Every educator, whether in a physical classroom or online environment, has faced the uncomfortable reality of encountering difficult students. The term “difficult” can feel heavy, but in truth, most students don’t set out to…
The purpose of this article is to discuss our observations and insights into the challenges many doctoral learners face in writing their dissertations. In more than 30 combined years of mentoring doctoral…
Higher education faculty are increasingly asked to design learning environments that support not only academic achievement but also belonging, engagement, and student well-being. One instructional lever that directly influences these…
The contemporary faculty workload is both visible and invisible. Visible are the courses, the syllabi, the scheduled advising hours, and the committee meetings. Invisible are the hours of discussion facilitation, emotional labor…
If you're teaching in STEM, you probably love your discipline. Teachers want others to experience the joy we have experienced as you marvel at the world through our discipline. Unfortunately, this isn’t always what happens. It’s not fun to stare out at a sea of laptops and…
Multipurpose tools, especially the Swiss Army knife, have sustained their popularity over the years, namely for their size and versatility. Snag a fingernail? Got broccoli in your teeth? Screw came loose? Need to cut off…
I’m going to be an adjunct for the first time at my graduate alma mater. Talk about pressure, anxiety, and a dash of imposter syndrome. Though all these emotions are normal, they tend to make the…
Writing is the currency of higher education (Mazak, 2024) and is often a heavily weighted factor in the tenure process. And yet, the task of writing for publication is often not…
In the era of digital education, faculty teaching online courses may find it difficult to establish meaningful connections with their students. As a faculty member who teaches primarily in-person undergraduate students, I spend…
Graduate and professional students who aspire to academic careers often tell mentors that they are eager to teach but unsure how to gain experience or show it on a CV or dossier.…