
Teaching Professor Blog
The Teaching Professor Blog is written by Dr. Maryellen Weimer, professor emerita at Penn State Berks and one of the nation's most highly regarded authorities on effective college teaching. Many of you know Maryellen as the editor of The Teaching Professor newsletter and from her book Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practices, which is considered the go-to guide for educators looking to adopt a learner-centered approach in their classrooms. The Teaching Professor Blog features a new weekly post from Maryellen on such topics as: the scholarship of teaching and learning, student engagement, classroom policies, active learning, assignment strategies, grading and feedback, and student performance.
Teaching with Technology
Teaching with technology isn’t just about staying current on the latest tools, it’s about knowing how to successfully incorporate the best tools into your teaching when and where it makes sense. This article series looks at the benefits of using technology, as well as potential stumbling blocks. You’ll also get an inside look at best practices for using technology to enhance teaching and learning – whether you teach in a traditional classroom or online.
