Something that may be of interest
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It was a good run, but I am happy to announce that my students finally broke their attendance streak I mentioned in my last post. On Monday, after the break, I had 100% attendance for the first time in eight weeks, meeting four days a week. I share this news with a mix of light-heartedness and a dose of concern.
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| For more than a year, the issue of attendance has come up in various conversations in the Center. Students take self-described mental health days or they just don’t show up. Last year, I was on sabbatical from teaching. This year, my fall class was fine, just one chronic attendance issue who was on numerous radar screens. |
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In the digital age, where misinformation abounds, empowering our students with robust information literacy skills has never been more critical. Dr. Krista Black’s recent article, “Teaching Information Literacy in an Age of Misinformation,” offers a compelling look into the challenges and strategies for integrating these essential skills into our curriculum. From evaluating source credibility to understanding perspectives and leveraging primary data, Dr.
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| Yes, it’s that time of the semester already! Time to get that feedback from students to gently adjust things or reinforce with them why things are done a certain way. You probably already have a form you use. If not, you can find a variety of them in this post from the TTT archive.
Above all, please remember to go over your findings with your students as soon as possible, like the next class. |
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As the director, I subscribe to a ton of publications, newsletters, and blogs. When I saw this piece, Teach About Climate Change With 30 Graphs From the New York Times, my initial thought was to send this to my colleagues in Environmental Studies. However, reflecting on the universal impact of climate change, I believe it’s crucial for our entire liberal arts institution to consider how we can enhance education on this pervasive issue.
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Many of us use slide decks in the classroom. They are great for organizing information and keeping the class on track. This piece from the Teaching Professor gives us three things to consider from a cognitive psychology perspective aimed at enhancing how your slide deck supports student learning. |
During my time on the MAA Instructional Practices Guide project team, we drew heavily on the 2014 Freeman et al. meta-study, “Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics.” This study is often simplified to “active learning is good; lecturing is bad.”
However, our perspective on this has evolved. The debate between lecturing and active learning isn’t a binary choice but rather a nuanced blend of both approaches.
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| I wish this report, Employment Outcomes for Humanities Majors: State Profiles, would have come out before we entered advising. With the high cost of an education, our students are often driven to a major by its perceived earning potential. With a daughter who graduated with a liberal arts degree in English and French, I grow weary of trying to defend her choices over our son’s math and computer science major. |
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Faculty members have shared that they are feeling the strain of their students’ mental health issues. Whether it’s a request for an extension or an e-mail apologizing for missing class because they’ve got “stuff going on.” In Professors Struggle With Demands to Tend to Students’ Mental Health, Kelly Field gives a realistic assessment of what faculty are facing, particularly this time of year. |
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Have you ever had that difficult conversation with a student after a poor performance on a test or assignment? Often, the student will state in exasperation that they “studied really hard.” Nevertheless, their performance does not reflect this effort. In the article From Deficit to Empowerment: A Neuroscience Approach to Unveiling the Learning Brain, Mays Imad points out that learning is a very complex process and many things must properly align to succeed. |
