Tony Bates, who helped pioneer distance education and computer assisted learning at the University of British Columbia, says that leadership is critical to solving the privacy and digital literacy dilemmas that have existed in education since the 1990s
Environmental economics student Emma Rice hopes to work at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Here, she talks about how the Top Hat Scholarship will help her pursue her dreams
Top Hat author Dr. Ricardo Nogueira, a senior lecturer in Geosciences, has been honored by Georgia State University (GSU) with a prestigious instructional innovation award. He was chosen over 11 other candidates at the university for embracing new technologies in the classroom, including video and an interactive textbook, which he authored and developed with Top […]
First generation student Delia Grantham overcame early life struggles to embrace her studies and college experience
Getting outside your comfort zone and embracing your in-class personality are just a few of the ways introverted professors can face the challenges of a big group lecture
No one is immune to impostor syndrome’s effects, and millennials, faced with constant comparisons to friends’ accomplishments on social media, can be especially affected
For Boomer and Gen X academics, here are five traits—including being teamwork-focused and boasting a reward-seeking mentality—your millennial coworkers may possess
Traditional textbooks—even electronic editions—are overpriced for students and for teachers, and worse still, the price of hard copy and e-books increases with each revised edition. Open Educational Resources (OER) are becoming more widely adopted in the classroom for teaching and learning due to their flexibility, minimal costs and easier access for students. This guide outlines […]
Top Hat’s revised grade and attendance management system is designed to be intuitive and easy to learn. Product manager Karthiga Vezhavendan talks about the gradebook's great new features
There's far too much silence around domestic abuse, says bestselling author, speaker and UofT scholarship award winner Samra Zafar
Agile learning takes its inspiration from the concept of ‘agile’ as used in the world of technology. Agile teams collaborate on projects and provide ongoing feedback, dealing with minor bumps in the road before they become major obstacles. If something doesn’t work, they change course. Agile methodology works in the tech industry, but it’s increasingly […]
There are good reasons colleges conduct student course evaluations, though you might be forgetting them as you skim through your results. Were these students in the same classroom as you? How should you understand the comment that describes your delivery as “strict”? And what importance will college administrators attach to the finding that 22 percent […]
Are you an introvert? Roughly one third to a half of the population feel most capable or alive in quiet environments. Author and speaker Susan Cain’s research centers around introverts, as the co-founder of the Quiet Revolution, a movement devoted to showcasing introverts’ strengths. She is also the author of Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths […]
How do you know if your teaching practice is effective—and whether you’re just teaching a certain way because that’s how your professors did it? In the spirit of reinvention—and remembering the ‘growth mindset,’ where making mistakes is an important part of getting better, here are four professors and how they decided to tweak their initial […]
Most faculty aren’t doing what they do for the money: it’s a vocation. But when you do what you love—and in particular for adjuncts, for little stability or monetary reward—it’s extremely easy to get overwhelmed and burn out. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and one of the major focuses in 2019 from organizers Mental […]
Sara Goldrick-Rab, the Temple University professor and scholar-activist working to make college more affordable and equitable, was disinterested in academia until she discovered her passion for creating change
In this abridged extract from our new e-book, The Professor’s Guide to Agile Teaching, we look at a pair of professors who broke down and rebuilt the way they were teaching and changed their classes for the better. Candice Damiani Biology Lecturer, University of Pittsburgh Candice Damiani could have kept teaching the same old way. […]
Postsecondary educators, who often view their work as a vocation, are experiencing previously unseen levels of occupational stress. This guide will help you reach something more than work-life balance: a healthy integration of your career and your life
You’ve created new lesson plans and are experimenting with active learning in the classroom. The problem is, your students are completely resistant to the idea. Here’s how to engage students in active learning—even if they are initially reluctant. Active learning teaching strategies are effective teaching and learning methods. But that doesn’t mean everybody understands the […]
Top Hat is the active learning platform that makes it easy for professors to engage students and build comprehension before, during and after class. This interview is part of our recurring series “Academic Admissions” where we ask interesting people to tell us about the transformative role education has played in their lives. For more than […]