Volume XXXVIII, No. 19 | September 15, 2016 Helping Students Value Challenge and Hard Work In postsecondary classrooms, we should help students move beyond the “empty vessel” model of learning to a model that encompasses self-directed, strategic learning. For many years, I struggled to identify ways or approaches that help students to see [...]
Volume XXXVIII, No. 18 | September 8, 2016 Outside the Classroom and Beyond the Campus: Community-Based Experiential Education Expanding the Experiential Concept After years of incorporating a combination of field trips, active learning, and flipped classrooms, I decided to design a radically flipped course in which I would leverage technology to craft class [...]
Volume XXXVIII, No. 17 | September 1, 2016 A Tale of Two Division Chairs When you think of the job title “Division Chair,” what comes to mind? Roles and responsibilities are ever-changing in higher education. The division or department chair position at community and technical colleges has morphed into a myriad of [...]
Volume XXXVIII, No. 16 | August 26, 2016 Transforming Classrooms Into Active Learning Zones While student response systems (SRS) have been around well over a decade, it was not until recently that I began to take advantage of their pedagogical benefits. In the span of time since my first implementation of SRS-associated peer-instruction [...]
Volume XXXVIII, No. 15 | May 6, 2016 Economics: The Not-So-Dismal Science Economics has a reputation for being a dismal science. You can make the argument that any subject matter is dismal, and that how it’s taught is what makes all the difference. I think economics is anything but dismal. Economics is the [...]
Volume XXXV, No. 15 | May 3, 2013 Thought for the Week Wednesdays: Making Connections in Minutes Can five minutes of classroom time once a week really make a difference? I set out to answer this question as I sought to improve retention and student success in my pre-curriculum reading classes. I [...]
Volume XXXVIII, No. 14 | April 29, 2016 Educating Through Coaching: Defining Your Role and Instilling a Dynamic Classroom Environment “Pressure Is a Privilege.”—Billie Jean King Think back to the very first moment you received confirmation that you are officially a “teacher.” Whether that was an affirming call from your department’s dean, an [...]
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. 11 | April 8, 2016 In Their Own Voices: Community College Students Address "Revolution" In our country there needs to be a revolution. This revolution must start with our thinking. We are a society of boastfulness, when very few of us really have anything to be boastful about. We hang [...]