Vulnerability in the Classroom
Years ago, when I began my full-time teaching career in the university classroom, I was a mere 27 years old and fresh out of a PhD program. I did not look much older than many of my students, and often…
The Past Meets the Future: How to Bring Confucian Virtues into Higher Ed with Educational Technology
By: Melissa Brevetti, PhD, and James Yang, PhD
On August 6, 1991, the World Wide Web became public to the world and forever changed the way that ideas move. Although in-person dialogues and interactions are historically significant ways for the movement of information, communication technologies have become a central…
Preparing for the Students You Actually Have in Class—Without the Assumptions
Today’s enrollment trends present an opportunity for faculty to engage an incredibly diverse student body. But to support all of our students, we may need to adjust our thinking about traditional definitions of college readiness. Students are coming at us…
Learning to Cross the Road: What Do You Show Your Students?
By: Jack Hill, PhD
Q: Why did the chicken cross the road? A: To show the squirrel it could be done. Most of us attempt to teach our subjects by telling students things, that is, describing, identifying, defining, specifying, explaining, lecturing, etc. We spend…
How to Keep from Going MIA in Your Online Course
As an adjunct professor and one who works daily with faculty in helping them understand online education, I have noticed and heard of increasing numbers of professors going missing in action (MIA) while teaching their online course. This is particularly…
The Focus is You: Bonnie Slavych
By: Faculty Focus
This month’s The Focus is You features Bonnie Slavych, PhD, assistant professor of Communication Disorders at the University of Central Missouri. After Slavych’s first semester of teaching, she quickly realized that teaching wasn’t necessarily “taught” in her PhD program. With…
Collaboration: A Way to Promote Faculty Development and Reduce Burnout
By: Immaculata Igbo, PhD, Margie Landson, MSN, CNE, RN, and Kathleen Straker, MEd
Faculty development and burnout pose challenges within departments and colleges of academic institutions. Constrained resources—asked to do more with less time, money, and personnel—contribute to faculty feeling overwhelmed (Gabriel, 2017) and can make faculty development difficult (Watts & Robertson, 2011).…
Creating a Community of Learners that Reflects Mutual Respect
Recently, a student came into my office to vent because she was frustrated and dismayed at the behavior of another student in one of her classes. She indicated that he repeatedly disrupts the class by arguing with fellow students, criticizing…
A Friday Afternoon Reflection: Random Memorandums
There is nothing quite like a Friday afternoon. The hurry-up pressures of the week come to a halt, and I can catch my breath against the wide open space of a weekend. But, Fridays are special for another reason, too.…
Building a Community of Learners in Online Classes
Online learning is becoming more prevalent in colleges and universities. When I arrived in higher education, I could not imagine how online classes would work since the connection to students and building an environment of community and rapport is so…