Effective Teaching Strategies

Incorporating Diversity-related Materials into the Curriculum

Incorporating material that addresses diversity issues in classes has positive effects on a number of learning outcomes. The success of efforts to make curricula more diverse depends to a large degree on faculty willingness to incorporate these materials because control of the curriculum remains in faculty hands—both collectively, in terms of course and program approval processes, and individually, in terms of daily decisions about what to teach.

Rob Kelly April 17, 2009

Classroom Teaching Methods: Are Your Lectures Sidetracking Student Learning

Most teachers work to add interest to lecture material in an attempt to gain student attention. If they aren’t attending, they aren’t listening, and if they aren’t listening, it’s pretty hard to imagine them learning anything from a lecture. But is there a point at which the interesting details are more arresting than the content? And if that’s so, do those kinds of details get in the way of attempts to learn and apply content?

Maryellen Weimer, PhD April 14, 2009

Effective Strategies for Reducing Test Anxiety

I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. After 10 years of teaching, I finally realize why students get so nervous about exams. It’s because taking an exam is a performance. It’s just like American Idol , when they are doing the first round of auditions. You can have great natural ability and sound terrific, but when the spotlight shines down as you stand in front of the judges and the TV cameras, can you make it happen?

Todd Hamilton PhD. April 7, 2009

Objections to Active Learning

If you think everybody’s pretty much on board with the idea of active learning, think again. I was surprised to find an article that in its opening paragraph describes active learning as “a philosophy and movement that portends trouble for the future of higher education and the American professoriate.”

Maryellen Weimer, PhD April 2, 2009

Creating a Class Participation Rubric

After years of stating my expectations for tutorial participation orally, I have developed a rubric that I think both improves my accountability as an assessor and provides my students with a clear sense of my expectations for class discussions. It also makes clear my focus in the small group setting: creating a “learners-centered,” as opposed to a “learner-centered,” environment.

Adam Chapnick PhD March 27, 2009

Group Work Ineffective? Try Pairing Students for Better Accountability, Learning

Although group work can provide a welcome change to the regular classroom routine, the results are rarely all positive. Invariably, one or two students in

Denise D. Knight March 20, 2009

Dealing with Student Deceptions: What to do with ‘Death in the Family’ Excuses

Early in my professorial career, I noticed two patterns: (1) requests for extensions on papers and forgiven absences spiked immediately prior to major breaks, and (2) dying grandparents were nearly always the explanation offered for those requests. I definitely wondered, and sometimes felt guilty, about the close correlation between expiring relatives and due dates listed on my syllabus.

Karen Eifler PhD March 12, 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

How to Make Course Evaluations More Valuable

The major benefit any conscientious professor seeks in course evaluations is in gaining useful student feedback. Yet most rating instruments generate vague, unjustified student comments.

Robert T. Brill PhD. February 25, 2009

Large Courses and Student Expectations

Have you tried implementing some active learning strategies in a large course only to find students resisting those efforts? You put students in groups and give them some challenging discussion questions, only to see most of them sitting silently while a few make feeble comments to which no one in the group responds.

Maryellen Weimer, PhD February 24, 2009

Effective Teaching Strategies

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