Resources by The Wabash Center

Podcast Series. Dialogues with faculty teaching religion and theology in a wide range of institutional contexts. Illuminating the teaching life and amplifying the Wabash Center’s mission.

Podcast. Higher Ed Rewired (from The California State University) engages higher education leaders in a conversation, expanding the discussion of implementing high quality instruction, addressing institutional challenges and highlighting innovation that has the potential to enhance student success.

One of four short essays published in this issue of the journal to celebrate the 25th anniversary of bell hooks's classic book, Teaching to Transgress (1994). The authors reflect on the importance of this text for their teaching, when they discovered it, and how it has shaped their approach to the classroom, as illustrated in a particular teaching strategy or assignment that they have used that is inspired by the book.

One of four short essays published in this issue of the journal to celebrate the 25th anniversary of bell hooks's classic text book, Teaching to Transgress (1994). The authors reflect on the importance of this text for their teaching, when they discovered it, and how it has shaped their approach to the classroom, as illustrated in a particular teaching strategy or assignment that they have used that is inspired by the book.

Courses on religion and the environment must confront racism and white privilege in order to remain relevant for the diverse students who increasingly fill higher education classrooms. Recognizing that traditional approaches for understanding environmentalism can isolate students of color by failing to recognize their own communities and experiences, I offer two assignments – Ecological Footprint Journals and a community‐based research project – that empower students to think of environmentalism in new, more relevant ways. This approach has benefitted my students by displacing the dominance of Eurocentric thinking in my curriculum and creating a class culture that values diverse perspectives. It has also profoundly shaped my research trajectory, by helping me identify raced and classed biases that are embedded in my field, and leading me to develop a research project that complements my teaching by challenging some of those hidden assumptions.

This article uses womanist ethics and theories of writing instruction to illuminate the experiences of black women seminarians with theological writing at a predominantly white institution. The three cases presented here highlight two ethics for teaching and evaluating theological writing: clarity and creativity. Already triply marginalized by race, sex, and class, black women are often greeted with unwritten norms around academic theological writing that threaten their self‐concept and their development as producers of theological knowledge. This work centers reflections of student‐learning on the voices of black women who found their own ways of negotiating these demands. Their responses to the problems of writing for and in white, male‐dominated theological discourses provide moral strategies that all writers can employ and that all theology professors can make a regular part of their ethical pedagogical practice.

One of four short essays published in this issue of the journal to celebrate the 25th anniversary of bell hooks's classic book, Teaching to Transgress (1994). The authors reflect on the importance of this text for their teaching, when they discovered it, and how it has shaped their approach to the classroom, as illustrated in a particular teaching strategy or assignment that they have used that is inspired by the book.

One of four short essays published in this issue of the journal to celebrate the 25th anniversary of bell hooks's classic book, Teaching to Transgress (1994). The authors reflect on the importance of this text for their teaching, when they discovered it, and how it has shaped their approach to the classroom, as illustrated in a particular teaching strategy or assignment that they have used that is inspired by the book.

In this essay I review the advantages and challenges of contingent faculty service from a perspective which crosses programs, but chiefly from within one academic institution, a church‐related but independent theological seminary. I anecdotally relate certain “value‐added” potentialities which accrue for students and instruction when an adjunct faculty's primary institutional connections are outside the academic environment. I cite benefits to the student, school, and instructor. See companion essays published in this issue of the journal by Hoon J. Lee, Adam Wirrig, Bradley Burroughs, and Kyle A. Schenkewitz.

Many colleges and universities employ contingent faculty to meet various needs. Utilizing contingent teachers as single‐course adjuncts or full‐time faculty members can be beneficial to institutions and teachers alike. While acknowledging the positive, long‐term impact on current students, short‐term teaching faculty face challenges that warrant further consideration by institutions relying on contingent faculty labor. This essay centers upon the experience of one faculty member and some of the ways being contingent affects building relationships with students, mentoring and teaching effectively, and developing courses and programs. I argue that, even when contingent faculty strive to do their best, the limited nature of their employment creates a barrier to their own flourishing and the contributions they can make to the students and institutions they serve. See companion essays published in this issue of the journal by Hoon J. Lee, Adam Wirrig, Bradley Burroughs, and Charles Harrell.

Reflecting upon the author's experiences as an assistant professor and an adjunct instructor, this essay considers two characteristics of adjunct teaching that threaten adjuncts themselves and the educational effectiveness of the institutions at which they teach. First, adjuncts routinely experience a sense of disenfranchisement in determining the direction of those institutions. Second, adjuncts' contingent status makes them peculiarly vulnerable to perverse incentives that tempt them to reduce the rigor of their courses. While acknowledging that adjuncts can take measures to combat these threats, this essay highlights ways in which deans, department chairs, and senior faculty can engage with adjunct instructors in ways that convey appreciation, lend support, and help them to grow as teachers. Not only do such measures foster adjuncts' sense of connection to the institution, but they are crucial to preventing the unjust exploitation of adjunct labor. See companion essays published in this issue of the journal by Hoon J. Lee, Adam Wirrig, Kyle Schenkewitz, and Charles Harrell.

The world of the modern academy relies heavily upon contingent faculty in the teaching and training of students. Theological studies readily evidences this practice in innumerable ways. While the contingent faculty member is intrinsic to the mission of many modern schools, this piece ponders whether or not a trade‐off exists in the quality of learning contingent faculty can offer in comparison to residential or tenure track faculty members? The piece explores the constraints that many contingent faculty face in the world of theological education and asks the academy at large if such limits are something it really feels comfortable with. Ultimately, the piece voices a view that the modern academy must come to grips with its utilization of contingent faculty both for the sake of those faculty members, but more‐so for the sake of its students. See companion essays published in this issue of the journal by Hoon J. Lee, Bradley Burroughs, Kyle Schenkewitz, and Charles Harrell.

Contingent teaching has become the norm in most institutions. While the use of adjuncts and other non‐tenure track professors shows no sign of slowing down, the nature of contingent teaching is less known. This article examines how contingent teaching directly impacts the professor's teaching. My experience teaching religious studies courses from 2014 to the present has shown how contingent status affects significant issues such as the time and structure of teaching. Time is an essential component in teaching well. How the course is structured is equally important, or perhaps even more so, and has significant ramifications for a course. However, the nature of contingent labor impacts how time and structure is implemented in a course. This influences how I interact with the course material, the students, the department, and my ability to teach. See companion essays published in this issue of the journal by Adam Wirrig, Bradley Burroughs, Kyle Schenkewitz, and Charles Harrell.

One of three short companion essays to Terry Shoemaker's “World Religion and Fake News: A Pedagogical Response in an Age of Post‐Truth,” published in this issue of the journal.

One of three short companion essays to Terry Shoemaker's “World Religion and Fake News: A Pedagogical Response in an Age of Post‐Truth,” published in this issue of the journal.

One of three short companion essays to Terry Shoemaker's “World Religion and Fake News: A Pedagogical Response in an Age of Post‐Truth,” published in this issue of the journal.

This article describes a pedagogical response to teaching world religions courses in a post‐truth age. The course assignment and its application, utilized in both online and in‐person formats, bridge student academic pursuits with religious traditions, require students to engage with source‐based journalism, and extend beyond the classroom into many of the contemporary politics encroaching upon the humanities fields. Related to the first, the objective of the assignment is for students to discover that religiosity permeates multiple sectors, both private and public, corresponding with student career paths. As a result, students discover that religion is relevant to their academic pursuits and that they must consider the possibilities of how religion might integrate with their career choices. Regarding the second objective, the assignment develops student digital media literacy skills as a form of civic education that challenges the current political attacks on journalism and factuality. Last, this exercise acknowledges the realities facing many humanities programs across the country and offers this assignment as a way of engaging with those issues within the classroom. See as well, published in this issue of the journal, three short companion essays by Sarah L. Schwarz, Jonathan R. Herman, and Harshita Mruthinti Kamath, each of which analyzes this pedagogical strategy for their particular teaching contexts.

The need to confront issues of race and white supremacy in our teaching of religion is critically important, but through the pedagogical convention of naming, we take the first step in inviting our students to understand the hows and whys of it. I will explore the ways that Charles Long's theory of signification and counter‐signification can be pedagogically deployed to incorporate intersectional interventions in the teaching of religion in America, specifically in the case of an Islam in America course.

This conversation between the 2018 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching Award winner Jill DeTemple and the editors of Teaching Theology and Religion continues an occasional series of interviews that has previously featured Jonathan Z. Smith, Stephen Prothero, Mary Pierce Brosmer, Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore, and two previous AAR Teaching Award Winners, Joanne Maguire and Lynn Neal. After initial discussion about teaching the intro course we launch into a long discussion of “Reflective Structured Dialogue” – an effective teaching technique for staging contentious conversations, building trust and understanding, and a dialogic culture of curiosity.

This conversation between the 2018 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching Award winner Jill DeTemple and the editors of Teaching Theology and Religion continues an occasional series of interviews that has previously featured Jonathan Z. Smith, Stephen Prothero, Mary Pierce Brosmer, Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore, and two previous AAR Teaching Award Winners, Joanne Maguire and Lynn Neal. After initial discussion about teaching the intro course we launch into a long discussion of “Reflective Structured Dialogue” – an effective teaching technique for staging contentious conversations, building trust and understanding, and a dialogic culture of curiosity.

This conversation between the 2018 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching Award winner Jill DeTemple and the editors of Teaching Theology and Religion continues an occasional series of interviews that has previously featured Jonathan Z. Smith, Stephen Prothero, Mary Pierce Brosmer, Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore, and two previous AAR Teaching Award Winners, Joanne Maguire and Lynn Neal. After initial discussion about teaching the intro course we launch into a long discussion of “Reflective Structured Dialogue” – an effective teaching technique for staging contentious conversations, building trust and understanding, and a dialogic culture of curiosity.

This conversation between the 2018 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching Award winner Jill DeTemple and the editors of Teaching Theology and Religion continues an occasional series of interviews that has previously featured Jonathan Z. Smith, Stephen Prothero, Mary Pierce Brosmer, Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore, and two previous AAR Teaching Award Winners, Joanne Maguire and Lynn Neal. After initial discussion about teaching the intro course we launch into a long discussion of “Reflective Structured Dialogue” – an effective teaching technique for staging contentious conversations, building trust and understanding, and a dialogic culture of curiosity.

This conversation between the 2018 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching Award winner Jill DeTemple and the editors of Teaching Theology and Religion continues an occasional series of interviews that has previously featured Jonathan Z. Smith, Stephen Prothero, Mary Pierce Brosmer, Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore, and two previous AAR Teaching Award Winners, Joanne Maguire and Lynn Neal. After initial discussion about teaching the intro course we launch into a long discussion of “Reflective Structured Dialogue” – an effective teaching technique for staging contentious conversations, building trust and understanding, and a dialogic culture of curiosity.

This conversation between the 2018 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching Award winner Jill DeTemple and the editors of Teaching Theology and Religion continues an occasional series of interviews that has previously featured Jonathan Z. Smith, Stephen Prothero, Mary Pierce Brosmer, Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore, and two previous AAR Teaching Award Winners, Joanne Maguire and Lynn Neal. After initial discussion about teaching the intro course we launch into a long discussion of “Reflective Structured Dialogue” – an effective teaching technique for staging contentious conversations, building trust and understanding, and a dialogic culture of curiosity.

This project proposes to look at the emergence of Black theology as a discipline within the academy and how Black theology may serve as a resource for excellence in teaching. (From the Publisher)

World-renowned theologian Jeremy Begbie has been at the forefront of teaching and writing on theology and the arts for more than twenty years. Amid current debates and discussions on the topic, Begbie emphasizes the role of a biblically grounded creedal orthodoxy as he shows how Christian theology and the arts can enrich each other. He explains the importance of critically examining key terms, concepts, and thought patterns commonly employed in theology-arts discourse today, arguing that notions such as "beauty" and "sacrament" are too often adopted uncritically without due attention given to how an orientation to the Triune God's self-disclosure in Christ might lead us to reshape and invest these notions with fresh content. Throughout A Peculiar Orthodoxy, Begbie demonstrates the power of classic trinitarian faith to bring illumination, surprise, and delight whenever it engages with the arts. (From the Publisher)

From the Executive Summary: As the U.S. population has grown more racially and ethnically diverse, so too have students across all levels of higher education. The Hispanic population’s growing numbers and rising postsecondary enrollment rates figured centrally in both trends. While much progress has been made for nearly all groups, we nonetheless see stagnant and low levels of secondary school completion, college participation, and educational attainment for many communities of color. At both the undergraduate and graduate levels, advances in Black students’ enrollment and attainment have been accompanied by some of the lowest persistence rates, highest undergraduate dropout rates, highest borrowing rates, and largest debt burdens of any group. How students pay for higher education varied considerably by race and ethnicity, especially in terms of who borrows and who leaves college with high levels of student loan debt. Racial and ethnic diversity among college faculty, staff, and administrators still doesn’t reflect that of today’s college students.

Webinar.

Podcast.

A free online resource intended to help theological educators integrate ministry-related digital literacies throughout theological education curricula. The toolkit includes model assignments, teaching activities, and how-to guides for teaching with technology, and links to relevant research.  

This book presents the research-based case that Learner Centered Teaching (LCT) offers the best means to optimize student learning in college, and offers examples and ideas for putting it into practice, as well the underlying rationale. It also starts from the premise that many faculty are much closer to being learner centered teachers than they think, but don’t have the full conceptual understanding of the process to achieve its full impact. There is sometimes a gap between what we would like to achieve in our teaching and the knowledge and strategies needed to make it happen. LCT keeps all of the good features of a teacher-centered approach and applies them in ways that are in better harmony with how our brains learn. It, for instance, embraces the teacher as expert as well as the appropriate use of lecture, while also offering new, effective ways to replace practices that don’t optimizing student learning. Neuroscience, biology and cognitive science research have made it clear that it is the one who does the work who does the learning. Many faculty do too much of the work for their students, which results in diminished student learning. To enable faculty to navigate this shift, Terry Doyle presents an LCT-based approach to course design that draws on current brain research on cognition and learning; on addressing the affective concerns of students; on proven approaches to improve student’s comprehension and recall; on transitioning from “teller of knowledge” to a “facilitator of learning”; on the design of authentic assessment strategies – such as engaging students in learning experiences that model the real world work they will be asked to do when they graduate; and on successful communication techniques. The presentation is informed by the questions and concerns raised by faculty from over sixty colleges with whom Terry Doyle has worked; and on the response from an equal number of regional, national and international conferences at which he has presented on topics related to LCT. (From the Publisher)

What makes the modern university different from any other corporation?' asked Columbia's Andrew Delbanco recently in the New York Times. 'There is more and more reason to think: less and less,' he answered.In this provocative book, Frank Donoghue shows how this growing corporate culture of higher education threatens its most fundamental values by erasing one of its defining features: the tenured professor.Taking a clear-eyed look at American higher education over the last twenty years, Donoghue outlines a web of forces—social, political, and institutional—dismantling the professoriate. Today, fewer than 30 percent of college and university teachers are tenured or on tenure tracks, and signs point to a future where professors will disappear. Why? What will universities look like without professors? Who will teach? Why should it matter? The fate of the professor, Donoghue shows, has always been tied to that of the liberal arts —with thehumanities at its core. The rise to prominence of the American university has been defined by the strength of the humanities and by the central role of the autonomous, tenured professor who can be both scholar and teacher. Yet in today's market-driven, rank- and ratings-obsessed world of higher education, corporate logic prevails: faculties are to be managed for optimal efficiency, productivity, and competitive advantage; casual armies of adjuncts and graduate students now fill the demand for teachers.Bypassing the distractions of the culture wars and other 'crises,' Donoghue sheds light on the structural changes in higher education—the rise of community colleges and for-profit universities, the frenzied pursuit ofprestige everywhere, the brutally competitive realities facing new Ph.D.s —that threaten the survival of professors as we've known them. There are no quick fixes in The Last Professors; rather, Donoghue offers his fellow teachers and scholarsan essential field guide to making their way in a world that no longer has room for their dreams. (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Best Practices for Flipping the College Classroom provides a comprehensive overview and systematic assessment of the flipped classroom methodology in higher education. The book: • Reviews various pedagogical theories that inform flipped classroom practice and provides a brief history from its inception in K–12 to its implementation in higher education. • Offers well-developed and instructive case studies chronicling the implementation of flipped strategies across a broad spectrum of academic disciplines, physical environments, and student populations. • Provides insights and suggestions to instructors in higher education for the implementation of flipped strategies in their own courses by offering reflections on learning outcomes and student success in flipped classrooms compared with those employing more traditional models and by describing relevant technologies. • Discusses observations and analyses of student perceptions of flipping the classroom as well as student practices and behaviors particular to flipped classroom models. • Illuminates several research models and approaches for use and modification by teacher-scholars interested in building on this research on their own campuses. The evidence presented on the flipped classroom methodology by its supporters and detractors at all levels has thus far been almost entirely anecdotal or otherwise unreliable. Best Practices for Flipping the College Classroomis the first book to provide faculty members nuanced qualitative and quantitative evidence that both supports and challenges the value of flipping the college classroom. (From the Publisher)

Podcast Series. Leading thinkers in the church, the academy, and the non-profit world giving the talk of their lives in 20-minutes or less.

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Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Understanding living religion requires students to experience everyday religious practice in diverse environments and communities. This guide provides the ideal introduction to fieldwork and the study of religion outside the lecture theatre. Covering theoretical and practical dimensions of research, the book helps students learn to ‘read’ religious sites and communities, and to develop their understanding of planning, interaction, observation, participation and interviews. Students are encouraged to explore their own expectations and sensitivities, and to develop a good understanding of ethical issues, group-learning and individual research. The chapters contain student testimonies, examples of student work and student-led questions. (From the Publisher)

The first step forward in working with today's youth is to create a dialogue, and that is exactly what this exciting new book does. It helps you provide opportunities for young people to open up and explore their feelings through theatre, offering a safe place for them to air their views with dignity, respect, and freedom. The purpose of this manual is to provide a clear look at the process and specifics involved in the Hope Is Vital interactive theatre techniques. The organization is sequential, providing a blueprint for creating a workable plan. Beginning with warm-up exercises and bridging activities, the process moves forward to improvisational scenework, where students actually replace characters in the stories. It is at this point that young people engage in their own mini-theatre and look at choices, strategies, and communication. Teachers will want to read this book. Counselors will want to read this book. Community leaders will want to read this book. It is useful in any group setting or as a tool for outreach. (From the Publisher)

Journal Issue.

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: As web-enabled mobile technologies become increasingly integrated into formal learning environments, the fields of education and ICT (information and communication technology) are merging to create a new kind of classroom: CrossActionSpaces. Grounding its exploration of these co-located communication spaces in global empirical research, Digital Didactical Designs facilitates the development of teachers into collaborative designers and evaluators of technology-driven teaching and learning experiences—learning through reflective making. The Digital Didactical Design model promotes deep learning expeditions with a framework that encourages teachers and researchers to study, explore, and analyze the applied designs-in-practice. The book presents critical views of contemporary education, theories of socio-technical systems and behavior patterns, and concludes with a look into the conceptual and practical prototypes that might emerge in schools and universities in the near future. (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: In this volume, the authors focus on the importance of inclusive teaching and the role faculty can play in helping students achieve, though not necessarily in the same way. To teach with a focus on inclusion means to believe that every person has the ability to learn. It means that most individuals want to learn, to improve their ability to better understand the world in which they live, and to be able to navigate their pathways of life. This volume includes the following topics: • best practices for teaching students with social, economic, gender, or ethnic differences • adjustments to the teaching and learning process to focus on inclusion • strategies for teaching that help learners connect what they know with the information presented • environments that maximize learners’ academic and social growth. The premise of inclusive teaching works to demonstrate that all people can and do learn. Educators and administrators can incorporate the techniques of inclusive learning and help learners retain more information. This is the 140th volume of the quarterly Jossey-Bass higher education series New Directions for Teaching and Learning. It offers a comprehensive range of ideas and techniques for improving college teaching based on the experience of seasoned instructors and the latest findings of educational and psychological researchers. (From the Publisher)

Threaded discussion on the POD listserv in 2015. Thirteen directors of university and college teaching centers discuss which books about teaching they’ve used successfully for faculty reading groups.

Click Here for Book Review For many in international education, assessment can seem daunting and overwhelming, especially given that such efforts need to involve much more than a pre/post survey. This book is a practical guide to learning-outcomes assessment in international education for practitioners who are starting to engage with the process, as well as for those who want to improve the quality and effectiveness of their assessment efforts. Assuming no prior knowledge, the book offers an accessible and clear road map to the application of assessment. Recognizing that a “one size fits all” approach cannot capture the diversity of goals and settings of international education, or the rich variety of programs and organizations involved in delivering it, author Darla Deardorff provides the reader with foundational principles and knowledge to develop appropriate assessment approaches for evaluating and improving student learning outcomes, which are the drivers of higher education internationalization. She provides the background for assessment, highlights how the characteristics of international education pose unique challenges for assessment, considers the contexts to which assessment may be applied – whether in cross-border or “at home” institutional experiences, such as in curricular, co-curricular or extracurricular settings – and distills a seemingly convoluted process into a manageable approach. From the basics of getting started in assessment to highlighting pitfalls to avoid, this book offers a holistic and practical approach to assessment that moves beyond seeing assessment as a discrete activity to on-going process that is integrated into student learning. There is also a unique chapter for education leaders on assessment essentials from a leadership-perspective. The appendices include worksheets for implementing assessment, creating an assessment team, and getting buy-in from stakeholders. Other appendices include a list of standards adapted to international education outcomes assessment, guidance on assessing intercultural competence, and resources. This book reflects the author’s experience of over a decade of work with international education programs and higher education institutions around the world, and synthesizes what she has learned into an easy-to-use resource for anyone who wants to understand and utilize effective assessment in the field of international education. (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Integrating Teaching and Technology: A Matrix for Professional Faculty Development provides college faculty and administrators with the foundations for a new model for integrating the two most critical dimensions of teaching and learning, pedagogy and technology: the Integrated Readiness Matrix (IRM). Integrating Teaching and Technology began as dialogue among the authors and their university peers focusing on how best to integrate technology into instruction. Achieving this goal requires all faculty to be conversant with the theories of learning, the taxonomies and domains of learning, and a new methodology for preparing and developing college faculty for a career of classroom teaching. Only by building on a foundation of educational theories can we “meet students where they are” while designing instruction that fosters student growth and achievement. (From the Publisher)

Ryan Trauman’s blog site on Writing Studies, rhetoric and composition, Digital Humanities and future forms of scholarship

Provides culturally responsive teaching and learning resources for faculty and staff working with Native students -- building bridges across cultural boundaries and crossing bridges to increase understanding between Native and Non-Native educators and students.

Podcast. A fortnightly series of conversations with teachers about teaching. We talk mostly with faculty in higher education, but will occasionally talk with other teachers too. We started this podcast to share ideas and build community among folks who care about teaching. 

This paper discusses undergraduate ethics education from the point of view of a learning-outcomes centered approach to curriculum design. It aims to identify the kinds of learning-out comes that Ethics Across the Curriculum programs ought to aim at and be judged successful by. The first section explains the learning-outcomes-centered approach to designing and evaluating curriculum proposals. The second section applies this approach specifically to ethics education for undergraduates. It concludes with a proposal for Ideal Learning Outcomes for ethics education in an undergraduate curriculum. The third section asks which of these learning outcomes can reasonably be achieved by an Ethics Across the Curriculum program and which of these learning outcomes could not dependably be achieved unless a formal course in ethics is a requirement for every student. The fourth section briefly examines teaching strategies for Ethics Across the Curriculum programs and discusses ways of helping faculty in Ethics Across the Curriculum programs become effective ethics teachers.

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: The allure of educational technology is easy to understand. Classroom instruction is an expensive and time-consuming process fraught with contradictory theories and frustratingly uneven results. Educators, inspired by machines’ contributions to modern life, have been using technology to facilitate teaching for centuries. In Teaching Machines, Bill Ferster examines past attempts to automate instruction from the earliest use of the postal service for distance education to the current maelstrom surrounding Massive Open Online Courses. He tells the stories of the entrepreneurs and visionaries who, beginning in the colonial era, developed and promoted various instructional technologies. Ferster touches on a wide range of attempts to enhance the classroom experience with machines, from hornbooks, the Chautauqua movement, and correspondence courses to B. F. Skinner’s teaching machine, intelligent tutoring systems, and eLearning. The famed progressive teachers, researchers, and administrators that the book highlights often overcame substantial hurdles to implement their ideas, but not all of them succeeded in improving the quality of education. Teaching Machines provides invaluable new insight into our current debate over the efficacy of educational technology. (From the Publisher)

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Two of the most visible and important trends in higher education today are its exploding costs and the rapid expansion of online learning. Could the growth in online courses slow the rising cost of college and help solve the crisis of affordability? In this short and incisive book, William G. Bowen, one of the foremost experts on the intersection of education and economics, explains why, despite his earlier skepticism, he now believes technology has the potential to help rein in costs without negatively affecting student learning. As a former president of Princeton University, an economist, and author of many books on education, including the acclaimed bestseller The Shape of the River, Bowen speaks with unique expertise on the subject. Surveying the dizzying array of new technology-based teaching and learning initiatives, including the highly publicized emergence of "massive open online courses" (MOOCs), Bowen argues that such technologies could transform traditional higher education--allowing it at last to curb rising costs by increasing productivity, while preserving quality and protecting core values. But the challenges, which are organizational and philosophical as much as technological, are daunting. They include providing hard evidence of whether online education is cost-effective in various settings, rethinking the governance and decision-making structures of higher education, and developing customizable technological platforms. Yet, Bowen remains optimistic that the potential payoff is great. Based on the 2012 Tanner Lectures on Human Values, delivered at Stanford University, the book includes responses from Stanford president John Hennessy, Harvard University psychologist Howard Gardner, Columbia University literature professor Andrew Delbanco, and Coursera cofounder Daphne Koller. (From the Publisher)

This link opens the first of 20 or more posts on the POD list-serv (for faculty development specialists) debating the status of  Multiple Intelligence Theory: no empirical validity? or still a useful construct for various reasons. Each response is visible from this link by clicking “next message.”

Chapter 3 of Florida State University’s Guide to Teaching & Learning Practices contains suggestions for creating a syllabus. Especially useful is the section with examples of writing policy and rule statements, and the sample syllabus.

Chapter 3 of Florida State University’s Guide to Teaching & Learning Practices contains suggestions for creating a syllabus. Especially useful is the section with examples of writing policy and rule statements, and the sample syllabus.

For a brief list of the major components of a syllabus, plus a link to a detail, four-page checklist, visit UC-Berkley’s “Components of a Syllabus” web page.

This report of a Wabash Center grant project outlines the current status of efforts to incorporate clergy ethics in theological education settings, recommendations to seminaries and recommendations to the FaithTrust Institution in two areas: curriculum and teaching; and policy and procedure. 

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Behind the lectern stands the professor, deploying course management systems, online quizzes, wireless clickers, PowerPoint slides, podcasts, and plagiarism-detection software. In the seats are the students, armed with smartphones, laptops, tablets, music players, and social networking. Although these two forces seem poised to do battle with each other, they are really both taking part in a war on learning itself. In this book, Elizabeth Losh examines current efforts to “reform" higher education by applying technological solutions to problems in teaching and learning. She finds that many of these initiatives fail because they treat education as a product rather than a process. Highly touted schemes—video games for the classroom, for example, or the distribution of iPads—let students down because they promote consumption rather than intellectual development. Losh analyzes recent trends in postsecondary education and the rhetoric around them, often drawing on first-person accounts. In an effort to identify educational technologies that might actually work, she looks at strategies including MOOCs (massive open online courses), the gamification of subject matter, remix pedagogy, video lectures (from Randy Pausch to “the Baked Professor"), and educational virtual worlds. Finally, Losh outlines six basic principles of digital learning and describes several successful university-based initiatives. Her book will be essential reading for campus decision makers—and for anyone who cares about education and technology. (From the Publisher)

In our current screen-saturated culture, we take in more information through visual means than at any point in history. The computers and smart phones that constantly flood us with images do more than simply convey information. They structure our relationship to information through graphical formats. Learning to interpret how visual forms not only present but produce knowledge, says Johanna Drucker, has become an essential contemporary skill. Graphesis provides a descriptive critical language for the analysis of graphical knowledge. In an interdisciplinary study fusing digital humanities with media studies and graphic design history, Drucker outlines the principles by which visual formats organize meaningful content. Among the most significant of these formats is the graphical user interface (GUI)—the dominant feature of the screens of nearly all consumer electronic devices. Because so much of our personal and professional lives is mediated through visual interfaces, it is important to start thinking critically about how they shape knowledge, our behavior, and even our identity. Information graphics bear tell-tale signs of the disciplines in which they originated: statistics, business, and the empirical sciences. Drucker makes the case for studying visuality from a humanistic perspective, exploring how graphic languages can serve fields where qualitative judgments take priority over quantitative statements of fact. Graphesis offers a new epistemology of the ways we process information, embracing the full potential of visual forms and formats of knowledge production. (From the Publisher)

This is an annotated bibliography looking at what recent research on the human brain and its development can tell us about how traditional college-age students learn.

Overview of a study where developmental psychologist William Perry suggests that your perspective on learning will change and mature as your college experience unfolds. Gives expected levels of development.

The Serve Program combines academic study of theology w/year-long community service project combating poverty. Analysis of the program during 2008–09 revealed that students demonstrated a significant increase in interest in theology; a greater desire to enroll in theology coursework; and a deeper interest in theology than non-participating classmates.

Article that walks you through your own understandings of diversity, how to creat an inclusive classroom including assignments.

Great for student group-work projects. Share docs, have virtual meetings, share calendar, send emails, and create websites all through this one site.

An instructor reports, from the benefit of hindsight, on the mistakes he made when assigning students a multimedia project (podcasting, in this case). Commenters offer their own insights on pedagogically sound multimedia assignments.

In this series (click through to parts one and two), Williams provides annotated links to resources for building Web and other digital resources that are appropriately accessible to learners with physical or cognitive disabilities.

Click Here for Book Review Abstract: To improve our teaching methods, we must understand what our current teaching methods are. And this is impossible to do this based only on our own perceptions or even feedback from observers. A classroom is a dynamic environment and there is always a lot going on that can be missed in the moment. The solution, according to renowned professional development expert Jim Knight, is video. In Focus on Teaching, Knight turns to the vast and disruptive potential of video recording to reach new levels of excellence in schools. This book builds on Knight’s prior bestsellers to show how every classroom can easily benefit from setting up a camera and hitting “record”.  The book includes • Strategies that teachers, instructional coaches, teams, and administrators can use to get the most out of using video • Tips for ensuring that video recordings are used in accordance with ethical standards and teacher/student comfort levels • Protocols, data gathering forms, and many other tools to get the most out of watching video With Jim Knight’s expertise and the latest in video technology, positive change in your classroom will be immediate and long-lasting.

For this piece, at least half of the action is in the comments section. The author, a long advocate of online student collaborative writing, finds himself "sick of student blogging." He carefully describes the several kinds of student blogging he has assigned in the past, and turns the question over to his commenters: What might he do to "reignite [his] sense of discovery and excitement about student blogging"?

A site to build interactive video teaching lessons. Ideal for online teaching. Build and share interactive video lessons. Time-link student activities as lecture progresses.

"Best and Worst Practices in Mentoring 'Minority' Faculty" Diversity Workshop Presentation Slides

An extensive faculty mentoring guide produced by the University of Michigan. Includes: definitions, discussion of goals, and tips (for mentors and mentees).

Using the tool on this site, students can create group projects that interface music, blogs, documents, photos, video and more.

Contends that in order to attract “traditional” and “non-traditional” students, higher education institutions will need to invest in the use of technology. Stresses the importance of technology in creating community and in fostering collaboration.

Counters the persistent claim that there are distinguishable sensory learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic). Argues that instructors should acknowledge and attempt to address differences in student ability, interest, background knowledge, and learning disability.

Describes an online writing course for adult learners. Argues that adult learners have different needs than “traditional 18-22-year olds” in online spaces. Discusses the importance of creating online community for adult learners. Stresses the differences in faculty workload in teaching online courses rather than providing face-to-face instruction.

Developed by Northwest Center for Public Health Practice at the University of Washington School of Public Health. Extensive PDF manual on teaching adult learners. Includes suggestions on preparing, teaching, and assessing material. Has worksheets to assist in course planning and delivery.

Two-page PDF from Educause (February 2012). Explains flipping and potential benefits and drawbacks.

ProfHacker writer Jason B. Jones collects examples of "creative or interesting syllabuses" (in this post, and also linking to his results from a previous request). Comics, Prezis, Folios, PDFs, newsletters, and more.

Infographic, with supporting citations, concerning the adjunctification of higher ed and the living/working conditions of contingent faculty members.

A helpful list of good practices for writing letters for students

A helpful checklist of good teaching practices, organized around Stanford University's standard course evaluation questions.

Several techniques to try when stimulating conversation in student group work.

Some techniques to try to draw students into discussion after they've heard a lecture.

A quick checklist of pointers from Stanford University's Teaching Commons site.

Whether you are a professor, instructor, or graduate student, many students will look up to you. At times, you may find yourself in the position of counseling a student about matters beyond the scope of your official academic relationship.