Author’s note: I started this essay when my son graduated from high school. He is now a college senior. (Procrastination is a problem I need to deal with one of these days.) I publish it now so that readers may share it with the college
The best final exam question I’ve ever given is this: “I want you to write about one thing that you figured out in this class that matters.”
This sounds simple, I know. Perhaps even a little flaky. After all, we’re the instructors. We’re the
An increasing number of students seem to struggle with meeting deadlines. Some students have a challenging time following instructions or assignment directions, while other students pay little attention to when or where they will be taking their midterm or final exams.
What contributes to a
When I first started working on teaching and learning, I focused on teaching. The instructional development program I headed at Penn State had as its mission “to support faculty efforts to maintain and improve instructional quality.” I read, thought, and wrote about characteristics known to
Dear Student,
As a new academic term gets into gear, there is a good chance you are a little intimidated by all that needs to be done before you get to take your next vacation. You are not alone in feeling the stress and the
I had grabbed a few items in an unfamiliar grocery store and headed for the express checkout line—10 items or less. I queued up and noticed that the person in front of me had a full cart. I counted the items: 35. Well, that took
What is student entitlement? Ask a group of teachers to define student entitlement and their answers will strike similar themes. A definition often used by researchers categorizes student entitlement as a “tendency to possess an expectation of academic success without taking personal responsibility for achieving
I’ve been writing for years that we need to teach in ways that encourage students to take more responsibility for their learning. Recently, it became clear that my thinking on this needed more detail and depth. I’ve been saying that it means students should be
As noted in the Teaching Professor Blog post, student responsibility for learning can happen in three different arenas. First and foremost, students are responsible for their learning. Teachers can encourage and support learning endeavors in a variety of ways, but students must do
To: My Students
From: Your Teacher
Re: A Better Learning Experience
This is just a brief note to let you know how committed I am to making this a good course. But I can’t do my best teaching without your help. So, I
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