Resources
From Vanderbilt Univeristy: The first day of class is your opportunity to present your vision of the class to prospective students. It is helpful if you can introduce yourself as a scholar and educator and provide insight into how you will teach the class and what you will expect them to contribute to the learning process. Links to: The Inviting Classroom; Course Expectations and Requirements; Additional Resources; Summary Checklist
Click Here for Book Review Abstract: Nearly three-quarters of college students cheat during their undergraduate careers, a startling number attributed variously to the laziness of today’s students, their lack of a moral compass, or the demands of a hypercompetitive society. For James Lang, cultural or sociological explanations like these are red herrings. His provocative new research indicates that students often cheat because their learning environments give them ample incentives to try—and that strategies which make cheating less worthwhile also improve student learning. Cheating Lessons is a practical guide to tackling academic dishonesty at its roots. Drawing on an array of findings from cognitive theory, Lang analyzes the specific, often hidden features of course design and daily classroom practice that create opportunities for cheating. Courses that set the stakes of performance very high, that rely on single assessment mechanisms like multiple-choice tests, that have arbitrary grading criteria: these are the kinds of conditions that breed cheating. Lang seeks to empower teachers to create more effective learning environments that foster intrinsic motivation, promote mastery, and instill the sense of self-efficacy that students need for deep learning. Although cheating is a persistent problem, the prognosis is not dire. The good news is that strategies which reduce cheating also improve student performance overall. Instructors who learn to curb academic dishonesty will have done more than solve a course management problem—they will have become better educators all around. (From the Publisher)
Research shows that "immediacy" (behavior that brings the instructor and the students closer together in terms of perceived distance) increases student learning. This web page provides lists of behaviors to create immediacy and links to further studies. .
Nearly a hundred or more citations on the issue of students and plagiarism, especially with international students, compiled by Rebecca Moore Howard, Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Syracuse University, and specialist in "authorship studies."
The ARCS model of motivational design consists of a set of categories of motivational concepts and strategies that are derived from a synthesis of the research on human motivation combined with a review of successful motivational practices. This article provides an overview of the model and cites further research.ARCS stands for attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction.
Excellent advice and overview, with lots of links to more specific discussions.
Based on experimental research of effective speaking, this article reviews: what is effective lecture delivery; how lecturers can analyze their classroom delivery; and how lecturers can improve their classroom delivery. Idea Paper no. 14, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.
Good outline of what to expect when dealing with an emotionally intense issue, and how to structure and lead class so as to increase learning. Applicable beyond the specifics of the 9/11 terrorist attack.
University of Minnesota’s Writing Center provides this index with definitions, advice, handouts, and resources.
The do's and dont's of civil online communication. Netiquette covers both common courtesy online and the informal "rules of the road" of cyberspace. This site provides links to both summary and detail information.