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. 9 | March 25, 2016 Seven Years a Teacher: Five Lessons Learned as a Two-Year College Instructor Frederick Douglass is attributed with the following quote: “Without a struggle, there can be no progress.” With this quote in mind, I would like to introduce you to a story about progress achieved [...]
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. 6 | February 26, 2016 Teaching as Storytelling: Bringing Interest Back to the Classroom “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?”—Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda We’ve all been in many classrooms: high school history, undergraduate math, graduate level humanities, theatre, philosophy, biology, etc., etc. Look back through your educational career. Who [...]
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 XXXVIII, No. 4 | February 12, 2016 Pathway to a SMILE In today’s classroom, the standard lecture-notes-quiz model gets low grades in the face of new demands for student interactivity and engagement. Our latest challenge, Generation Z, has grown up with 4G, virtual reality, streaming, and the cloud. Consequently, they expect more [...]
Volume XXXVIII, No. 3 | February 5, 2016 A Tale of Two Disciplines: Lessons in Critical Thinking Background In Daniel T. Willingham's article, "Critical thinking: Why is it so hard to teach?" (2007), he emphasized critical thinking practice and perspective by saying, "…if you remind a student to look at an issue from [...]
Volume XXXVIII, No. 2 | January 29, 2016 Just-In-Time for Success: Connecting Underprepared Students to College Resources Community colleges invest heavily in resources to support underprepared students. Examples of these essential resources include: On-campus and online tutoring and writing labs Advising and counseling services Orientation and student success courses and workshops Vendor partnerships [...]
Volume XXXVIII, No. 1 | January 22, 2016 Problem-Based Learning and Basic Public Speaking: An Innovative Approach Fire and Brimstone Several years ago, I assigned a mock debate assignment in my basic public speaking class: “Should the Ten Commandments Remain Posted in Schools and Other Public Institutions?” As I made the assignment, I [...]