A FREE PUBLICATION FROM THE CREATORS OF THE TEACHING PROFESSOR

building student engagement

A New Look at Student Attention Spans

Have you heard that advice about chunking content in 10- to 15-minute blocks because that’s about as long as students can attend to material in class? It’s a widely touted statistic and given the behaviors indicative of inattentiveness observed in class, most faculty haven’t questioned it. But Karen Wilson and James H. Korn did. They got to wondering how researchers made that determination. “What was the dependent measure, and how did researchers measure attention during a lecture without influencing the lecture itself as well as students’ attention?”

Maryellen Weimer, PhD December 4, 2009

Can Clickers Enhance Student Learning?

Dr. Peter M. Saunders, director of Oregon State University’s Center for Teaching and Learning, has heard the horror stories, and understands why faculty were hesitant to use clickers in the early years.

Mary Bart November 18, 2009

Using Shared Online Video to Anchor Instruction: YouTube and Beyond

t was August 26, 2009. That evening I receive a phone call from someone in Japan looking to create free online math and science courses on mobile devices for youth in India using existing shared online video. The following day, I get an email from a colleague at a university in Canada who had just read my new book, The World Is Open: How Web Technology Is Revolutionizing Education. Many points made in the book seemed to resonate with him except for my advocacy of YouTube videos in teaching. Like most faculty members, he was very reluctant to show the YouTube homepage to his class because an offensive video might be featured.

Curtis J. Bonk PhD. October 5, 2009

Student Recommendations for Encouraging Participation

Getting students to participate in class is one of those perplexing instructional problems we all face, particularly when teaching undergraduate classes. Are there significant differences in the graduate classroom?

Maryellen Weimer, PhD September 25, 2009

Using Screencasting to Engage and Build Community with Online Learners

In the online classroom, faculty work hard to engage their distance learners and build a strong sense of academic community in the electronic setting. Screencasting can be an effective and easy way to do this. Screencasting allows you to take a digital video of what you are doing on your computer desktop, and most screencasting tools allow you to narrate your video while recording. The possible uses for screencasting are endless; these include providing course orientations, delivering instructional lectures, providing feedback, and encouraging student sharing.

Jacqueline Mangieri PhD. September 23, 2009

Activities that Get Students Ready to Learn

Starting a lecture can be challenging: getting everyone seated, attentive, and ready to move forward with the content can take several minutes. I have found

Patty Kohler-Evans July 31, 2009

Creating an Online Presence for Your Online Students

No one doubts the assertion that online students are more likely to be successful if they feel connected to their instructor and fellow students, but

Rob Kelly July 1, 2009

Get Students' Attention Right from the Start of Class

“Let’s begin today where we stopped last class.” How many college classes start this way every day? Some students attend by searching their notes or books to discover where the prior class concluded. But, for most learners, this opening fails to capture their attention, and they struggle to find some connections to the topic.

Brenda M. Davis June 9, 2009

Connecting with Students One MPEG-4 at a Time

“If you do it right, digital media can really enhance a course and provide meaningful student-teacher connections,” said Kevin Reeve, head of Marketing and Communications for Information Technology at Utah State University. “When not implemented properly, it becomes a frustrating experience for everyone – students, instructors, IT and administration.”

Mary Bart April 13, 2009

A FREE PUBLICATION FROM THE CREATORS OF THE TEACHING PROFESSOR

building student engagement

Stay Updated with Faculty Focus!

TOPICS

Stay Updated with
Faculty Focus!