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…
One of the most popular guides for academic writing standards across the curriculum is scheduled for some changes. It’s been a decade since The American Psychological Association (APA) last revamped its writing manual, but the organization will be releasing its…
By: Faculty Focus
The Focus is You will now occur just once a month. We have other exciting things to share with you on Thursdays, like our new, free special reports, so we have to make room for all the events that are…
To: My Students From: Your Teacher Re: What’s happening in college—is it real? I just read about a senior engineering student who was presenting a design project in an upper-division business communications course. In the presentation, he talked about what…
By: 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 understanding of how to learn. Although some students may exude confidence…
By: Faculty Focus
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 professor emerita at Penn State Berks. Albeit she told me, “Remember,…
By: Ed Cunliff, PhD
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 the neuroscience of learning. It was the result of an attempt…
By: Candice Dowd Barnes EdD and Patricia Kohler-Evans EdD
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 both—teacher and students learning from each other. Too often, faculty see…
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 the point of a concept if it is taught without an…
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 the variety of students in these classrooms. Over the past several…