Our reading list comprises texts you might find valuable, whether you are designing a new course, redesigning a course, or considering how to better support your students using evidence-based instructional approaches.
A Guide to Teaching Effective Seminars: Conversation, Identity and Power
Susan Fiksdal, a linguistics professor at The Evergreen State College, utilizes her training as a sociolinguist to analyze seminars and provide best practices for instructors use in seminars. Her work considers how students find their voices in seminar spaces; she explores both how students develop their own academic voices as well as how students literally enter their voices into discussion-style seminars.
Reference:
Fiksdal, S.R. (2014). A guide to teaching effective seminars: Conversation, identity and power. New York, NY: Routledge.
Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty
James Lang, English professor and director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption College, geared this book to academic faculty as well as administrators who support teaching faculty. His research focuses on academic dishonesty as an inappropriate response to a specific learning environment, rather than a tendency of some individual students.
Reference:
Lang, J.M. (2013). Cheating lessons: Learning from academic dishonesty. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers
This revised and greatly expanded edition of the 1988 handbook offers teachers at all levels of experience detailed, how-to advice on classroom assessment from what it is and how it works to planning, implementing, and analyzing assessment projects. The authors illustrate their approach through twelve case studies that detail the real-life classroom experiences of teachers carrying out successful classroom assessment projects.
Reference:
Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approaches to Designing College Courses
L. Dee Fink writes this book in response to two main problems he has observed on college campuses: 1. the majority of learning goals focus on basic memorization; 2. despite a strong push for active learning in college classrooms, many instructors do not engage students beyond standard lectures and intermittent discussion. This book empowers educators to creatively design courses that will result in significant learning for their students.
Reference:
Fink, L.D. (2003). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approaches to designing college courses. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment in College
The second edition of Effective Grading — the book that has become a classic in the field — provides a proven hands-on guide for evaluating student work and offers an in-depth examination of the link between teaching and grading. Authors Barbara E. Walvoord and Virginia Johnson Anderson explain that grades are not isolated artifacts but part of a process that, when integrated with course objectives, provides rich information about student learning, as well as being a tool for learning itself.
Reference:
Walvoord, B.E.F., & Anderson, V. J. (2010). Effective grading: A tool for learning and assessment in college.
Engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
This guide provides prospective SoTL scholars with the necessary background information, foundational theory, tools, resources, and methodology to develop their own SoTL projects, taking the reader through the five stages of the process: generating a research question; designing the study; collecting the data; analyzing the data; and presenting and publishing your SoTL project.
Reference:
Bishop-Clark, C., & Dietz-Uhler, B. (2012). Engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning: A guide to the process, and how to develop a project from start to finish.
Engaging Large Classes: Strategies and Techniques for College Faculty
Christine A. Stanley and M. Erin Porter explain that with many universities forming larger classroom sizes, instructors may find themselves teaching classes of between 100-500 students, depending on their institutional size. Their volume aims to provide research-based methods as well as instructor advice about how to effectively teach and promote learning in a large classroom setting.
Reference:
Stanley, Christine A. & M. Erin Porter. (2002). Engaging large classes: Strategies and techniques for college faculty. Boston, MA: Anker Pub Co.
Facilitating Seven Ways of Learning: A Resource
Higher education teaching and learning educators James Davis and Bridget Arend articulate seven evidence-based teaching strategies based on various learning approaches for instructors in higher education in this book. These seven approaches of learning include learning through inquiry, learning through groups and teams, behavior learning, experiential learning, learning through virtual realities, and learning with mental models. Davis and Arend offer valuable insight into these approaches and examples of effective teaching strategies integrate them.
Reference:
Davis, James, and Bridget Arend. Facilitating Seven Ways of Learning: A Resource for More Purposeful, Effective, and Enjoyable College Teaching. Sterling, VA: Stylus Press, 2013.
Generation Z Unfiltered Facing Nine Hidden Challenges of the Most Anxious Population
This generation of students who have grown up in the 21st century are the most social, the most empowered, and also the most anxious youth population in human history. If you are struggling to connect with and lead them, you are not alone. The latest research presented in this book, however, illuminates a surprising reality: The success of the next generation doesn’t depend entirely on them. Their best chance of success starts when adults choose to believe in them, challenge them, and walk with them through the nine greatest challenges today’s youth will face. For their sake, and for the future success of our world, it’s time we started seeing Generation Z—unfiltered.
Reference:
Elmore, T. , McPeak, A. (2019) Generation Z Unfiltered: Facing Nine Hidden Challenges of the Most Anxious Population. Atlanta, GA: Poet Gardiner
How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching
Director of Faculty Development at the University of Mississippi Joshua R. Eyler offers an insightful guide into the different ways that students learn. Eyler delves into developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and anthropology to offer a guide organized around five general themes: curiosity, emotion, authenticity, sociality, and failure. In conversation with these themes, he uses interviews and observations of higher education teaching to illuminate how learning styles significantly impact knowledge absorption.
Reference:
Eyler, Joshua. How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press, 2018.
How Learning Works
How Learning Works bridges learning-based research evidence to practices for improving college teaching. The authors specifically address seven learning principles, including prior student knowledge, student organization of knowledge, student motivation, mastery of skills, the influence of practice and feedback, the intersection of emotional, social and intellectual development as well as self-directed learning.
Reference:
Ambrose, S.A., M.W. Bridges, M.C. Lovett, M. DiPietro, M.K. Norman. (2010). How learning works: 7 research-based principles for smart teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Intentional Tech
The director of the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching, Derek Bruff, observes that new technology often drives teaching and learning goals when the reverse should be true. By providing examples of creative in-class uses of technology, Bruff champions the intentional and meaningful integration of technology into the classroom. He pivots away from the question of how to incorporate new tech tools, instead asking why technology is used and what we can gain from it.
Reference:
Bruff, Derek. Intentional Tech. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press, 2020.
Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning
Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning debunks common myths around best learning practices, and proposes that a long-term, repetitive process makes learning more effective. The authors explain that learning should be effortful and focused on the long-term retrieval of information built on prior knowledge, rather than the "cramming" or intensive "practice makes perfect" method.
Reference:
Brown, P.C., H.L. Roediger III & M.A. McDaniel (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Cambridge, MA: The Bellknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology
Michelle D. Miller, Co-Director of the First Year Learning Initiative and Professor of Psychology at Northern Arizona University, provides strategic ways for university faculty and instructors to align classroom technology with key principles of human cognition, namely attention, memory and thinking. Minds Online, written in a conversational and accessible tone, begins with a discussion of the impact of technology in contemporary higher education settings.
Reference:
Miller, Michelle D. (2014). Minds online: Teaching effectively with technology. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.
Optimizing Teaching and Learning: Practicing Pedagogical Research
This book will serve as a guide for anyone who is interested in improving their teaching and the learning of their students, while contributing to the scholarship of teaching and learning. It bridges the gap between the research and practice of SoTL, with explicit instructions on how to design, conduct, analyze, and write up pedagogical research, including samples of actual questionnaires and other materials (e.g., focus group questions).
Reference:
Gurung, R. A. R., & Schwartz, B. M. (2009). Optimizing teaching and learning: Practicing pedagogical research. Chichester, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell.
Overcoming Student Learning Bottleneck
Decoding the Disciplines is a widely-used and proven methodology that prompts teachers to identify the bottlenecks – the places where students get stuck – that impede learners' paths to expert thinking in a discipline. The process is based on recognizing the gap between novice learning and expert thinking. This book presents a seven-step process for uncovering bottlenecks and determining the most effective way to enable students to surmount them.
Reference:
Middendorf, J. K., & Shopkow, L. (2017). Overcoming student learning bottlenecks: Decode the critical thinking of your discipline.
Quick Hits for New Faculty: Successful Strategies by Award-Winning Teachers
This is the third and latest book in the "Quick Hits" tradition of providing sound advice from award-winning college faculty. This volume is designed to help new faculty negotiate the challenges of college teaching. Articles and strategies range from planning for that first day in the classroom, to evaluating student learning, documenting teaching, and understanding the politics of teaching and learning in the department and institution.
Reference:
Cordell, R.M., Lucal, B., Morgan, R.K., Hamilton, S.J., & Orr, R. H. (2004). Quick hits for new faculty: Successful strategies by award winning teachers. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto
In this book, Kevin M. Gannon (Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Grand View University) develops an array of pedagogical practices designed to ameliorate some of the structural issues and inequalities that plague the current university environment. Among the topics discussed are inclusive teaching and accessibility, student empowerment and agency, impostor syndrome, and free speech.
Reference:
Gannon, Kevin M. Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto. Morgantown, WV: WVU Press, 2020.
Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College
From their positions as prominent teaching and learning leaders at Elon University, Peter Felten and Leo Lambert deliver their educational perspectives after interviewing hundreds of students, faculty, and staff nationwide. They find that strong human relationships, forged by supportive and inclusive scholastic environments, are perhaps the greatest contributors towards a student’s success in higher education. This especially applies to first-generation students, who often face additional hurdles and inequities.
Reference:
Felten, Peter, and Leo Lambert. Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College. Baltimore MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Scientific Teaching
Seasoned classroom veterans, pre-tenured faculty, and neophyte teaching assistants alike will find this book invaluable. The authors of this book have distilled key findings from education, learning, and cognitive psychology and translated them into six chapters of digestible research points and practical classroom examples. This book encourages the reader to approach teaching in a way that captures the spirit and rigor of scientific research and to contribute to transforming how students learn science.
Reference:
Handelsman, J., Miller, S., & Pfund, C. (2007). Scientific Teaching. New York: W.H. Freeman.
Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes
The concept of small teaching is simple: small and strategic changes have enormous power to improve student learning. Instructors face unique and specific challenges when teaching an online course. This book offers small teaching strategies that will positively impact the online classroom.
Reference:
Darby, Flower & Lang, James M. (2019). Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning
James Lang, English professor and director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption College, explains how small but powerful modifications in course design and teaching can yield positive results in higher ed settings. He groups these modifications into three broader categories: 5-10 minute classroom activities; one-time course interventions; and small modifications in course design or communication.
Reference:
Lang, J.M. (2016). Small teaching: Everyday lessons from the science of learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty
This book offers college teachers a dynamic model for engaging students and includes over one hundred tips, strategies, and techniques that have been proven to help teachers from a wide variety of disciplines and institutions motivate and connect with their students. The ready-to-use format shows how to apply each of the book's techniques in the classroom and includes purpose, preparation, procedures, examples, online implementation, and more.
Reference:
Barkley, E. F. (2010). Student engagement techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Teach Students How to Learn
For over a decade Saundra McGuire has been acclaimed for her presentations and workshops on metacognition and student learning because the tools and strategies she has shared have enabled faculty to facilitate dramatic improvements in student learning and success. Her methods can often be accomplished in a single session, transforming students from memorizers and regurgitators to students who begin to think critically.
Reference:
McGuire, S. Y., & McGuire, S. (2015). Teach students how to learn: Strategies you can incorporate into any course to improve student metacognition, study skills, and motivation.
Teaching at Its Best: A Research-based Resource for College Instructors
This bestselling, research-based toolbox for college instructors at any level is packed with practical guidance, proven techniques, and expert perspectives. This new fourth edition features five new chapters on building critical thinking into course design, creating a welcoming classroom environment, helping students learn how to learn, giving and receiving feedback, and teaching in multiple modes, along with the latest research and new questions to facilitate faculty discussion.
Reference:
Nilson, L. B. (2016). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors.
Teaching Interculturally: A Framework for Integrating Disciplinary Knowledge and Intercultural Development
Amy Lee, Robert Poch, Mary Katherine O'Brien and Catherine Solheim wrote this book to lay out a pedagogical framework for allowing a diversity of voices and experiences to emerge in the classroom. By implementing certain practices in the classroom, instructors can draw on the diverse perspectives of all students to create an inclusive, student-centered learning environment.
Reference:
Lee, A., et. al. (2017). Teaching interculturally: A framework for integrating disciplinary knowledge and intercultural development. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Teaching What You Don't Know
Therese Hurston, the Founding Director for the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Seattle University, wrote this book based on numerous interviews she conducted with university faculty across a variety of disciplines. In her interviews, she spoke with faculty members about the growing need to teach outside of one's academic expertise and how professors often feel only about "10 minutes ahead" of students in preparing for new classes.
Reference:
Huston, T. (2009). Teaching what you don't know. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
The ABCs of How We Learn
An explosive growth in research on how people learn has revealed many ways to improve teaching and catalyze learning at all ages. The purpose of this book is to present this new science of learning so that educators can creatively translate the science into exceptional practice. Based on a popular Stanford University course, this book uses a novel format that is suitable as both a textbook and a popular read. With everyday language, engaging examples, a sense of humor, and solid evidence, it describes 26 unique ways that students learn.
Reference:
Schwartz, D.L., J.M. Tang, & K.P. Blair. (2016). The ABCs of how we learn. New York: Norton.
The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life
While much scholarship on teaching and learning focuses on how students learn, Parker J. Palmer, renowned author, activist and founder of the Center for College and Renewal, writes The Courage to Teach in order to explore how the character of the teacher, and the inner life of the teacher, are crucial elements in the teaching and learning process. The book builds on a simple premise: good teaching can never be reduced to technique.
Reference:
Palmer, P. J. (2007). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher's life. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
The Missing Course: Everything They Never Taught You about College Teaching
David Gooblar, author of the popular column “Pedagogy Unbound” in the Chronicle of Higher Education, provides a guide for scholars on teaching and learning. This guide is accessible for scholars of any discipline and at any level of teaching experience. Readers can learn a variety of information such as course design, encouraging student discussion, and strategies to foster active learning in the classroom. While most academics are trained to research first, this guide helps instructors strengthen their teaching skills.
Reference:
Gooblar, David. The Missing Course: Everything They Never Taught You about College Teaching. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2019.
The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion
In friendly, readable prose, Sarah Rose Cavanagh argues that if you as an educator want to capture your students' attention, harness their working memory, bolster their long-term retention, and enhance their motivation, you should consider the emotional impact of your teaching style and course design. To make this argument, she brings to bear a wide range of evidence from the study of education, psychology, and neuroscience.
Reference:
Cavanagh, S.R. (2016). The spark of learning: Energizing the college classroom with the science of emotion. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press.
Understanding by Design
Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe introduce the concept of backward design to curriculum development as the "UbD model", which encourages instructors to begin their course planning with learning outcomes in mind and to then fit the lectures, activities and materials around these desired learning outcomes. The authors draw on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD model to greatly expand their work.
Reference:
Wiggins, G. and J. McTighe. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
What the Best College Teachers Do
What makes a great teacher great? This book, the conclusion of a fifteen-year study, supports it's not what teachers do, it's what they understand. Lesson plans and lecture notes matter less than the special way teachers comprehend the subject and value human learning. Most of all, they believe in two things: that teaching matters, and that students can learn. Ken Bain describes examples of ingenuity, compassion, and students discovering new ideas and the depth of their own potential.
Reference:
Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do
Claude M. Steele, a social psychologist, explores how the concept of stereotype threat relates to minority performance in university settings. For Steele, stereotype threat is the ways in which people are internally guided and restricted by stereotypes about their particular demographics and identities. He sheds new light on American social phenomena and lays out a plan for mitigating these stereotype threats and reshaping American identities.
Reference:
Steele, Claude M. (2010). Whistling vivaldi: How stereotypes affect us and what we can do. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
Articles
Active Learning Increases Student Performance in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics
"This is the largest and most comprehensive metaanalysis of undergraduate STEM education published to date. The results raise questions about the continued use of traditional lecturing as a control in research studies, and support active learning as the preferred, empirically validated teaching practice in regular classrooms."
Reference:
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415.
Active Learning Strategies in Face-to-Face Courses
"As numerous research studies suggest, teachers who desire increased student learning should adopt active learning. This article explores the research, defines active learning, discusses its value, offers suggestions for implementing it, and provides six concrete examples of active learning approaches: Thinking-Aloud Pair Problem-Solving; Three-Step Interview; Think-Pair-Share; Visible Quiz; Value Line; and Send/Pass-a-Problem."
Reference:
Millis, B. J., & IDEA Center. (2012). Active learning strategies in face-to-face courses. IDEA Paper #53. IDEA Center, Inc. 301 South Fourth Street Suite 200, Manhattan, KS 66502. Tel: 800-255-2757; Tel: 785-320-2400; e-mail: info@IDEAedu.org; Website: http://ideaedu.org.
An Empirical Study Comparing Gamification and Social Networking on e-Learning
"While social networking has already demonstrated its efficiency in e-learning, gamification, which is the use of game-thinking and playful design in non-game contexts, has only shown its potential as a motivational tool. This paper presents the results of testing both social networking and gamification in an undergraduate course, comparing them in terms their effect on students' academic achievement, participation and attitude."
Reference:
de-Marcos, L., Domínguez, A., Saenz-de-Navarrete, J., & Pagés, C. (June 01, 2014). An empirical study comparing gamification and social networking on e-learning. Computers & Education, 75, 82-91.
Asking the Right Questions: Using Student-written Exams as an Innovative Approach to Learning and Evaluation
"Most students are concerned about grades and often have negative attitudes toward testing. Students perceive traditional instructor-written exams as irrelevant and autocratic, leading to lower trust in teaching and evaluation methods and decreased motivation to learn. This paper discusses a new approach, the student-written exam, which is a take-home assessment where each student writes and answers his or her own exam questions."
Reference:
Corrigan, H., & Craciun, G. (June 06, 2013). Asking the right questions: Using student-written exams as an innovative approach to learning and evaluation. Marketing Education Review, 23, 1, 31-35.
Bridging the Pathway from Instruction to Research
"The challenge for many faculty who have changed their courses is to determine if the innovations actually improve student learning. This leads some faculty towards research models that require empirical evidence based on student assessment data. Here we describe a framework for research on scientific teaching."
Reference:
Batzli, J. M., Ebert-May, D., & Hodder, J. (2006). Bridging the pathway from instruction to research. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 4(2), 105-107.
Effective Teaching in an Age of Accountability: Mapping the Views of College Students and Instructors
"The authors captured students' and instructors' views of teaching effectiveness at the postsecondary level in two ways: open-ended questions delivered online to 500 students and one-on-one interviews with 15 instructors. A grounded theory approach suggested that effective teaching involves good communication aimed at helping students understand course concepts, strategies that engage students in learning, and a close monitoring of whether students are understanding, what they termed metacognitive teaching."
Reference:
Yoo, J. H., Schallert, D. L., & Svinicki, M. D. (January 01, 2013). Effective teaching in an age of accountability: Mapping the views of college students and instructors. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 24, 4, 107-131.
Energizing Learning: The Instructional Power of Conflict
"Although intellectual conflict may be an important instructional tool (because of its potential constructive outcomes), conflict is rarely structured in instructional situations (because of its potential destructive outcomes). Many educators may be apprehensive about instigating intellectual conflict among students because of the lack of operational procedures to guide them. Ideally, operational procedures should be based on social science theory that is validated by research. Constructive controversy is an instructional procedure that is designed to create intellectual conflict among students and that meets these criteria. The authors of this article summarize the theory underlying constructive controversy and review the results of their meta-analysis of the validating research. The positive outcomes indicate that intellectual conflict can have important and positive effects on student learning and well-being."
Reference:
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (January 01, 2009). Energizing learning: The instructional power of conflict. Educational Researcher, 38, 3.
Facilitating Group Discussions: Understanding Group Development and Dynamics
"Facilitating discussions requires the ability to engage different perspectives and skills in response to the needs of the group. How well a group works together depends upon the dynamics among participants and the ability of the facilitator to gauge and respond to these dynamics. An effective facilitator works to create an inclusive learning environment while being prepared to set boundaries and rules when necessary."
Reference:
Takayama, K. (2009-10). Facilitating group discussions: understanding group development and dynamics. Essays on Teaching Excellence: Toward the best in the Academy, 21, 1.
Faculty Do Matter: The Role of College Faculty in Student Learning and Engagement
"This study uses two national data sets to explore the relationship between faculty practices and student engagement. Our findings suggest that students report higher levels of engagement and learning at institutions where faculty members use active and collaborative learning techniques, engage students in experiences, emphasize higher-order cognitive activities in the classroom, interact with students, challenge students academically, and value enriching educational experiences."
Reference:
Umbach, P. D., & Wawrzynski, M. R. (March 01, 2005). Faculty do matter: The role of college faculty in student learning and engagement. Research in Higher Education: Journal of the Association for Institutional Research, 46, 2, 153-184.
Infusing Active Learning into the Large-enrollment Biology Class: Seven Strategies, from Simple to Complex
"Educators who have addressed the multitude of issues that underlie implementation of active-learning strategies in large-enrollment settings are conscientiously spreading the word to the science education community by presenting at conferences or publishing in science education journals. In this article, the authors focus on the large-class setting, providing an overview of tried-and-true approaches for incorporating active learning, ranging from the simple to complex."
Reference:
Allen, D., and K. Tanner. (2005). Infusing Active Learning into the Large-enrollment biology Class: Seven Strategies, from Simple to Complex. Cell Biology Education 4:262-268.
Integrated Course Design
This paper outlines the key ideas and components of the model presented in L. Dee Fink's book, Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses.
Reference:
Fink, L.D., & IDEA Center. (2005). Integrated course design. IDEA Paper #42. IDEA Center, Inc. 301 South Fourth Street Suite 200, Manhattan, KS 66502. Tel: 800-255-2757; Tel: 785-320-2400; e-mail: info@IDEAedu.org; Website: http://ideaedu.org.
Less Teaching, More Learning: 10-yr Study Supports Increasing Student Learning Through Less Coverage and More Inquiry
"In this study, we compared gains in student content learning over a 10-yr period in which the introductory biology laboratory curriculum was changed in two ways: an increase of inquiry and a reduction of content."
Reference:
Luckie, D. B., Aubry, J. R., Marengo, B. J., Rivkin, A. M., Foos, L. A., & Maleszewski, J. J. (January 01, 2012). Less teaching, more learning: 10-yr study supports increasing student learning through less coverage and more inquiry. Advances in Physiology Education, 36, 4, 325-35.
Mere Belonging: The Power of Social Connections
"Four experiments examined the effect on achievement motivation of mere belonging, a minimal social connection to another person or group in a performance domain. Mere belonging was expected to increase motivation by creating socially shared goals around a performance task. … The results suggest that even minimal cues of social connectedness affect important aspects of self."
Reference:
Walton, G. M., Cohen, G. L., Cwir, D., & Spencer, S. J. (January 01, 2012). Mere belonging: The power of social connections. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102, 3, 513-32.
Multiple Social Identities and Stereotype Threat: Imbalance, Accessibility, and Working Memory
"In 4 experiments, the authors showed that concurrently making positive and negative self-relevant stereotypes available about performance in the same ability domain can eliminate stereotype threat effects. Replicating past work, the authors demonstrated that introducing negative stereotypes about women's math performance activated participants' female social identity and hurt their math performance (i.e., stereotype threat) by reducing working memory. Moving beyond past work, it was also demonstrated that concomitantly presenting a positive self-relevant stereotype (e.g., college students are good at math) increased the relative accessibility of females' college student identity and inhibited their gender identity, eliminating attendant working memory deficits and contingent math performance decrements."
Reference:
Rydell, R. J., McConnell, A. R., & Beilock, S. L. (January 01, 2009). Multiple social identities and stereotype threat: Imbalance, accessibility, and working memory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 5, 949-66.
Peer Instruction: Ten Years of Experience and Results
"Presents data from 10 years of teaching using Peer Instruction (PI) in calculus- and algebra-based introductory physics courses for non-majors. Results indicate increased mastery of both conceptual reasoning and quantitative problem solving upon implementing PI. Discusses ways to improve the implementation of PI."
Reference:
Crouch, C. H., & Mazur, E. (September 01, 2001). Peer instruction: Ten years of experience and results. American Journal of Physics, 69, 9, 970-77.
Preparing an Effective Syllabus: Current Best Practices
"Syllabi can be useful in engaging students and creating an effective classroom atmosphere, yet discussions of their effective use rarely appear. In light of current research and theory on syllabi, we review their typical uses (structural, motivational, and evidentiary), commonly included components, and attributes that positively impact the teaching and learning process."
Reference:
Slattery, J. M., & Carlson, J. F. (December 07, 2005). Preparing an effective syllabus: Current best practices. College Teaching, 53, 4, 159.
Principles of Instruction: Research-based Strategies That All Teachers Should Know
This article presents 10 research-based principles of instruction, along with suggestions for classroom practice. These principles come from three sources: (a) research in cognitive science, (b) research on master teachers, and (c) research on cognitive supports.
Reference:
Rosenshine, B. (January 01, 2012). Principles of instruction: Research-based strategies that all teachers should know. (Report). American Educator, 36, 1.
Self-regulation and Achievement Goals in the College Classroom
"A review of the existing literature on self-regulation of learning and motivation at the college level and offers practical tips to educators who struggle with disinterested learners."
Reference:
Zusho, A., & Edwards, K. (May 30, 2011). Self-regulation and achievement goals in the college classroom. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 126, 21-31.
Student Perceptions of Classroom Engagement and Learning Using iPads
"This paper reports on a multidisciplinary assessment of student perceptions of engagement and learning using iPads. Student reactions following single and multiple classroom activities using iPads were measured via a survey asking them to rate their learning and engagement using a 5-point Likert scale. Responses to the questions were grouped into thematic categories of Perceived Learning and Perceived Engagement. Students who reported a high level of engagement while using iPads reported a high level of learning as well."
Reference:
Diemer, T., Fernandez, E., & Streepey, J. (2013). Student perceptions of classroom engagement and learning using iPads. Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology, 1(2), 13-25.
Support, Belonging, Motivation, and Engagement in the College Classroom: A Mixed Method Study
"This explanatory sequential mixed methods study examined how belonging perceptions, academic motivation, and engagement might mediate the relationship between academic contextual characteristics and achievement using structural equation modeling and qualitative follow-up interviews with college students from a large, Midwestern university."
Reference:
Zumbrunn, S., McKim, C., Buhs, E., & Hawley, L. R. (September 01, 2014). Support, belonging, motivation, and engagement in the college classroom: A mixed method study. Instructional Science: an International Journal of the Learning Sciences, 42, 5, 661-684.
Ten (Updated) Principles of Academic Integrity: How Faculty Can Foster Student Honesty
"The writers present an updated version of their original 'Principles of Academic Integrity for Faculty' that builds on the many things they have learned over the past five years in conversations with students and faculty on dozens of campuses and that recasts the original guidelines in a way that makes more sense for the Internet Age."
Reference:
McCabe, D., & Pavela, G. (May 01, 2004). Ten (updated) principles of academic integrity: How faculty can foster student honesty. Change: the Magazine of Higher Learning, 36, 3, 10-15.
The 21st-Century Syllabus: Tips for Putting Andragogy Into Practice
"Readers (are offered) seven concrete and practical tips to help them develop their own andragogically-inspired syllabi. We expect that instructors could adapt some, or all, of these tips in unique and interesting ways to best suit their own teaching styles and student learning objectives."
Reference:
Lund, D. K., & Fornaciari, C. J. (October 01, 2014). The 21st-century syllabus: Tips for putting andragogy into practice. Journal of Management Education, 38, 5, 724-732.
The Power of Feedback
"Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement, but this impact can be either positive or negative. Its power is frequently mentioned in articles about learning and teaching, but surprisingly few recent studies have systematically investigated its meaning. This article provides a conceptual analysis of feedback and reviews the evidence related to its impact on learning and achievement. This evidence shows that although feedback is among the major influences, the type of feedback and the way it is given can be differentially effective."
Reference:
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (January 01, 2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77, 1, 81-112.
The Relationship Between Student Identity Development and the Perception of Political Bias in the College Classroom
"This study explored the relationship between identity development, as gauged by Marcia's identity development construct, and student perception of instructor political bias. Regression analysis was employed to compare participant responses on the Ego Identity Process Questionnaire, a measure of Marcia's construct, with the Political Bias in the Classroom Survey, a measure gauging perceptions of and reactions to instructor political bias. The EIPQ's commitment scale was found to be a significant positive indicator for the PBCS's perception scale, suggesting that students who are strongly committed to their identity are more likely to perceive an instructor as having a political bias. Recommendations are made for how to address perceptions of political bias."
Reference:
Linvill, D. (January 01, 2011). The relationship between student identity development and the perception of political bias in the college classroom. College Teaching, 59, 2, 49-55.
The Role of SoTL in the Academy: Upon the 25th Anniversary of Boyer's Scholarship Reconsidered
"This essay works toward two goals: 1) to provide an explanation of how the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning may work within all four of Boyer's 'scholarships' of discovery, integration, application, and teaching and 2) to clarify the distinctions between quality teaching and scholarship of teaching and learning research."
Reference:
Kern, B., Mettetal, G., Dixson, M., & Morgan, R. (2015). The role of SoTL in the academy: Upon the 25th anniversary of Boyer's scholarship reconsidered. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 15, 3, 1-14.
Undergraduate Students' Perspectives of Essential Instructor Qualities
"There are many variables that impact a classroom experience including the instructor, the student, and the class itself. Much research has been done in the area of undergraduate student expectations and preferences for instructors, course format, etc. This paper explores how specific student characteristics such as first-generation status, age, class level, and format impact students' perception of what makes a good instructor."
Reference:
Trammell, B., & Aldrich, R. (February 26, 2016). Undergraduate students' perspectives of essential instructor qualities. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 16, 1, 15.