Articles and resources to empower your teaching experience.
Denise Magner of the Chronicle reminds us to not waste those final minutes trying to cram in eight more points or call out as many reminders as possible. Here are two tips she gives, based on a piece by James Lang
Which is the most important factor in successful learning:
The answer, according to cognitive psychologist Stephen Chew, may surprise you. Lendol
In this week’s deeper dive, Dr. May Mei, Mathematics, shares ideas from the two-page article Critical Learning Communities: Top Five Principles to Guide Your First Month by Kristen Luschen and Becky Wai-Ling Packard. May gives practical suggestions on how to make midterm course adjustments to ensure a smoother and more productive finish to our semester.
Last week, we shared several midterm course feedback forms. Now, what to do with all that feedback?
Nearing the half-way point, time to get some feedback from students on how our classes are going. Here are three templates to consider (feel free to edit as your own):
The Center for Learning and Teaching can provide resources and information to support faculty development programs and faculty, administrators, and governance groups that address learning and teaching.
Classroom Teaching Observation and Formative Evaluation of Teaching
A renewed interest in research on learning and teaching has greatly expanded the range of scholarship and resources that are focused on the intersection of learning, teaching, and pedagogy in higher education. Resources for a variety of topics are linked below and in the navigation menu.
In addition, faculty as well as colleagues in other offices and programs can contact me for help in identifying specific resources and scholarship on learning and teaching for their use including, for example, issues that address faculty development, academic advising, teaching and course evaluations, curriculum assessment, and measures of student academic achievement.
Pedagogical Practice Projects (PPP) is a faculty development initiative supported by Denison’s Center for Learning and Teaching. PPP offer full-time faculty the opportunity to design, implement, and evaluate a new innovative pedagogy for a course that will be taught in the academic year. These projects will generate pedagogical innovations and significant teaching changes that deepen student learning and skills, enhance teaching effectiveness, and create alternative teaching or curricular approaches that contribute to Denison’s mission.
(1) The Idea Paper (Cashin) is a good article to read first as it provides a thorough overview of the faculty review process, in general. (Recommended)
Smith’s article (Peer Collaboration: Improving Teaching through Comprehensive Peer Review) focuses on the role of peer review in formative evaluation of teaching and provides an excellent overview of the rationale, components and procedures, and challenges and opportunities of peer review (and contrasts formative versus summative evaluation).
