blog posts

• Educating Students about Plagiarism

  Apr 12, 2012 8:00 am

   

  Educating Students about Plagiarism.  Plagiarism is uncredited use of someone else's text or ideas. Some students unwittingly commit plagiarism because they are unaware of the rules regarding citing sources. Here is a self-test of common situations to help students identify examples of plagiarism.This site is a collaborative project originally funded by the Center for Educational Technology, Middlebury College, and developed by Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin Colleges. Also, here is a link to our campus Student Code regarding plagiarism.

   

   

• Laptops in the Classroom

  Mar 21, 2012 8:00 am

  Laptops in the Classroom.  As you look around your class, you see an increasing number of laptops. They can serve as an effective tool to improve student engagement and learning or they can be a distraction; which is why you should be prepared with a policy for their use. This article from the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at the University of Michigan presents research and best practices to help you develop such a policy.

   

   

   

• Flipping Your Lectures

  Mar 21, 2012 8:00 am

   

  Flipping Your Lectures. Have you thought about "flipping" the traditional way of teaching so that students are first introduced to the content outside of class and then spend class time for discussions, collaborative problem-solving, and identifying areas of difficulty? This is not a new idea; however, it is one that has generated much attention, especially in the STEM disciplines. In this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, Dan Berrett describes how lectures can be "flipped." 

   

   

• Promoting Student Motivation

  Feb 22, 2012 8:00 am

  Promoting Student Motivation.  According to an article from the Tomorrow's Professor mailing list, the best way to motivate and engage students is to show them the relevance and significant of the material.  This article will show how to use case studies, guest speakers, and other strategies to  promote intrinsic motivation.

   

• Helping Students Read Difficult Texts

  Feb 22, 2012 8:00 am

  Helping Students Read Difficult Texts. When students have problems understanding a difficult text, simply rereading the text won't help them to understand it any better. This article, from the Tomorrow's Professor mailing list, will provide reasons for your students' difficulties and strategies to assist them in comprehending these texts more easily.

   

   

• Research-Based Principles about Teaching and Learning

  Feb 8, 2012 8:00 am

  Research-Based Principles for Teaching and Learning.  Dr. Susan Ambrose, Director of the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence at Carnegie Mellon, is the co-author of "How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching."  She will be on our campus to present a workshop for graduate students on Feb. 22nd and the plenary talk at the Faculty Retreat on Feb. 23rd. (Registration is required).  To learn more about these teaching and learning principles, click here.

• The Importance of Early Feedback about Teaching

  Feb 8, 2012 8:00 am

  The Importance of Early Feedback about Your Teaching.  Now is the time of the semester to collect informal early feedback (IEF) about your teaching and your students' learning. To learn more about this important strategy and see sample forms, click here.  Also, CTE will be offering an IEF workshop on Feb. 21st. Register here.

• Course Objectives, Student Assessment, and Course Evaluation

  Jan 12, 2012 8:00 am

  Course Objectives, Student Assessment, and Course Evaluation.  Your course objectives should guide you in your syllabus construction and course planning.This article, from the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning at Brown University, will help you connect the course goals in your syllabus more closely to assessment of student learning and course evaluations. Click here to learn more.

   

• Strategies for a Successful Start of the Semester

  Jan 12, 2012 8:00 am

  Strategies for a Successful First Start of the Semester. Prepare yourself and your students for a successful semester. Here are 101 strategies for introducing course content, setting expectations, and gathering important background information about your students.  Click here for the list.

   

• Student Resistance to Learner-Centered Teaching

  Oct 31, 2011 8:00 am

  Student Resistance to Learner-Centered Teaching. Have you worked hard to incorporate a variety of strategies to engage your students?  Do you feel that your students actually prefer that you just lecture? Richard Felder provides a number of considerations to explain student resistance and ways to overcome it.  Click here for the article.