It’s often unexpected and usually something of an affront: The teacher has devoted time and energy to preparing a new activity (or series of activities) for students. The teacher has opted to use the activities because they are consistent with what the research says about
I’ve been doing some presentations on classroom interaction and thinking yet again about how we could do better with our questions—the ones we ask in class or online. Good questions make students think, they encourage participation and I think they improve the caliber of the
Empirical studies of various sorts have verified that cooperative learning events are related to higher academic achievement more so than are competitive, individualistic learning environments. That doesn’t mean that students always endorse the use of these group structures. Survey research has identified a number of
Creating useful and usable digital lecture materials for blended and online courses is challenging. Recording an instructor lecturing to a classroom can be difficult, and most students are not interested in watching a 50- to 90-minute recording of a lecture. And because students might not
As part of a keynote panel discussion for the Improving University Teaching Conference in Santiago, Chile (July 2013), I was asked to ponder the issue of “30 Years of Active Learning.” Active learning has a much longer history than that, but I have had 30
Few, if any, technological tools generate stronger personal reactions among educators than PowerPoint, possibly because of its rampant popularity. According to information design expert Edward Tufte in his book The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint, “PowerPoint itself has transcended mere software status to become a cultural
During a recent Magna Online Seminar, Linda Enghagen, an attorney and professor in the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, responded to two commonly asked questions about use of copyrighted videos in online courses.
Getting students to do their assigned reading is a struggle. Most teachers don’t need anyone to tell them what the research pretty consistently reports. On any given day, only 20 to 30 percent of the students arrive at class having done the reading. Faculty are
A recent and excellent article that proposes a model for “building teams that learn” recommends that teachers have students develop a team charter early in their interaction. “Completing a team charter encourages team members to set goals and discuss how they will work together; it
For the past couple of years I have been using some technologies that require setup before the class starts and have found that the setup interferes with my ability to converse with students before and after class.
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