Volume XXXVIII, No. 13 | April 22, 2016 How Students Can—and Should—Contribute to the Rubric Creation Process I was in a kindergarten classroom a few weeks ago and was mesmerized by a rubric that was detailed on a large flipchart at the back of the room. It was titled “My Star Paper” [...]
Volume XXXVIII, No. 12 | April 15, 2016 Too Many Screens? Try Collaborative Note-Taking There are two major problems that face the modern professor. The first is students who are underprepared for note-taking or who, worse still, have no conception of it. The second is students who are distracted by multiple screens. Finding [...]
Volume XXXVIII, No. 10 | April 1, 2016 If You Can’t Beat It, Integrate It: Using Smartphones and Polling Software to Create an Interactive Learning Environment A common complaint among educators is the number of distracted students in their classes. Many of us bemoan students in our classes engrossed in their smartphones instead [...]
Volume XXXVIII, No. 8 | March 11, 2016 Using Badges in an Online Class: How Gamification Can Improve Student Learning Several years ago, I learned about gamification and started thinking about how I could apply it to my online courses. I decided that using badges would be a good way to introduce these [...]
Volume XXXVIII, No. 7 | March 4, 2016 Recognizing the Value of Soft Skills in College We all see those students in our classrooms—the ones with that certain casual attitude towards attendance, participation, and communication in general. They have experienced a lifetime of getting a “pass” for missed deadlines and exhibiting disrespect or [...]
Volume XXXVIII, No. 5 | February 19, 2016 Strategies to Advance Learning Outcomes in the Non-Science Major Biology Classroom As many college science instructors do, I have encountered additional challenges to successfully teaching assigned concepts to non-science majors. To better prepare for these classes, I glance through my notes from prior semesters and [...]
Volume XXXVII, No. 29 | December 4, 2015 “We the Students”: Employing a Code of Conduct in Student Group Projects The benefits of group work have long been established. Most instructors agree that student learning is improved by sharing their experiences with their colleagues, and that there is truth to the old adage, [...]
Volume XXXVII, No. 26 | November 6, 2015 Student Engagement: Getting 21st-Century Students Hooked Into Your Instruction When I enter a class, I'm thinking about several things—getting my points across clearly, hoping that students show up willing to have relevant discussions rather than engaging with their cell phones, and hoping that my [...]
Volume XXXVII, No. 25 | October 30, 2015 Peer Revision: Build Classroom Writing Community Through Academic Conversation It is hard to teach writing in a quiet classroom because writing is a conversation. For students to be successful academic writers, they need to be successful academic conversationalists, especially in Composition II’s hallmark genre, [...]
Volume XXXVII, No. 19 | September 18, 2015 Striving for Enhanced Understanding and Retention (Contextualized Learning) I’d like for you to think about a time when you attended a class or lecture and were really excited about learning more about the subject matter. Now I want you to compare the feeling you had [...]
