Resources

Focuses on the tensions and contradictions within feminist pedagogy. Contradictory dimensions of feminists' locations in the academy; Power and authority; Pedagogy and performativity; Feminist difference and the politics of positionality; Claims of authority and the impossibility of normative judgments; Contradictions of institutional and pedagogical authority.

This paper discusses how the growth of technology and its impact on our communication paradigm requires a deconstruction of power and authority in the classroom. It exposes the ways in which faculty expertise in content in a technological environment, that is, being the most skilled and competent computer user in the classroom, negatively informs our understanding of classroom authority and teaching success. It argues that a creative problem-solving process is a more useful measure of successful teaching and calls for flexible pedagogies that focus on community-building while maintaining clear conceptual and theoretical frameworks. This paper also provides a case study of the author's approach to altering classroom authority by examining, for example, such practices as teaching multiple courses concurrently, eliciting student voice, discussing course pedagogy in the classroom, involving students in decision-making about grading and deadlines, giving students peer teaching responsibilities, and focusing on consensus as the classroom decision-making process.

In instructional design for higher education, it is important to the success of all students to take into account the differences in individual learning styles. Research indicates that different student populations have characteristically different approaches to learning and that teachers can use patterns of effective practice to foster success across cognitive styles. (Author/MSE)

Journal Issue

A college student getting a liberal arts education ponders filling out a questionnaire that includes an opportunity for him to evaluate his instructor. At times it appears that the purpose of his education is just to entertain him.