Any educator can attest to the mounting challenge of maintaining student attention in the classroom. Students’ exposure to digital media from a very young age has both diminished their capacity to pay attention
One of my quietest students once came up to me after class and said, “I’ve never felt comfortable speaking in English before this course.” That
When students of different years of study share a common class, their levels of experience and confidence differ. Students from lower years of study may
Like many faculty, it has been no easy feat to keep students engaged during class, especially in a physical geography course in which many undergraduate
A lot of students seem to assume that as long as the assigned work is completed on time, test scores are good, and attendance is satisfactory, they shouldn’t be forced to participate. This special report will help you create favorable conditions for more active classroom discussions.
A bunch of black boxes on a video call. An empty discussion board. A student who hasn’t submitted any work all term. These might all
It is the beginning of a new year and a new semester at colleges and universities across the world. Professors are finalizing their syllabi and
It is difficult to predict what the dynamics of a college class will be like at the beginning of a semester. Two sections of the
A few years ago, my colleague Brenda Whitney spoke at a workshop about how class discussion can take on many different forms, each with its own style and descriptive moniker. Paraphrasing and borrowing language from her handout, with a few revisions of my own, these discussion styles include:
Many of us have visions of a classroom full of bright-eyed students scribbling notes, nodding thoughtfully, and laughing at our jokes. The reality of the college classroom experience can be quite different, and student engagement sometimes feels like a difficult prize to earn.