Every time you ask a question in class, monitor a student discussion, or read a term paper, you are evaluating learning. Moreover, the evaluation process (whether it involves examinations or not) is a valuable part of the teaching process. The primary purpose of evaluation is to provide corrective feedback to the student, the secondary purpose…
Read moreMany college teachers use a simple, content-centered planning model. By contrast, the planning model presented in this section focuses on the student rather than on the content. The operative planning questions are: – In what ways will students be better thinkers when they finish the course? – What should students be able to do with…
Read moreThrough a liberal education students acquire frames of reference and the ability to analyze and reflect that influence how they view their experience and how they choose to behave. If this is a desired outcome of a liberal education, how can we as educators help students achieve it? A number of institutions of higher education…
Read moreThe teacher-led discussion is used in college classrooms to help students develop a deeper understanding of course material and practice basic thinking skills. This type of discussion fits easily into lecture courses and is often employed in separate discussion sections for large classes. Although teachers appreciate the importance of class discussions for achieving higher-order objectives,…
Read moreWhat is good teaching? Who is a good teacher? The search for the answers to these questions has become for teacher education a search for an educational Holy Grail. While appearing to be deceptively simple and seductively straightforward, these questions have instigated an enduring and ever-multiplying research tradition as well as a many sided international…
Read moreService-learning, the newest name for a teaching strategy that has been used successfully for many years, integrates community service into a traditional academic curriculum. Courses that have a service component can help students connect material learned in class and experiences acquired in their placements. Ideally, this should be a two-way process: students should apply what…
Read moreSetting high standards for student learning is important, but if we are to attain true excellence in our schools, we must have even higher expectations for teachers. Traditional preparation and certification programs are failing to provide sufficient quality and are deterring many talented candidates from entering the classroom. To address these realities, states are exploring…
Read moreNow is the time to begin a focused discussion of education reform at the national level and that this discussion should be rooted in an appreciation of and understanding of the reform successes among the states. Washington, in other words, can learn a great deal from what has happened to education among the states and…
Read moreAs a shortage of teachers grows toward crisis proportions, the nation’s schools are struggling against twin burdens to hire well-prepared new teachers and to keep them from leaving the profession. Many schools, particularly those in urban areas, have turned to formal programs of training and support for novice teachers as a way of easing what…
Read moreCustom course packs give university instructors enormous freedom in course design. Unlike traditional textbooks, course packs can take any shape, and can be tailored to fit almost any subject matter, teaching method, or educational goal. These qualities, combined with their reasonable cost, make course packs very popular among university instructors. Cost aside, however, many university…
Read moreAs teachers, we tend to present material to our classes in the form of the results of our discipline’s work. We collect the data, do the reading and synthesize the material into a finished product. Students, in their assignments and exams, are generally expected to demonstrate that they have learned what we as scholars have…
Read moreMany teachers devote the first class meeting to giving a general description of the course and its requirements and, after answering questions about the course, either begin to lecture or dismiss the class early. But there are many things you can do on the first day that will help establish rapport with the students, prepare…
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