Our “office hours off campus” idea transpired from a speech given by Dr. Iain Campbell at a publisher’s workshop we attended. Dr. Campbell teaches large biology lecture courses at…
In this week’s, The Focus is You, we chatted with Adam Arenson, PhD, associate professor of History at Manhattan College and director of the Urban Studies Program. His work…
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In Effective Classroom Management
An Argument for Accepting Late Work
August 21, 2019 Steve Wyre EdD
With over a decade in training and management of college teachers, I saw late policies ranging from “not one second late, period” to “any time before the last day…
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Helping Students Learn: Insight from Maryellen
August 20, 2019 Faculty Focus
As faculty members prepare to start their classes and courses for the 2019 school year, it’s important to remember that not all students attending college may have a clear…
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In Effective Classroom Management
How to Build Inclusive Practices in Education
August 19, 2019 Reinard Valentine, MEd, and Melissa Brevetti, PhD
Inclusive practices are critical to the higher education landscape in order to improve student learning. Democratic principles are rooted in inclusion, and faculty and staff have a responsibility to…
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Scholarship: More Than Just ‘Publish or Perish’
August 16, 2019 David E. Balch, PhD
The area of Scholarship has been defined in a somewhat narrow sense. This is reflected in an article by Plume and van Weijen (2014), where they noted “publish or…
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This week on The Focus is You, we’re learning a bit more about Tracie Addy, PhD, MPhil, Director of the Center for the Integration of Teaching, Learning & Scholarship…
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In Effective Teaching Strategies
How to Turn a Check for Plagiarism Into a Teachable Moment
August 14, 2019 Amel Ben Abdesslem, PhD
I started teaching economics in higher education almost a decade ago, and yet the memory of the first time I asked a student to meet with me to talk…
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A wise and dear colleague of mine, now retired, once said to me as we walked to class, “I teach for free; they pay me to grade.” I have…
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Variations to Traditional Multiple-Choice Testing
August 9, 2019 Lynne N. Kennette, PhD, Phoebe S. Lin, PhD, and Lisa R. Van Havermaet, PhD
Many college courses employ multiple choice (MC) tests as a primary means of assessment. Although these are sometimes critiqued (Kaufman, 2001), modifications can be made to this assessment, based…
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To kickstart The Focus is You, a short Q&A that features a different Faculty Focus member every Thursday, we’re featuring Maryellen Weimer, editor of The Teaching Professor and a…
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The approach to course reading described here is not the result of some altruistic action to save students money on textbooks. Nor was it a brilliant “Aha!” moment regarding…
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In Effective Classroom Management
Rethinking Deadline and Late Penalty Policies…Again
August 5, 2019 Brenda Thomas
Some of the recurring topics on Faculty Focus in the past ten years pertain to handling excuses, extension requests, and late work, because teachers regularly deal with those issues.…
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Most would agree the classroom is a place for discourse, reflection, and learning. But, whose class is it? Who’s doing the learning—the teacher or the students? We submit it’s…
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I have taught mathematics for 38 years and am puzzled by why the analogies I was taught throughout my youth have been lost. I believe that students often miss…
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In Effective Classroom Management
Bitmojis, Gifs, and Snaps in the Classroom? Oh My!
July 29, 2019 Tierney King
Trying new things and staying connected to students is of utmost importance for Deidre Price, PhD, director of Instructional Technology and Online Education at Northwest Florida State College, which…
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In Effective Teaching Strategies
Unlocking the Quiet Moment: Cell Phones, a Surprising Tool
July 26, 2019 Bryan J. Coleman
In-class activities can be a great way to foster student engagement in the classroom. Depending on the activity, the results can vary greatly. Sometimes they can fall flat, but…
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Graphic Novels, Innovative Teaching, and Student Engagement in the Classroom
July 24, 2019 Timothy R. Bussey, PhD
As an instructor who has taught courses in the social sciences, humanities, and interdisciplinary fields, I’ve often considered the ways in which course readings can be more engaging for…
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In Effective Classroom Management
Six Keys to Safer 21st Century Schools
July 22, 2019 Michael Jazzar, PhD and Michelle McCraney, PhD
The deadly shootings at Columbine High School in 1999 ushered in an era of other school massacres, including an elementary school in Newtown Connecticut, a high school in Parkland…
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Elvis (the other one … Costello) was right, “Radio, it’s a sound salvation. Radio, it’s cleaning up the nation.” Radio didn’t die, it was just sleeping. Podcasting and ubiquitous…
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Less Stress, More Success: The End of Semester Student Presentation
July 17, 2019 Kerri Russo Mercer, PhD
As faculty design their syllabi for the upcoming semester, they consider how to have students demonstrate the vast knowledge they acquire throughout the semester. Enter the end of the…
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One joy of a faculty member in academia is the opportunity to train the next generation of scholars who will continue our work to innovate and create, extend human…
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Forward thinking might be exactly what teachers strive for in the classroom, but it may require some backwards design. Beth Harrison, PhD, director of the Office of Learning Resources…
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In Effective Classroom Management
Two Tips to Increase Students’ Use of Office Hours
July 10, 2019 Jennie M. Carr, PhD
I once heard a colleague explain that their office hours were intentionally scheduled from 8 am to 10 am because students are still asleep. The professor laughed, but I…
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In Effective Teaching Strategies
Status Update: Changing the Way We Deliver Instruction
July 8, 2019 Stefanie R. Sorbet, EdD
All too often I have heard colleagues pondering over situations in which students are found on their smart phones rather than engaged in class. As a former elementary school…
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1. Study the knowledge base of teaching and learning You have chosen to teach in higher education because you are a subject-matter specialist with a tremendous knowledge of your…
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The 2019 Annual Teaching Professor Conference offered numerous tactics and strategies to implement in the classroom, but Ken Alford, PhD, Brigham Young University, took a different approach in his…
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Fostering Student Ethical Development as Part of the Curriculum
July 1, 2019 Miriam Rosalyn Diamond, PhD
A state worker fabricates laboratory test results that can lead to false criminal convictions A restaurant inspector disregards health code violations Someone tampers with sports equipment used during a…
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In Effective Classroom Management
8 Strategies to Encourage Interdependence and Help-Seeking Behavior in College Students
June 29, 2019 Stefanie T. Baier, PhD
What messages do our students receive from their parents, their high school teachers, their older peers, and siblings before they enter college? When I ask my first-year students the…
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In Effective Classroom Management
Rights and Responsibilities for Group Members
June 28, 2019 Maryellen Weimer, PhD
I recently revisited something I’ve always considered a great resource. It originally appeared in a 1992 issue of the Teaching Professor and was published then as a Study Group…
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Designing Meaningful and Measurable Outcomes: A First Step in Backwards Design
June 24, 2019 Vicki Caruana PhD
I’ve sat on the Curriculum Committee at two different higher education institutions. I’ve also participated in college assessment committees and accreditation committees at both the school level and institutional…
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As college faculty, we put tremendous pressure on ourselves to talk. We want to cover the course content and thoroughly explain our assignments. We want to sound smart, share…
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Faculty are urged to turn classrooms into activity centers where lively discussion serves as an antidote to bored students zoning out of class lectures and zoning into images and…
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In Blended and Flipped Learning
5 Surprising Tips for Using Handheld Educational Technologies in Lecture
June 17, 2019 Christopher Drew, PhD
Recently, I worked with a research assistant to assess the efficacy of the use of smart phones and tablets in lectures. The study involved asking students to use their…
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In Blended and Flipped Learning
Getting Started with Blended Learning Videos
June 13, 2019 Anthony R. Sweat, PhD, and Kenneth Alford, PhD
“There’s just not enough time in class with students!” It’s a common faculty complaint and when students are provided quality course materials they can use outside of class, this…
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In Effective Classroom Management
When Everything Goes Right in the Classroom
June 12, 2019 Bill Bergman
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 same subject taught by…
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What Two Students Want You to Know About Inclusive Teaching
June 10, 2019 Tracie Addy, PhD, MPhil, Ayat Husseini, and Anna DeVault
Inclusive teaching involves creating equitable and welcoming educational environments for the diverse learners in our classrooms. Such approaches may involve, but are not limited to: designing educational experiences informed…
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In Effective Teaching Strategies
How to Use Technology to Harness the Power of Student Emotion
June 7, 2019 Tierney King
Igniting an emotional connection to content inside the classroom can be a powerful tool for student retention, but intertwining technology and emotion in the classroom can be even more…
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There has been a long discussion within our college about whether or not teaching to the test is appropriate. Of course, the test that we mean is the TExES…
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Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with approximately 300 faculty who have developed and taught their first online course. One of the concerns I frequently hear…