December 11, 2012
Top 12 Teaching and Learning Articles for 2012, part 1
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/top-12-teaching-and-learning-articles-for-2012-part-1/
As another year draws to a close, the editorial team at
Faculty Focus looks back on some of the top articles of the past year. Throughout 2012, we published approximately 250 articles. The articles covered a wide range of topics – from group work to online learning. In a two-part series, which will run today and Wednesday, we’re revealing the top 12 articles for 2012. Each article’s popularity ranking is based on a combination of the number of reader comments and social shares, e-newsletter open and click-thru rates, web traffic and other reader engagement metrics.
Today’s post lists articles 7-12, starting with number 12.
12. Classroom Discussion: Professors Share Favorite Strategies for Engaging StudentsOn
The Teaching Professor’s LinkedIn Group we asked members to share some of the strategies they use to engage students in discussion, manage the dominant talkers and the nontalkers, and steer a discussion that’s gone off track. Nearly three dozen faculty members shared their techniques for prompting discussion.
Continue reading »
11. Using “Frameworks” to Enhance Teaching and LearningThe tool I call a “framework” is a visual structure to capture students’ thinking. It has a non-linear format and provides writing space to record
what students are thinking about course content as well as
how they are thinking about it. I generally assign frameworks on a weekly basis, to be completed with course reading outside of class. I collect them weekly, when assigned reading is due, which helps students stay accountable to the reading.
Continue reading »
10. Mapping Success: Essential Elements of an Effective Online Learning ExperienceAn online course is like walking into a foreign land with an entire map laid out, but having no sense of the land’s origin or how to navigate the terrain. How the instructor formats and interacts with the class will ultimately determine the student’s travel experience. The purpose of this article is to provide an understanding of how the elements of an online course are integrated such that they form a cohesive whole that creates easy travel based upon instructor presence, appropriate feedback, and easy navigation for students.
Continue reading »
9. Deep Learning vs. Surface Learning: Getting Students to Understand the DifferenceSometimes our understanding of deep learning isn’t all that deep. Typically, it’s defined by what it is not. It’s not memorizing only to forget and it’s not reciting or regurgitating what really isn’t understood and can’t be applied. The essence of deep learning is understanding—true knowing. That’s a good start but it doesn’t do much to help students see the difference between deep and surface learning or to help persuade them that one is preferable to the other.
Continue reading »
8. A Syllabus Tip: Embed Big QuestionsMuch has been written about the course syllabus. It’s an important tool for classroom management, for setting the tone, for outlining expectations, and for meeting department and university requirements. It’s an essential document in a higher education course, but do your students read it? And if they do read it, do they see the real purpose of the course beyond the attendance policy and exam dates?
Continue reading »
7. Five Characteristics of Learner-Centered TeachingAlthough learner-centered teaching and efforts to involve students have a kind of bread and butter relationship, they are not the same thing. In the interest of more definitional precision, I’d like to propose five characteristics of teaching that make it learner-centered.
Continue reading »
See what teaching and learning articles topped out our list
here.
_________________________________________________________
December 12, 2012
Top 12 Teaching and Learning Articles for 2012, part 2
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/top-12-teaching-and-learning-articles-for-2012-part-2/
It wouldn’t be the end of the year without a few top 10 lists. As we say goodbye to 2012, we’re doing our list with a little twist: the top 12 articles of 2012. Each article’s popularity ranking is based on a combination of the number of reader comments and social shares, e-newsletter open and click-through rates, web traffic and other reader engagement metrics.
In
yesterday’s online post we counted down from number 12 to seven. Today’s post reveals the top six most popular articles of the year, starting with number six.
6. Three Steps to Better Course EvaluationsWith each semester’s end comes the often-dreaded course evaluation process. But a better time to think about course evaluations is at the beginning of the semester. At that point, an instructor can be proactive in three areas that I have found lead to better course evaluations.
Continue reading »
5. Should Effort Count? Students Certainly Think SoIn a recent study, a group of 120 undergraduates were asked what percentage of a grade should be based on performance and what percentage on effort. The students said that 61% of the grade should be based on performance and 39% on effort.
Continue Reading »
4. My Students Don’t Like Group WorkStudents don’t always like working in groups. Ann Taylor, an associate professor of chemistry at Wabash College, had a class that was particularly vocal in their opposition. She asked for their top 10 reasons why students don’t want to work in groups and they offered this list.
Continue Reading »
3. A Lesson in Academic Integrity as Students Feel the Injustice of PlagiarismIn an effort to make my lessons about plagiarism and the appropriate citation of sources more personal for the students in my rhetoric and research classes, I now use an assignment that forces them into the role of victim rather than thief. The results of my most recent experience with this approach were encouraging.
Continue reading »
2. Does PowerPoint Help or Hinder Learning?I’ve had some nagging concerns about PowerPoint for some time now. I should be upfront and admit to not using it; when I taught or currently in my presentations. Perhaps that clouds my objectivity. But my worries resurfaced after reading an article in
Teaching Sociology. I’ll use this post to raise some questions and concerns about the role of PowerPoint both in the classroom and in student learning experiences.
Continue reading »
1. Students Think They Can Multitask. Here’s Proof They Can’t.With easy access to all sorts of technology, students multitask. So do lots of us for that matter. But students are way too convinced that multitasking is a great way to work. They think they can do two or three tasks simultaneously and not compromise the quality of what they produce. Research says that about 5% of us multitask effectively. Proof of the negative effects of multitasking in learning environments is now coming from a variety of studies.
Continue reading »
Faculty Focus: Top 12 Teaching and Learning Articles for 2012, parts 1 & 2
