How to Turn a Check for Plagiarism Into a Teachable Moment
I started teaching economics in higher education almost a decade ago, and yet the memory of the first time I asked a student to meet with me to talk about…
Back to School: First Day of Class Strategies
The first day of anything can be felt with excitement, anxiety, relief, anticipation, and an array of other emotions. But the first day of any class or course, as both…
Talk to Text: A Hack on Grading
A wise and dear colleague of mine, now retired, once said to me as we walked to class, “I teach for free; they pay me to grade.” I have found…
Variations to Traditional Multiple-Choice Testing
Many college courses employ multiple choice (MC) tests as a primary means of assessment. Although these are sometimes critiqued (Kaufman, 2001), modifications can be made to this assessment, based in…
The Focus is You: Maryellen and a Muscle Car
To kickstart The Focus is You, a short Q&A that features a different Faculty Focus member every Thursday, we're featuring Maryellen Weimer, editor of The Teaching Professor and a professor…
What! No Textbook?
The approach to course reading described here is not the result of some altruistic action to save students money on textbooks. Nor was it a brilliant “Aha!” moment regarding the…
Rethinking Deadline and Late Penalty Policies…Again
Some of the recurring topics on Faculty Focus in the past ten years pertain to handling excuses, extension requests, and late work, because teachers regularly deal with those issues. Suggested…
Whose Classroom is It Anyway?
Most would agree the classroom is a place for discourse, reflection, and learning. But, whose class is it? Who’s doing the learning—the teacher or the students? We submit it’s both—teacher…
Teaching with Analogies: Socks Before Shoes—Order Matters
I have taught mathematics for 38 years and am puzzled by why the analogies I was taught throughout my youth have been lost. I believe that students often miss the…
Bitmojis, Gifs, and Snaps in the Classroom? Oh My!
Trying new things and staying connected to students is of utmost importance for Deidre Price, PhD, director of Instructional Technology and Online Education at Northwest Florida State College, which Price…