Volume XL, No. 21 | June 21, 2018 Divide-and-Conquer Programming Revisited When I wrote my 1998 Innovations Abstracts, “Divide-and-Conquer Programming: Using Interdependent Teams,” I was an adjunct professor, only teaching face-to-face classes. In the article, I argued that student group projects that used the divide-and-conquer approach—where students in each group divided project [...]
Volume XL, No. 20 | June 7, 2018 Using Google Docs to Enhance Group Work Group work can be a valuable learning activity for students in any course. Implementing group work in online courses, however, can be challenging for instructors and students. At Davidson County Community College (DCCC), several lower-level math courses [...]
Volume XL, No. 19 | May 24, 2018 Using the PMI+Q Method to Promote Critical Thinking in Online Discussion Forums High school students now entering college are often referred to as digital natives. Digital natives are accustomed to a faster pace and more dynamic experiences than static textbooks can provide (Doll 2012). [...]
Volume XL, No. 18| May 17, 2018 Launching a Collegewide Online Course Quality Review Initiative Online learning is growing rapidly in higher education. However, student success metrics in online courses often lags behind face-to-face sections of the same courses. The same is true at Harper College (HC), a community college that serves [...]
Volume XL, No. 17| May 10, 2018 Get Students Moving Most instructors have moved away from the “sage on the stage” teaching style in favor of the “guide on the side” approach. It is rare today for instructors to lecture for an entire class period. For example, I always seek new ways [...]
Volume XL, No. 16| May 3, 2018 Fostering Belonging in Community College Classrooms Recent data from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) indicates that there are 22.7 million students enrolled in the country’s massive higher education system, which is comprised of over 4,300 colleges and universities. The system’s size and capacity to [...]
Volume XXXIX, No. 16 | May 4, 2017 Teaching Community College Students the Soft Skills Demanded by Employers Many of us in community colleges work with employers and students. Therefore, we seek to understand what employers need in future employees, then we prepare students to fill those roles. This process is relatively straight [...]
Volume XL, No. 15| April 26, 2018 Nurturing Classroom Engagement A student’s involvement in classroom discussions is largely based on his or her experiences during the first class of the semester. It is during this crucial period that a classroom’s culture begins to develop. Students analyze verbal and nonverbal cues from their [...]
Volume XL, No. 14| April 19, 2018 The Retention Divide: Building New Cultural Bridges Do you find it challenging to connect with students? If so, you are not alone. As an instructor, I have grappled with the same challenge. The sea of faces in our courses can quickly become a melting pot [...]
Volume XL, No. 13| April 12, 2018 To Go Over a Test or Not to Go Over a Test? Testing is primarily used for assessment purposes. It is a way for a teacher to determine if students have mastered the required material. After exams are graded, they are often returned to students [...]
