Rote learning has become passé. So has passive teaching. These days, top educators are thinking about being agile and engaging, and that comes from first principles: your course design. In the same way software developers create agile software — in which they keep trying new things and improving, and mistakes are part of the journey […]
A “course made good” in teaching is like steering a ship—work out where you are, where you’re pointing, and how to change direction to get to your destination
There is a metaphor that postsecondary educators fall back upon when talking about a well-worn course: it’s like a house. Sometimes it needs a little fresh air, some new furniture in the form of think-pair-shares or other active learning exercises, to recapture students’ attention. Sometimes it needs to be stripped down to the studs and […]
David Cereceda is Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Villanova University, near Philadelphia, PA. Here, he shares how including interactive questions as part of an active learning strategy helped satisfy a demanding student audience
If you want to become a better educator, the first step is to embrace a growth mindset. We expect it of our students, so we should expect it of ourselves
His TED talk “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” is the most watched TED Talk in history.
There is no need to transform, overhaul or tear down and rebuild the way you teach, according to education expert James Lang. You simply need to take a more mindful approach to class time and make an effort to use it better
Professors most readily learn from each other and by attending off-site conferences, while deeply distrusting departmental meetings, according to a new survey of nearly 2,000 professors across the US and Canada
From Comenius to Montessori, here are some teaching quotes for the modern educator—all about letting your students challenge their perceptions and themselves
What is an adjunct professor? An adjunct professor, a term most often used in the U.S., is a temporary, part-time appointment brought in by college administrations to teach. Many adjunct professors teach at short notice on part-time contract; many more teach at more than one institution, looking to supplement their income from their other careers. […]
In late August and early September, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma wreaked havoc not only on homes and businesses, but on post-secondary institutions that were gearing up for the new school year. In the aftermath of these devastating storms, students, faculty and staff are still trying to recover — and make up for lost time. There […]
If you’re a lecturer waiting for your administration to send you on a training course, you could be waiting a long time. Taking the first step yourself is easier than you think. Here are four ways you can boost your lecturing career and improve your reputation, knowledge and student feedback. Leadership If your medium-to-long-term plan […]
People are more ignorant than they think they are. That’s the premise of Steven Sloman’s new book, The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone, co-authored by Phil Fernbach. In it, the authors posit that the idea of individual thinking is a myth and that everything we know is due to the collective knowledge of […]
In researching her book Helping Faculty Find Work-Life Balance: The Path Toward Family Friendly Institutions, Virginia Commonwealth University professor Maike Philipsen looked at work-related stress for academics at different stages of their careers. What she found: workplace stress never goes away, but the sources change. Subscribe to Top Hat’s weekly blog recap Get the best […]
Imagine what a difference we could make if we all took five minutes — even just a few times during the semester — to offer students the opportunity to reflect on their learning habits.