Resources
Podcasting is a digital technology that allows listeners to download course audio and video files, including both instructor-created and student-created content, through the RSS-based subscription mode and listen to them anywhere, anytime.
How can instructors ensure that students come to class with course assignments prepared and readings completed?
From Indiana University: Having students work in groups lets them practice the skills they are learning. Speaking in front of the whole class can be scary, and combined with the tension of speaking to the teacher, the situation can be downright terrifying to students. Breaking them up into groups not only develops social skills useful in the professional environment for which they are training, but gives them a chance to perform in a supportive environment before a test or even before having to do homework on the topic on their own. Includes: Organizing the Groups; Designating Roles in Groups; Sharing Group Results
Games help people develop a disposition toward collaboration, problem-solving, communication, experimentation, and exploration of identities, all attributes that promote success in a rapidly-changing, information-based culture
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
How can I tell what my students are thinking? Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are feedback devices to help us determine how much, how well, and simply how our students learn.
Full-length videos and video clips can be very useful in teaching. However, it is important to consider ahead of time what you hope your students will learn from the videos.
Click Here for Book Review Abstract: We have long been encouraged to look to education, especially higher education, for the solution to social problems, particularly as a way out of poverty for the talented and the hard working. But in its appointed role as the path to upward mobility that makes inequality more acceptable, higher education is faltering these days. As funds for public institutions are cut and tuition costs soar everywhere; as for-profit education races into the breach; and as student debt grows wildly; the comfortable future once promised to those willing to study hard has begun to fade from sight. So now is a good time to take a more serious look at the ways class structures higher education and the ways teachers can bring it into focus in the classroom. In recent decades, scholarly work and pedagogical practice in higher education have paid increasing attention to issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality.But among these four terms of analysis -- and clearly they are interrelated -- class is often an afterthought, and work that does examine class and higher education tends to focus only on admissions, on who is in the college classroom, not on what happens there. Class and the College Classroom offers a broader look at the connections between college teaching and social class.It collects and reprints twenty essays originally published in Radical Teacher, a journal that has been a leader in the field of critical pedagogy since 1975. This wide-ranging and insightful volume addresses the interests, concerns, and pedagogical needs of teachers committed to social justice and provides them with new tools for thinking and teaching about class. (From the Publisher)
All too often a culture of silence permeates academia, where faculty and administrators ignore or misunderstand difficult situations. A Faculty Guide for Succeeding in Academe is a practical guide for prospective and current faculty that addresses real, complex issues that are too often left unexamined. Chapters explore typical aspects of the faculty career and life cycle—such as appointment, tenure, promotion, incivility, plagiarism, teaching, online delivery, interactions with chairs and deans, and performance appraisal—but focuses on the prickly issues as well as the routine. A Faculty Guide for Succeeding in Academe presents authentic, engaging vignettes that feature faculty and administrators as they maneuver through academe encountering authentic, difficult situations. Focusing on positive outcomes, each case is analyzed and readers are encouraged to reflect about the ways these incidents could have been resolved. Offering concrete suggestions and best-practices, this book provides insights that will help prospective, new, and current faculty maneuver more effectively through academe and their collegial culture. This important resource enhances a culture of openness and will help faculty gain direction and support in their career. (From the Publisher)
Essentials for Blended Learning: A Standards-Based Guide provides a practical, streamlined approach for creating effective learning experiences by blending online activities and the best of face-to-face teaching. This guide is: Easy to use: Clear, jargon-free writing; illustrations; and references to online resources help readers understand concepts. Streamlined: A simple but effective design process focuses on creating manageable activities for the right environment. Practical: Real-world examples from different subject areas help teachers understand principles in context. Contemporary: The variety of modern, connected technologies covered in the guide addresses a range of teaching challenges. Forward-Looking: The approach bridges the gap between formal classroom learning and informal lifelong learning. Standards-based: Guidelines and standards are based on current research in the field, relevant learning theories, and practitioner experiences. Effective blended learning requires significant rethinking of teaching practices and a fundamental redesign of course structure. Essentials for Blended Learning: A Standards-Based Guide simplifies these difficult challenges without neglecting important opportunities to transform teaching. This guide is suitable for teachers in any content area. (From the Publisher)