The peer review processes for promotion and tenure and for continuing appointment provide committees with what’s needed to make overall judgments about the quality of instruction. For teachers, however, peer reviews usually don’t contain the diagnostic, descriptive feedback they need to continue their growth and
As professors, we have all been there—trying to decide the best way to assess students to determine whether learning has taken place. The goal of education is, after all, to get the information into the student’s long-term memory so that he or she can draw
Research work exploring faculty–student relationships continues, and it provides deeper insights than course evaluation into the role of these relationships in promoting learning. All the work up to this point, in one way or another, confirms how important teacher–student relationships are. Sadly, it also attests
Most teachers think they should. Almost all make an effort and feel guilty when they fail. In the literature, learning students’ names is widely advocated as a good teaching practice with claims made that it builds relationships with students and creates a positive atmosphere in
Collaborative course development is a course design model where “students are asked to play more formative, active roles than in traditional models, with the intent of vesting students in their educational processes” (Aiken, Heinze, Meuter, & Chapman, 2016, p. 57). The theoretical foundation for the
Many of our course revisions happen without much planning. A new idea comes down the pike, an interesting technology option becomes available, a colleague shares a strategy that effectively deals with an issue, and we just use it! So, the course evolves and changes but
Getting students to take advantage of office hours remains a challenge. Most of the time only a small percentage of students show up and often not those most in need of help. When students don’t take advantage of office hours, they lose the chance to
I was watching a video of several of my students teaching this week. I had to be away for a conference, and they were scheduled to teach that day anyway, so I asked our Center for Teaching Excellence to record it. I would evaluate them
I continue to worry that we devalue the affective dimensions of teaching—the emotional energy it takes to keep delivering high-quality instruction.
Most faculty are on solid ground in terms of expertise. We know and, in most cases, love our content. We don’t get tired of
One of the best ways to build rapport with students is through a video welcome or bio. Videos capture our attention. Videos also humanize us to others and help kick off the teaching relationship.
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