As a professor who just completed their first academic school year, I was naïve to believe that students regularly attended class. As college students, I thought they would demonstrate a level of commitment and focus regarding their future. To my…
Years ago, when I began my full-time teaching career in the university classroom, I was a mere 27 years old and fresh out of a PhD program. I did not look much older than many of my students, and often…
By: Melissa Brevetti, PhD, and James Yang, PhD
On August 6, 1991, the World Wide Web became public to the world and forever changed the way that ideas move. Although in-person dialogues and interactions are historically significant ways for the movement of information, communication technologies have become a central…
Today’s enrollment trends present an opportunity for faculty to engage an incredibly diverse student body. But to support all of our students, we may need to adjust our thinking about traditional definitions of college readiness. Students are coming at us…
By: Jack Hill, PhD
Q: Why did the chicken cross the road? A: To show the squirrel it could be done. Most of us attempt to teach our subjects by telling students things, that is, describing, identifying, defining, specifying, explaining, lecturing, etc. We spend…
As an adjunct professor and one who works daily with faculty in helping them understand online education, I have noticed and heard of increasing numbers of professors going missing in action (MIA) while teaching their online course. This is particularly…
By: Faculty Focus
This month’s The Focus is You features Bonnie Slavych, PhD, assistant professor of Communication Disorders at the University of Central Missouri. After Slavych’s first semester of teaching, she quickly realized that teaching wasn’t necessarily “taught” in her PhD program. With…
By: Immaculata Igbo, PhD, Margie Landson, MSN, CNE, RN, and Kathleen Straker, MEd
Faculty development and burnout pose challenges within departments and colleges of academic institutions. Constrained resources—asked to do more with less time, money, and personnel—contribute to faculty feeling overwhelmed (Gabriel, 2017) and can make faculty development difficult (Watts & Robertson, 2011).…
Recently, a student came into my office to vent because she was frustrated and dismayed at the behavior of another student in one of her classes. She indicated that he repeatedly disrupts the class by arguing with fellow students, criticizing…
There is nothing quite like a Friday afternoon. The hurry-up pressures of the week come to a halt, and I can catch my breath against the wide open space of a weekend. But, Fridays are special for another reason, too.…