HIGHER ED TEACHING STRATEGIES FROM MAGNA PUBLICATIONS

Effective Teaching Strategies

“Why Are We Doing This?” Establishing Relevance to Enhance Student Learning

Students frequently wonder and sometimes ask, “Why are we doing this? Why do I need to know this? Why are we spending so much time on this? Why do we have to do this busywork?”

When students don’t see the connection between the content and activities of the course and their future lives, they question what’s happening and what we ask them to do. Research confirms that perceived relevance is a critical factor in maintaining student interest and motivation. It also contributes to higher student ratings on course evaluations.

Jeff Fox May 24, 2011

Strategies for Facilitating More Effective Classroom Discussions

If you’ve been teaching for any amount of time, you probably have a few nicknames for students based on the personality traits they exhibit. Roben Torosyan, PhD, associate director of the Center for Academic Excellence at Fairfield University, has some nicknames for his students, too. Names like Q, Sunny, and Light Bulb.

Mary Bart May 2, 2011

Five Ways to Tackle Cheating in College

Consider the following exam day scenario. While the students are taking their exam, you look up from the paper you’re grading and see a student repeatedly looking at another student’s exam. When your eyes meet his, he appears nervous. What should you do next?

Mary Bart March 21, 2011

Strategies for Teaching Unfamiliar Material

The prospect of teaching topics outside one’s area of expertise can be unsettling for even the most confident faculty member. Nevertheless, due to factors such as budget cuts and curricular changes, faculty are increasingly being asked to teach in unfamiliar territory.

Rob Kelly February 25, 2011

Roll Call for Learning: Putting a New Twist on an Old Administrative Chore

A student once lamented that he had attended a class for an entire semester and uttered only one word: “Here.” Although taking attendance is a routine administrative chore, it is not related to teaching and learning, right? Wrong! You can turn roll call into a tool that implants the topic for the ensuing class in students’ minds, sets the tone for the class, and encourages the development of community in your classroom by using a variety of attendance prompts.

Gretchen Aggertt Weber February 16, 2011

Helping Students Develop Problem-Solving Skills via Online Discussions

Developing sophisticated but essential learning skills is especially challenging in large classes. That’s why we regularly report on strategies that faculty members have developed and are using in large classes. The cases in point here are three different biochemistry courses in which faculty members have been using online, asynchronous discussion groups to develop problem-solving skills.

Maryellen Weimer, PhD January 28, 2011

Student Writing: Avoiding the Blank Screen Blues

Staring at a blank screen the night before the research paper was due—this was the dilemma faced by my upper-level science students. The paper, the product of their independent research projects, is an important part of our curriculum and one component of our assessment of their scientific writing skills.

Kari Benson PhD January 11, 2011

Things Effective Teachers Do

It’s been a while since I was an undergrad, but I still remember my two favorite professors. They had completely different personalities and teaching styles, they even taught in different departments, but they did some things in very similar ways. I think that’s what made them so effective. It really wasn’t the content — although that was part of it — it was more the classroom experience they created.

Mary Bart December 6, 2010

Teaching Undergraduate Research: A Unique Model

Teaching undergraduate research when laboratories are involved is a time-consuming and costly endeavor, especially at those institutions without graduate assistants. One faculty member working alongside two or three students for four hours a week for one credit isn’t a particularly viable approach. For faculty who use undergrads to support their research programs, this approach slows down productivity as proficient students graduate and new ones must be trained in an unending cycle.

Maryellen Weimer, PhD November 19, 2010

Teaching Strategies That Help Students Learn How to Learn

What skills do you wish your students had prior to taking your course? Reading comprehension, time management, listening, note-taking, critical thinking, test-taking? Let’s face it, most students could benefit from taking a course in learning how to learn. But who wants to take a study skills class?

Sara Coffman November 15, 2010

HIGHER ED TEACHING STRATEGIES FROM MAGNA PUBLICATIONS

Effective Teaching Strategies

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