Volume XXXV, No. 13 | April 19, 2013 The Value of Distance Learning for Developmental English Students At Lone Star College–CyFair, three out of four developmental courses are offered as distance learning (DL) classes. Hybrid classes, which meet once a week with an online component or online supplements, are also offered. As we [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 12 | April 12, 2013 Adjuncts as Effective Community College Team Members Many community colleges have a large adjunct faculty to full-time faculty ratio, with adjunct faculty members teaching critical-to-retention (high-demand and/or high-failure) courses. A simple, inexpensive plan to include, prepare, develop, and recognize adjunct faculty members can remedy [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 11 | April 5, 2013 “Playing in the Mud”: Teaching Goofy (or Otherwise) Personal Research Some years ago I read a professor’s lament that teaching geological concepts had become problematic because recent students had not played enough in the mud—experience with TV and videogames had detracted from useful intuitions into the [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 10 | March 29, 2013 Dead Languages—Latin and Ancient Greek—Alive and Kicking in a Science Curriculum As a graduate student, I had to make a presentation to fulfill one of the requirements of an ecology course. I decided to talk about ethnobotany because that was my interest area, and I [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 9 | March 22, 2013 College Computers for Non-Computer Users The college population is changing dramatically. The economy and changing technology have resulted in an influx of first-time, non-traditional (adult) students whose knowledge of the computer is very limited. They might be able to find airline tickets online, for example, [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 8 | March 15, 2013 Taming the Beginning-of-the-Semester Teaching/Writing Jitters You are standing at the front of a clinically white classroom facing 25 to 30 anxious faces. You fidget. They fidget. The air is thick with the smell of new books, chalk (or dry-erase pens), freshly sharpened pencils, and expectation. [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 7 | March 1, 2013 Understanding or Memorization: Teaching that Promotes Long-Term Retention Why do we remember some lessons and forget others? Is it that some are perceived as more important, exciting, or possibly just easier to comprehend? Perhaps the answer has elements of all of those in its makeup; [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 6 | February 22, 2013 Tips for Teaching Non-Traditional Students More than ever, due to the harsh economic reality and high unemployment rate, more students who were out of school for considerable amounts of time are coming back to upgrade their skills to seek reemployment. Teaching the skills that they [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 5 | February 15, 2013 The Critical Thinking Biology Final During my first five years of teaching Biology II for majors, I gave my students a typical multiple choice/ matching/short essay comprehensive final exam. The subject matter of the course focused on biological organization from organisms to ecosystems. Each year [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 4 | February 8, 2013 Engaging Endings: Finishing the Year with Flair As the end of another academic year approaches, professors and students alike begin to feel the doldrums of fatigue and routine weighing down upon them. This period of the year, however, can be one of the most meaningful [...]