Education Commons^™

The Teaching Portfolio, Peter Seldin, Linda Amis

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

One of the best ideas about the evaluation of teaching to come along in recent years is the teaching portfolio, which allows the individual instructor to create a well-documented history of his or her own teaching efforts and the thinking which undergirds them.

Impediments To Teaching A Culturally Diverse Undergraduate Population, Barbara Solomon

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

There are many societal factors within and outside the academy with which we must contend to help each student reach his or her potential. Most of all we must learn to recognize when the differences we see arise from the student, his cultural background, or the fact that he is, after all, a human being with much in common with all human beings.

Course Tests: Integral Features Of Instruction, Ohmer Milton

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The tests we give in class are one powerful means of communicating our intentions to the students. They should be recognized and respected as such.

Spectators And Gladiators: Reconnecting The Students With The Problem, John Boehrer

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Learning does not take place when the instructor does all the work. It is necessary for the students to get back into the game and do some of the grappling as they do in the case method of teaching.

So Much Content, So Little Time, Marilla D. Svinicki

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The universal complaint of faculty is that there is too much content to cover in the time allotted. Rather than complaining, perhaps we should re- examine how we go about choosing the content to include in a course. We might find we have more than we really need.

Countering Common Misbeliefs About Student Evaluation Of Teaching, Robert Boice

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

In spite of all evidence to the contrary some people continue to believe that student evaluation of teaching is “nothing but a popularity contest.” How much more useful it is to recognize what the students have to offer in the way of feedback on teaching.

Teaching: Beliefs And Behaviors, Robert J. Menges

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Our beliefs about learning shape the behaviors of our teaching. We need to be aware of what they are and how they influence our actions.

Collaborative Learning: Reframing The Classroom, Jean Macgregor

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The method of collaborative learning goes far beyond a change in teaching methodology. It is a change in the whole relationship between learners and the environment.

Forward To Aristotle: Teaching As The Highest Form Of Understanding, Russell Edgerton

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

There is more to teaching than a mere grasp of content. The act of teaching itself is a complex and fascinating experience which goes beyond simply knowing the subject and talking about it.

Why Professors Don't Change, Loren Ekroth

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Even if professors wanted to change their teaching methods, the ways they define themselves and stabilizing aspects of their academic situations often resist their attempts to change.

The Challenge Of Teaching The Introductory-Level Course, Delivee L. Wright

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Introductory-level courses usually offer many more and greater challenges than do advanced courses, and it is appropriate that they be delivered by the most effective instructors.

Critical Thinking By Design, Joanne Gainen Kurfiss

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay offers guidelines for increasing the critical thinking potential of courses in the disciplines in higher education.

The Meaning Of College Grades, James Eison

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The often confusing and inconsistent character of academic grades in higher education can be greatly reduced by suggestions offered in this essay.

Rethinking What It Means To Be A Scholar, R. Eugene Rice

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

A broader and more accurate definition of scholarship also includes the integration of knowledge, the application of knowledge, and the representation and dissemination of knowledge-teaching.

Teaching In Action: Criteria For Effective Practice, Ronald Smith, Fred Schwartz

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay describes ways through which teachers enhance their teaching art within the process of teaching itself.

If Learning Involves Risk-Taking, Teaching Involves Trust-Building, Marilla Svinicki

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

If Learning Involves Risk-taking, Teaching Involves Trust-building, by Marilla Svinicki, University of Texas-Austin

The premise of this article is that learning, like all other creative acts, will flourish in an atmosphere in which the learner is willing to take risks, and it is the task of the instructor to create such an atmosphere for learning. If we accept this view of learning as risk-taking, we can begin to confront the factors that discourage students from taking risks and build a class environment where learning becomes less of a risk, or where the risk-taking in learning becomes valued instead of dreaded. …