College Teaching: Practical Insights From the Science of Teaching and Learning

Everything matters when it comes to teaching and learning: student characteristics, the school itself, and cultural ideas about the value of higher education, to name a few. Most of these influences are outside the college instructor's control. Other issues, however — such as a course's intellectual demands, type of feedback students receive, the instructional methods, and the relationship that connects professor to student — are controllable. This book examines the many choices professors make about their teaching, beginning with their initial planning of the course and its basic content through to the final decisions about grades and assessing effectiveness. Chapters address the following topics: Planning; Lecturing; Leading discussions; Student-centered teaching methods such as collaborative or experiential activities; Testing and grading; Helping students through feedback and guidance; Managing classroom dynamics; Using technology effectively; Evaluating and documenting one's contributions as a teacher. Brief research analyses show why certain techniques work better than others. Through lively examples and prompts to continually personalize the material, readers learn how to structure their teaching and what to do to ensure their students are treated fairly. This book is for beginning instructors as well as those who have been teaching at the college level for many years. Author Donelson Forsyth calls readers' attention to basics such as the cognitive, motivational, personal, and interpersonal processes flowing through even the most routine of educational experiences. He also addresses online teaching, instructional design, learning teams, and new technologies to help professors re-examine and refresh their existing practices. Read more