Education Commons^™

Stalled At The Gate: Addressing Student Failure In A "Gateway" Course, Susan Rhoades Neel

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

This article is a case study of how student data can guide instructors in course redesign. A significant percentage of students enrolled in an American Civilization course did not successfully complete the course. An examination of ACT scores, GPAs, grades in math and English composition, reading tests, and assignment completion rates indicated that two key obstacles to student success were a lack of student engagement and a disparity between student reading capabilities and the required instructional materials. Following a change in the topical focus of the course, the addition of active learning projects, and supplemental aids to the textbook, course …

Take Off! How To Make Your College Course More Exciting, Andreas K. Wesemann

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

TAKE OFF!

How to make your college course more exciting

As many universities transition to online Learning Management Systems (LMS), many of the traditional techniques familiar and used by generations of professors are lost in the process. Utah State University has moved to the CANVAS LMS, and there are many methods to incorporate these former strategies, and new applications that online systems bring to keep millennial learners engaged, excited and entertained while maintaining the educational purpose of courses. But for some of the seasoned professors who haven’t yet made the leap, a few simple steps can have tremendous impact on …

Engaging Students In A Synchronous Distance Setting: Asking Online Questions, Christopher J. Hartwell

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

One major challenge in higher education is engaging student in the learning process, and this challenge is of particular concern in synchronous broadcast classes, where students are geographically dispersed. This paper argues that the use of online questions, that students can respond to using their electronic devices, is an effective way to increase student participation and engagement in such settings. Personal experience with one particular online question platform – Poll Everywhere (www.polleverywhere.com) – is used to illustrate potential capabilities, question types. Both advantages and challenges of using online questions are discussed.