Most faculty require students to present the results of their research and thinking in text form—the ubiquitous “paper” assignment. But in the real world, information is often presented in visual form. Reports are loaded with graphics to represent information. A mutual fund does not demonstrate
Required courses are among the most challenging to teach, and the lack of student motivation is one of the big reasons. Students don’t want to take these courses. Most do not understand the justification for requiring them, especially those in fields that appear to be
Students aren’t all that excited about most of their assignments. Given the chance not to write papers, not to take exams, or not to complete group projects, most students would happily take advantage of the opportunity. But those are all assignments they’re used to, ones
It’s time to hand back the exams, and no one has done well. You’re as disappointed as your students will be when they see their grades. How do you get the class back on track? Offering extra credit assignments is one approach, but will that
I mainly teach undergraduate writing and research methods classes and wanted to share my experiences with mind mapping, also referred to as concept mapping. I’ve found that using it can significantly improve student papers. It’s an excellent innovation that requires student writers to visualize how
Assignments are one of those ever-present but not-often-thought-about aspects of teaching and learning. Pretty much every course has them, and teachers grade them. The grade indicates how much the student learned by doing them. But is this learning something that students recognize? Too often students
Elvis (the other one . . . Costello) was right: “Radio, it’s a sound salvation. Radio, it’s cleaning up the nation.” Radio didn’t die; it was just sleeping. Podcasting and ubiquitous audio tools have brought radio back to life and into the classroom in a
“Our overall conclusion is that, within the confines of our study, both male and female students can and do grade their homework honestly” (p. 57). That’s not an expected conclusion, or one most faculty would hold about their students. If the homework counts in final
A number of faculty are now using Twitter in their classrooms, with positive effects. Here are two examples using different approaches.
What’s the best way to learn complex skills, like problem solving, for example? Looking at the way homework problems are typically laid out in textbooks and often assigned by teachers, the answer would appear to be by giving students problem sets that focus on one
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