Five Keys to Motivating Students
Recently I had reason to revisit Paul Pintrich’s meta-analysis on motivating students. It’s still the piece I most often see referenced when it comes to
Maryellen Weimer, PhD
July 1, 2024
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learning goals
Teaching Goal-Writing to All Students
This article first appeared in the Teaching Professor on November 1, 2013. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved. On the first day of classes two years ago,
Christine O'Keefe
October 14, 2022
Planning a Great Online Class Through Roundabout Design
Teaching a great online class requires more than an understanding of pedagogical strategies powered by technology. It requires a cohesive course design that enables all
Flower Darby
January 11, 2021
Using Low-Stakes Writing Assignments to Achieve Learning Goals
During my time as a teaching fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the importance of student learning goals and student learning objectives to quality course design and management. Learning goals, often broad in nature, are most commonly applied at the course level. Learning objectives are statements about measurable expectations and behaviors that can contribute to the achievement of the learning goals.
Michael J. LaGier, PhD
February 24, 2017
Adding Choice to Assignment Options: A Few Course Design Considerations
No, the objective isn’t to make assignments optional, but two benefits accrue when students are given some choice about assignments. The first is motivational—when students select the method they will use to master the material, they can pick an option they think they’d like to complete. And if an assignment option looks appealing, that increases the chance that students will spend more time working on it and more learning can then result. Second, the practice confronts students with themselves as learners. With teacher guidance, they can be challenged to consider why they find some assignments preferable. They can be encouraged to consider what skills the assignment involves and whether those are skills they have or need to work on developing. A strategy such as this moves students in the direction of autonomy and maturity as learners.
Maryellen Weimer, PhD
February 20, 2014
Avoiding Information Overload: Remembering Course Goals
In more than 20 years of teaching, I have learned that too much information frustrates rather than inspires students. Today, however, with a few clicks of the computer mouse, any teacher can retrieve an overabundance of information. What is more, courseware makes distributing this information to students amazingly easy. As a result, teachers risk (unintentionally) giving students much more information than they can reasonably digest, including electronic texts, supplementary texts, and background information. The key to avoiding information overload is remembering course goals.
John A. Dern PhD
October 31, 2013
Gimme an A! Confronting Presuppositions about Grading
Sometimes, in informal conversations with colleagues, I hear a statement like this, “Yeah, not a great semester, I doled out a lot of C’s.” I wonder, did this professor create learning goals that were unobtainable by most of the class or did this professor lack the skills to facilitate learning? I present this provocative lead-in as an invitation to reflect upon our presuppositions regarding grading.
Christopher Willard
October 29, 2012
Deciding What Your Students Must Learn
You were hired because of your deep subject matter expertise; knowledge you want to share with your students. The problem is, the number of hours in a typical semester hasn’t changed, but the amount of information in your discipline continues to grow…and it’s all critical. Or is it?
Mary Bart
September 27, 2010
Learning Goals: Faculty and Students Don’t Agree
The findings of a recent study documenting differences between the priorities that faculty and students give to various learning goals will not come as a surprise to many. Those differences are an undercurrent that flow through most classes.
Maryellen Weimer, PhD
April 16, 2010
Finding the ‘Sweet Spot’ of Teaching and Learning
Avid golfers and baseball players often talk about the elusive “sweet spot.” Find it, and you can make the ball go exactly where you want it to go, almost effortlessly. There’s a sweet spot to teaching, too. And, just like in sports, it takes a little experimentation to find and is a thing of beauty when you get it right.
Mary Bart
August 26, 2009