Resources

Discusses the strengths and weaknesses of essay tests, and recommends best practices. Idea Paper no. 17, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

Recommends theoretically grounded and empirically supported strategies to improve the development and assessment of students’ thinking skills – with bibliography. Idea Paper no. 37, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

An excerpt from “Improving The Effectiveness Of Your Lectures,“ by William L. Heward, outlining an approach to enhancing the effectiveness of student learning during lectures – through instructor-prepared handouts providing students with background information and cues to write key facts, concepts, and/or relationships during the lecture.

A short article in which a teacher-scholar defines what she means by “active and meaningful learning,” discusses unstructured cooperative learning and critical thinking, and reflects on experience in using these concepts in the courses she teaches and the textbooks she writes. Idea Paper no. 34, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

Reviews 20 principles or steps in an effective faculty evaluation system, arguing that while most institutions’ claim that the purpose of their fculty evaluation system is the improvement of teaching, the primary purpose is actually almost always to make personnel decisions. Idea Paper no. 33, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

Describes the seven areas that should be considered when evaluating teaching: subject matter mastery, curriculum development, course design, delivery instruction, assessment of instruction, availability to students, and administrative requirements. Idea Paper no. 21, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

An article that reviews progress scholars and institutions have made to reshape the potential connections between faculty research and student learning, since Ernest Boyer’s landmark 1990 essay, “Scholarship Reconsidered” – developing our understanding of the research evidence, focusing on course design, and starting to reshape institutions.

Makes suggestions regarding questioning techniques that are appropriate for lecture classes as well as for discussion groups. Idea Paper no. 31, from the series developed by the Center for faculty Evaluation and development, Kansas State University.

Collected here, without examples or detailed explanations, are practices that constitute excellence in college teaching. These elements represent the broad range of the most effective actions teachers take, and requisite conditions teachers establish, to facilitate learning.

Aimed at students, this site is a user-friendly bulleted list of briefly treated topics, all related to college study skills and how to learn.