Articles

Developing Students’ Self-Directed Learning Skills

Self-directed learning skills involve the ability to manage learning tasks without having them directed by others. They are skills necessary for effective lifelong learning and are one of many learning skills students are expected to develop in college. The expectation is that students will become self-directed learners as they mature and gain content knowledge. Here’s a study showing how students can become self-directed with explicit instruction.

Maryellen Weimer, PhD October 26, 2010

Lecture Capture: A New Way to Think about Hybrid Courses

“Hybrid education” has become a hot catchphrase recently as faculty blend face-to-face learning with online technology. But the growth of hybrid education has been steered by the unstated assumption that hybrid technology should be used to facilitate discussion outside of the classroom, while classroom time should be spent lecturing.

John Orlando, PhD October 25, 2010

When Internal Candidates Apply for a Position

Any process that involves the hiring of a new member of the faculty or staff has to be taken very seriously. Yet when a search involves an incumbent (i.e., someone who currently occupies the position for which you are searching and who will be replaced by the person you hire) or an internal candidate (i.e., an applicant who is already employed by the institution, but in a different capacity), the complexity of the process increases exponentially. For this reason, there are several guidelines that should always be followed.

Jeffrey Buller PhD. October 21, 2010

More on Working With Part-Time Faculty to Enhance Teaching and the Curriculum: A Top 10 List

Editor’s Note: In yesterday’s article, the authors introduced steps for overcoming some of the administrative challenges when working with part-time faculty. Here, in part two of the article, they outline strategies for overcoming some of the pedagogical challenges.

Richard Leblanc and Sandra Scott October 20, 2010

Working With Part-Time Faculty to Enhance Teaching and the Curriculum: A Top 10 List

Part-time faculty make essential contributions to our programs. Their part-time status often limits their contact with other faculty and their knowledge about the program in which they are teaching. Program coordinators and directors often provide the only contact between the two, and so play a critical but challenging leadership role. However, coordinators may also tend to work in isolation from one another and may lack opportunities to share experiences and learn from one another.

Richard Leblanc and Sandra Scott October 19, 2010

Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Harassment: Navigating the Murky Legal Waters of Online Teaching

If you teach online, here’s a simple quiz for you:

Are you familiar with your college’s intellectual property policy?
Do you know if you own the class material you have created?
Do you have permission to use all copyrighted materials you use regularly?
Do you know how to prevent defamation and harassment issues online?
Do you have a disability expert on campus that regularly assists in the development of online materials so that you do not violate disability guidelines?

Mary Bart October 18, 2010

When Mentoring New Faculty, Don’t Ignore These Issues

Beginning college teachers benefit when they have an instructional mentor. That fact is well established; as is the fact that mentoring benefits those who mentor. The influx of new faculty over the past few years has caused mentoring programs to flourish. All kinds of activities have been proposed so that mentors and mentees can spend their time together profitably. Addressed less often are those instructional topics particularly beneficial for the experienced and less-experienced teachers to address. Here’s a list of possibilities.

Maryellen Weimer, PhD October 15, 2010

Do More Tests Lead to More Learning?

Most college teachers assume that more tests are better than a few. Why? What caused us to decide on three or four unit tests followed by a final? Is there evidence that students don’t do as well in courses where there are only a midterm and a final? Why do we think that more tests might be better? And what do we mean by better? Higher grades? More learning?

Maryellen Weimer, PhD October 14, 2010

Three Tips for Handling Disruptive Online Students

Disruptive students, in any teaching and learning environment, are a challenge to manage, but they can be particularly so online. And it may take longer for an instructor to realize that a student is actually being disruptive online, since online communications can be ambiguous and one always wants to give students the benefit of the doubt.

Susan Ko PhD October 12, 2010

Online vs. Face-to-Face Throwdown: Good Teaching Transcends Course Format

In the 2009 report, Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies, the Department of Education reported that “on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”

Mary Bart October 11, 2010

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