Best Practices

Mixing it Up: Making Lively Discussions a Regular Occurrence in Your Classroom

Posted by admin on May 17, 2019

Rosemary Logan, Ph.D, is a lecturer for the First Year Seminar Program and the Sustainable Communities Masters Program.

 

Discussion is a key component of collaborative learning, one of the “pedagogies of engagement” (Edgerton, 1997, p. 32), and yet lively discussions are a common challenge in the higher education classroom. While there are some great resources that go into depth about how to engage students in classroom discussions (Nilsen, 2010; McKeachie, 2011; Brookfield and Preskill, 2005; Burbule, 2003), I’d love to offer… Read more

Best Practices For First-Generation Students Are Best Practices for All Students

Posted by admin on March 20, 2017

T. Mark Montoya, PhD
3/20/2017 3:14:28 PM

A first-generation college student experience

Very early in his college career, Mark was to meet with his academic advisor—a graying history professor. On the Monday morning the week of his open advisement, Mark repeatedly went to the professor’s office, knocking on the door about six different times throughout the morning. Mark had assumed that college professors worked an 8 to 5 job, not taking into account the professor’s teaching, research, and service—and certainly… Read more

Small Changes to Make a Difference

Posted by admin on February 13, 2017

John Tingerthal, EdD, SE, PE
2/13/2017 1:09:18 PM

I think that it is safe to assume that college faculty are interested in improving the learning experience for students.  There is substantial literature on overall course re-design models that supplement or fully replace traditional lectures with technology, online or emporium-style resources. ‘Flipping’ a class, in which content delivery is moved online allowing students to actively engage with that content in class, has received considerable attention at NAU.  But the reality is… Read more

Great Discussions: A Few More Tips for the New Year

Posted by admin on January 10, 2017

It’s that time of year when many of us have looked at our student evaluations (or opinion surveys, as they’re now called), to see whether there are comments that might point to aspects regarding our teaching methods, syllabi construction, or course content that we would do best to revisit, revise, and improve.  We certainly can’t please all students in our classes, no matter whether we choose to revise our techniques or ignore the students’ comments altogether; nor is “pleasing… Read more

Using Interprofessional Education In Your Multigenerational Classroom

Posted by admin on February 26, 2016

Understanding interprofessional education

In most university classrooms, instructors use a range of small and large group activities that require students to work collaboratively.  The assignments are prepared with the expectation that students work efficiently, effectively, and respectfully together. Because many of our classrooms are comprised of different generations of learners, including individuals with very diverse cultural backgrounds (i.e., age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religion, etc.), this may be an unfair expectation to place on students. We intend to discuss… Read more