A FREE PUBLICATION FROM THE CREATORS OF THE TEACHING PROFESSOR

student learning

Using Media Materials to Set the Stage for Learning: A Strategy for All Disciplines

Humanities and social sciences instructors have long borrowed from media communications to drive home concepts. For example, a business instructor might clip a magazine article pointing out how inappropriate attire can negatively influence the outcome of an interview with a company. Philosophy professors might motivate a classroom discussion on hedonism by discussing the antics of popular young superstars as reported in the tabloids.

Camille Belolan May 21, 2009

Survey of College Faculty Reveals Increases in Student-Centered Teaching and Evaluation Methods

Helping students develop critical-thinking skills and discipline-specific knowledge remain at the forefront of faculty goals for undergraduate education, with 99.6 percent of faculty indicating that critical-thinking skills are “very important” or “essential” and 95.1 percent saying the same of discipline-specific knowledge. Other top goals include helping students to evaluate the quality and reliability of information (97.2 percent) and promoting the ability to write more effectively (96.4 percent).

Mary Bart April 1, 2009

Why Do Students Take Your Course?

If you ask students what they want to get out of a course, most give the same answer: an A (never mind if learning accompanies

Maryellen Weimer, PhD March 19, 2009

Motivating Students: Eight Simple Rules for Teachers

Principles of Accounting has the reputation of being a “hard and boring” course. It is difficult to motivate students to invest the time and effort necessary to succeed in the course. To meet this challenge, we have assembled a list of eight simple rules for keeping students focused and motivated.

Lana Becker and Kent N. Schneider March 10, 2009

Tips on Creating an Accreditation Review Timeline

The accreditation review process may never be stress-free, but with proper preparation you can at least minimize the stress that so often accompanies it. So just how far ahead should you start preparing for your accreditation review?

Mary Bart January 28, 2009

Rethinking Multiple Choice Tests for Assessing Student Learning

If you think multiple choice tests are only good to assess how well students memorized facts, it may be time to rethink your testing strategy. Although they are not appropriate for every situation, when properly developed, multiple choice tests can used to assess higher levels of thinking, including application and analysis.

Mary Bart January 14, 2009

Four Distance Education Research Topics to Avoid

Existing distance learning research falls into several main areas. Some lend themselves to future research to expand the knowledge base, but others do not need to be revisited. Here are the distance education research topics to avoid:

Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti December 30, 2008

Effective Teaching Strategies: The Importance of Marrying Content and Process

When teachers think the best way to improve their teaching is by developing their content knowledge, they end up with sophisticated levels of knowledge, but they have only simplistic instructional methods to convey that material.

Maryellen Weimer, PhD December 16, 2008

Student Learning and Course Content: How Fast Do They Forget?

Although faculty would like to think optimistically, most know that when it comes to student learning and how much content students take with them from a course, even one in their major, reality dashes optimism.

Maryellen Weimer, PhD December 11, 2008

Student Learning Outcomes Initiative

In 1989 the administration at Central Arizona College made a decision to move toward a competency-based curriculum for all of its courses and certificate and degree programs—a wise decision given all the changes taking place within the community college’s district and within higher education in general, says Linda Heiland, CAC’s associate vice president for institutional effectiveness and chief academic officer…

Rob Kelly July 16, 2008

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