What to Do When a Student is Failing: A Guide for Mentors
One joy of a faculty member in academia is the opportunity to train the next generation of scholars who will continue our work to innovate and create, extend human knowledge,…
Creating a Roadmap for Success by Beginning at the End
Forward thinking might be exactly what teachers strive for in the classroom, but it may require some backwards design. Beth Harrison, PhD, director of the Office of Learning Resources at…
Two Tips to Increase Students’ Use of Office Hours
I once heard a colleague explain that their office hours were intentionally scheduled from 8 am to 10 am because students are still asleep. The professor laughed, but I cringed.…
Status Update: Changing the Way We Deliver Instruction
All too often I have heard colleagues pondering over situations in which students are found on their smart phones rather than engaged in class. As a former elementary school teacher…
Six Things that Make College Teachers Successful
1. Study the knowledge base of teaching and learning You have chosen to teach in higher education because you are a subject-matter specialist with a tremendous knowledge of your discipline.…
Eureka! An Accumulation of the Best Teaching Advice
The 2019 Annual Teaching Professor Conference offered numerous tactics and strategies to implement in the classroom, but Ken Alford, PhD, Brigham Young University, took a different approach in his session…
Fostering Student Ethical Development as Part of the Curriculum
A state worker fabricates laboratory test results that can lead to false criminal convictions A restaurant inspector disregards health code violations Someone tampers with sports equipment used during a match…
8 Strategies to Encourage Interdependence and Help-Seeking Behavior in College Students
What messages do our students receive from their parents, their high school teachers, their older peers, and siblings before they enter college? When I ask my first-year students the answers…
Rights and Responsibilities for Group Members
I recently revisited something I’ve always considered a great resource. It originally appeared in a 1992 issue of the Teaching Professor and was published then as a Study Group Member’s…
Designing Meaningful and Measurable Outcomes: A First Step in Backwards Design
I’ve sat on the Curriculum Committee at two different higher education institutions. I’ve also participated in college assessment committees and accreditation committees at both the school level and institutional level.…