Volume XXXVII, No. 19 | September 18, 2015 Striving for Enhanced Understanding and Retention (Contextualized Learning) I’d like for you to think about a time when you attended a class or lecture and were really excited about learning more about the subject matter. Now I want you to compare the feeling you had [...]
Volume XXXVII, No. 16 | August 28, 2015 On Giving Students the Gift of Time Ask any group of students what they wish they had more of and 99.9 percent of them will respond, "Time." This is especially true at the community college level where students struggle to balance academics with work and [...]
Volume XXXVII, No. 15 | May 8, 2015 Roll Out the Welcome Mat: Using Hope, Hospitality, and Humor to Create a Comfortable Classroom The welcome mat is often the first thing that many of us see when we visit someone. It sends a clear message to visitors that they are entering a welcoming [...]
Volume XXXVII, No. 14 | May 1, 2015 The First Day of Class: People Before Paper The first day of class is arguably the most important day of the school term, since this is when impressions are made, trust starts, and relationships either begin or are dashed. As teachers, we must think about [...]
Volume XXXVII, No. 12 | April 17, 2015 Getting Under the Hood: How and for Whom Does Increasing Course Structure Work There has been some buzz about teaching practices in higher education that is getting louder. Instructors listening to the noise may feel a pressure to change the way they have been teaching [...]
Volume XXXVII, No. 10 | April 3, 2015 Reading Aloud to Break the Ice Community college students who have a long commute may not be able to participate in peer interactions that are readily available to students attending residential colleges and universities. Also, these students often have jobs before and after class, which [...]
Volume XXXVII, No. 5 | February 20, 2015 The Chef and His Accountant: A Collaborative Venture Into Progressive Thinking “I’m sorry, Professor, but I just don’t care about what happened to those people so long ago. This is a hard subject for me.” This student comment came after a class in which we [...]
Volume XXXVII, No. 4 | February 13, 2015 Return to the Playground: Truly Active Learning in the College Classroom One current trend in higher education is the shift from passive to active learning. In modern classrooms, we rarely see an all-knowing professor standing before a chalkboard disseminating knowledge for two or three hours [...]
Volume XXXVII, No. 3 | February 6, 2015 A Method for Adding Balance to Student Groups in the Classroom It is no secret that faculty who teach in the humanities enjoy having students participate in groups. They thrive on the collaborative process that happens when students are given the opportunity to work together [...]
Volume XXXVI, No. 29 | December 5, 2014 Redesigning Mathematics for Student Success Recently I asked first-level developmental math students to locate seven-eighths on the number line. Sixty percent of the class located it between seven and eight. On another occasion, I asked the class if someone would come to the board and [...]
