Engaging students in class conversation is not always an easy task. Even though we may make class participation part of their final grade, stress its importance in the syllabus, and give subtle (and not so subtle) reminders of this throughout the semester, there are always days when students simply do not want to participate in the class discussions.
What myths about constructing a teaching persona merit review? Teachers regularly exchange general advice about how to establish an identity in the classroom. Like most
Last year the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta ran a pilot study to consider the efficacy of using e-portfolios to deepen studentsâ learning. We were interested in developing a structure that would enable us to determine how well our students were learning Augustanaâs core skill requirements (writing, speaking, critical thinking, and information literacy).
In âCalculating Final Course Grades: What About Dropping Scores or Offering a Replacement?â (The Teaching Professor March 2014), the editor notes that âsome students … assume that course content is a breeze, [so] the first exam serve[s] as a wake-up call.â (p. 6) In two Introductory Psychology classes (150 students), I recently implemented an effective three-step strategy for getting the best out of such students (and, indeed, all students).
I heard someone say today that heâs been teaching for 50 years and never really thought about his teaching. âI just go in there and teachâI donât think about it.â And here I am having spent something like 45 years thinking a lot about my own teaching and that of everyone else. From my perspective, itâs hard to imagine teaching without thinking about it.
Instructors commonly cope with a missed test or failed exam (this may also apply to quizzes) by letting students drop their lowest score. Sometimes the lowest score is replaced by an extra exam or quiz. Sometimes the tests are worth different amounts, with the first test worth less, the second worth a bit more, and the third worth more than the first twoâbut not as much as the final.
See if this sounds familiar.
Youâre scheduled to teach a course you have taught before that desperately needs revision. The content and pedagogy go back for a decade or more and are both sadly obsolete, or the grades have been abysmal and the students are threatening to revolt, or someone (the department head, a faculty committee, or you) has decided to offer the course online, or maybe youâre just bored and dread the thought of teaching it again.
I looked down into the menacing waters as a rogue wave jolted the raft. Trembling, I stepped back, my chattering teeth and throbbing heart in perfect sync.
âLetâs go!â It was Miss T, her tone, fierce and impatient.
Again, I crept forward, looking out toward the distant boat wondering how in the world I would ever make the 30-yard swim. Suddenly: hands on my shouldersâa push. I was airborne.
Trying to support students in an online course can create an unsustainable burden on the instructor. âIâve heard faculty members say things such as, âWhen I first started teaching online, I drowned in my course. I was making myself available 24 hours/seven days a week. If a student posted, I felt I had to reply immediately. They were counting on me regardless of time of day,ââ says Dr. Laurie Grosik, assistant professor in the master in health science program at Saint Francis University. In an interview with Online Classroom, she suggested ways to support online students without creating an undue burden on the instructor.
As faculty, it seems we are very concerned about cell phones in the classroom. Articles about the problem are popping up everywhere in the pedagogical literature, and they often are the âmost-readâ and âmost-commentedâ articles listed on various websites. Is student use of electronic devices that pressing of a pedagogical problem? Iâve been wondering if our focus on it isnât becoming excessive.
