Tidbit: Teaching Information Literacy in an Age of Misinformation

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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Tidbit: Midterm Course Evaluations

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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Tidbit: Teach About Climate Change with 30 Graphs from the New York Times

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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Tidbit: Which is Better, Active Learning or Lecture?

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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Tidbit: How Do Humanities Majors Fare in the Work Force?

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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Tidbit: Students mental health and emotional contagion

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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Tidbit: But I studied really hard

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.

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Tidbit: Revitalizing the Later Years in Academe

I recently had a birthday. Maybe I am getting wistful, but this Inside Higher Ed article by Kenneth McNay had some solid advice for those of us who have been here a while. In particular, it made me think about how I can explore innovation and risk-taking, that I should try to facilitate knowledge sharing, and finally, to redefine my research productivity metrics to encourage me to explore those high-risk, innovative areas.

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