Education Commons^™

The Useful, Sensible, No-Frills Departmental Assessment Plan, Barbara E. Walvoord

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Academic departments from physics to philosophy to physical therapy face new demands for “assessment of student learning.” It’s hard to argue against the basic idea of assessment: when a department invests time and resources trying to nurture student learning, it should ask itself: Are they learning? Yet departments may also fear that assessment will require them to dumb-down their teaching; use standardized tests; teach alike; or compromise academic freedom. Every department wonders how it will find the time and resources for one more thing.

This essay suggests a simple, sustainable, and useful departmental assessment plan that capitalizes on what departments …

Incorporating Course-Level Evidence Of Student Learning Into Program Assessment, Nancy Simpson, Laurel Willingham-Mclain

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Assessment works well when it draws on faculty expertise and is integrated into students’ daily learning experiences. This essay argues for course-embedded assessment and outlines sound practices, practical steps, and examples.

Microteaching To Maximize Feedback, Peer Engagement, And Teaching Enhancement, Barbara J. Millis, Gosia Samojlowicz

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

A proven, highly structured microteaching model that goes beyond mere presentation skills and “shooting-from-the-hip” group feedback has successfully prepared both faculty and graduate students for their teaching responsibilities. This approach uses a three-part process: (1) presentation; (2) one-on-one feedback from mentor while the group, using structured roles, prepares feedback; and (3) group feedback that is both constructive and consensus-based.

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Student Writing (But Were Afraid To Ask), Michael Reder

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

What should all faculty know about using and assigning writing inside and outside of the classroom? This essay offers ideas for faculty to use writing to help students learn material, strategies for designing and sequencing formal written assignment, and a well-tested (and time-saving) framework for offering students feedback on their writing.

Opening The Door: Faculty Leadership In Institutional Change, Rick Holmgren

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

As faculty, we too often feel overwhelmed by an excessive workload, an unfriendly administration, and an unforgiving evaluation system. In this essay, we explore initiatives we can reasonably expect to implement to create an institutional environment in which we can develop and flourish as teachers.

When Motivating Generation Y In The Classroom, Jim Westerman

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Generation Y students have matured and developed in an artificial, technologically-centered environment significantly different from what prior generations have experienced. This essay examines the impact of this environment on student classroom expectations and provides suggestions for how faculty can adapt their pedagogy to be successful.

Student Plagiarism: How To Maintain Academic Integrity, Ludy Goodson

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Plagiarism detection tools undermine academic integrity when they ignore student copyright protections, contribute to a vendor’s unauthorized commercial gains, fail to detect many forms of plagiarism, and require instructors to do the real detection. By becoming aware of these realities and possibilities, instructors can develop more effective strategies to reduce plagiarism while simultaneously enhancing students’ academic performance.

Information Literacy: Imperatives For Faculty, Leora Baron-Nixon

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

With the burgeoning of information, and especially the unfettered growth of online information, long-held assumptions about students’ access to and interaction with information have to be re-evaluated. Faculty play a key role in ensuring that information literacy skills are acquired and practiced at all levels of instruction.

When Disability Enters A Teacher’S Life, Must The Teacher Stop Teaching?, Laura L. B. Border

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Disabilities are usually discussed in academe in the context of the undergraduate student population; nevertheless, graduate students and faculty also represent a certain percentage of persons with disabilities. This essay presents a case study and an analysis of a consultation with a graduate instructor, inviting us to examine the issues of disability in the life of a teacher.

Laughter-Piece Theatre: Humor As A Systematic Teaching Tool, Ronald A. Berk

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Humor can be used to bring students and deadly boring content to life. It can hook your students, engage their emotions, and focus their minds and eyeballs on learning.

Leveling The Field: Using Rubrics To Achieve Greater Equity In Teaching And Grading, Dannelle D. Stevens, Antonia Levi

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Rubrics can be used to assure greater consistency in grading and as a teaching tool to promote greater equity, especially with students who are first generation and /or non-native speakers of English.

Student Teams, Teaching, And Technology, Ruth Federman Stein, Sandra N. Hurd

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Using student teams in the classroom actively involves students in the learning process. This essay describes the planning necessary for effective use of teams and the impact of technology on the team learning environment.

Practice Tests: A Practical Teaching Method, Margaret K. Snooks

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Learn about the development, implementation and evaluation of short daily practice tests. Student response is overwhelmingly positive, and learning improvement is evidenced by higher semester averages.

Using Student-Centered Assessment To Enhance Learning, Joseph "Mick" Lalopa

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Student-centered assessment allows students to participate in their growth as learners and helps build valuable self-assessment skills.

From Passive To Active Learning: Helping Students Make The Shift, Marilla Svinicki

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Being active and self-directed as a learner makes for better learning and retention, but what does that mean for students and for instruction?

Assessing Students’ Online Learning: Strategies And Resources, Patricia Comeaux

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Explore key strategies used by experienced online instructors, and learn about the wealth of resources for designing assessment instruments integral to online learning.

Teaching Portfolios For Graduate Students: Process, Content, Product, And Benefits, Laura L. B. Border

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The graduate student teaching portfolio is an excellent tool to guide graduate students in their development and success as they begin to clarify who they are, what they want to teach, and where they want to teach.

The Power Of Student Stories: Connections That Enhance Learning, Peter Frederick

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Telling and listening to student stories connects our students’ prior experiences and knowledge and their hopes and fears with the core learning goals teachers value and thereby furthers deeper learning.

Powerpoint: What Is The Point, Eugene V. Gallagher, Michael Reder

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay summarizes the literature on PowerPoint as a tool for learning, addresses both its potential problems as well as its possibilities, and offers guidelines on its effective use in teaching.

Transitions: What’S Love Got To Do With It?, Kathleen T. Brinko

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay addresses strategies for managing the transition of new faculty into the academy in order to avoid disenchantment and leaving the academy before tenure.

Teaching For Diversity And Inclusiveness In Science, Technology, Engineering And Math (Stem), Angela Linse, Wayne Jacobson, Lois Reddick

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay explores the challenges STEM faculty face in recognizing, developing and implementing classroom practices that support diverse students.

Validity, Research, And Reality: Student Ratings Of Instruction At The Crossroads, Jennifer Franklin

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay explores how student ratings of instruction can address the rise of new paradigms of instruction such as active learning strategies and web-based delivery modes.

A Roadmap To Part-Time Faculty Success, Terri A. Tarr

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay offers practical strategies to help part-time faculty navigate the twists and turns of teaching part-time, enhance their teaching effectiveness, and make their roles more personally satisfying.

Teaching Bioethics Through Participation And Policy-Making, Karey A. Harwood

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The teaching of bioethics calls for a balance between conceptual analysis and the use of concrete cases in order to further students’ ability to reason critically and develop the traits of engaged citizens.

Why Knowing About Disciplinary Differences Can Mean More Effective Teaching, Michele Marinkovich, Jack Prostko

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay explores some of the latest research on how disciplinary differences affect faculty’s teaching in subtle and often unconscious ways.

The Pod Network Reading Packets 2004-05: For Use With Consultations, Workshops, Seminars, Classes

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Packet #1 : Alternatives to Traditional Teaching Methods and Learning Strategies

Packet #2: Cooperative/Collaborative Learning, Small Groups

Packet #3: Critical Thinking

Packet #4: Defining and Characterizing Teaching

Packet #5: Diversity Issues

Packet #6: Evaluation and Grading Issues

Packet #7: Improvement of Teaching and Assessment

Packet #8: Introductory Courses / General Education

Packet #9: Motivating Students

Packet #10: The Student/Teacher Relationship

Packet #11 : Change, Renewal, and the Professoriate

Packet #12: Thoughts on the Future

Packet #13: Technology and Related Issues

Packet #14: The Learning Process

Essays On Teaching Excellence: A Fresh Vision, 2004-2005 Catalog

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

2004-2005 Essays on Teaching Excellence

Fall Essays 2004

Transitions: What's Love Got to Do With It? By Kate Brinko, Appalachian State University

The Power of Student Stories: Connections that Enhance Learning, by Peter Frederick, Wabash College

PowerPoint: What is the Point, by Eugene Gallagher & Michael Reder, Connecticut College

Teaching Bioethics through Participation and Policy-Making, by Karey Harwood, North Carolina State University

Spring Essays 2005

Validity, Research, and Reality: Student Ratings of Instruction at the Crossroads, by Jennifer Franklin, California State University-Dominguez Hills

Why Knowing About Disciplinary Differences Can Mean More Effective Teaching, by Michele Marincovich, Stanford University & Jack …

Self-Efficacy In College Teaching, Anita Woolfolk-Hoy

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The essay describes self-efficacy (that is, an instructor’s judgment about his or her capability to promote student learning and motivation) and its application to college teaching.

Taking Self Assessment Seriously, Georgine Loacker

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay provides a framework for students to examine and reflect upon their own performance as a demonstration of learning. It further describes students’ role in directing the ongoing development of their own learning.

Student Plagiarism: Are Teachers Part Of The Solution Or Part Of The Problem?, Chris M. Anson

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay explores ways in which instructors can subvert opportunities for plagiarism by rethinking limited models of writing and engaging students more fully and authentically in the assignments they present.