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Interesting studies about students non-academic use of computers during class time. On one hand, we need to remind students that multitasking (of this kind) is a myth, and that they need to learn the skill of occasionally being "disconnected". On the other hand, if the student is "fighting boredom", it's not actually the device's fault...

Like many people, I prefer to take notes on my computer rather than writing with a pen or pencil because I can type much faster than I can write longhand. The authors report on a study which indicates conceptual understanding is deepened when one takes notes by hand. The study points to benefits resulting from a greater level of "encoding" of the information because of "selective strategies" employed when a person can't simply type everything verbatim.

Interesting implications here for how we schedule review sessions and talk to students about studying. (And probably for our own practices around conferences and research and committee/department meetings...)

What do you do to convince students to study the hard way instead of the easy way? Or what do you do in your course design to make the hard way look easy?

Chemistry instructor and author of a new book on teaching first generation college students gives tips on how to help students improve the quality of their studying.

Might be a good template for communicating with your students about preparing for the end of the year.

Another study showing the relationship between sleep and memory. "The post-sleep boost in memory accessibility may indicate that some memories are sharpened overnight." (It might be worth reminding your students that a good study strategy includes a complete night's sleep!)

This study examines the Internet sources higher education students use in their written work and the implications of their choices. It is based on an analysis of over 112 million content matches from more than 28 million student papers submitted to Turnitin between July 2011 and June 2012. Included are recommendations for educators on how to improve student research and citation skills.

On this podcast, Saundra McGuire discusses the ways she's seen student achievement improve by working lessons in study skills into her classes. Are there basic (or basic-seeming) learning skills you'll be encouraging your students to use this semester?

Show me the data! Frankly, I think any survey that includes 722 physics faculty members has to be worthwhile -- that is quite the sample size! Moreover, this is likely to be pretty representative. While it is impressive that a very large majority (88%) were aware of certain "research-based instructional strategies," what is even more impressive is that 82% of the respondents had tried some of these strategies. True, 1/3 of these have given up and gone back to traditional lectures, but I agree with Eric Mazur's comment that this means that 2/3 are still plugging away. The follow-up studies should be interesting, especially if they shed light on what drove the 1/3 who gave up to do so.

An interesting set of prompts to help you consider publishing scholarship about your teaching. I'd like to highlight the first sentence of Step 5 - "a primary rule of (the scholarship of teaching and learning) is to use your discipline-based methods first." Don't use your preconceived notions of what education literature looks like, but consider how your study might use your disciplinary ways of knowing.

Turnitin released a report covering over 1,000 institutions for a five year period that shows a substantial decrease in what it calls "unoriginal writing" at schools using Turnitin. While some of that reduction is certainly a result of using Turnitin, there are a number of flaws to their claims which we'll see in a follow-up post to this one.

The author details a number of critiques of Turnitin's recently released study purporting to show that Turnitin use results in a major decrease in plagiarism at institutions where it is used. The core of the critique is that Turnitin tends to start in classrooms where plagiarism has been a problem so the baseline is high and that it is often used in conjunction with a campus discussion about academic honesty and how to teach in ways that inhibit the drive to plagiarize.

A free ebook from the Teagle Foundation addressing the humanities' approach to learning assessment. "What happens when the disciplines make themselves heard in the discussions of learning outcomes assessment that are ubiquitous in higher education today? What do disciplinary perspectives and methodologies have to bring to the table? This volume engages these questions from the perspective of literary study, with essays by education leaders, faculty from English and foreign language departments, and assessment experts that offer a wide range of perspectives."

A 30-question PDF questionnaire which can help students understand their learning preferences. The PDF also includes descriptions of the 3 different styles measured, and study tips for people who prefer (or wish to develop) those styles.

I'm intrigued by the finding that 49% of students who use their mobile devices in class have done class work with them. Of course, that doesn't address how often they use a phone for class work instead of recreation... and it does mean 51% of students who text in class have never been on task.

Barbara Fister tells the story of a first-year seminar studying Golden Gate Park which actually presented their early research in the park. Lots of neat ideas here as we consider teaching and learning with a sense of place.

A report on studies which show the positive impact of exercise and being in nature on subjects' creativity and mood. Next time your class begs "can we have class outside", why not suggest a discussion during a walk to the other end of campus?

Many institutions are finding that the analysis of data about student behavior allows them to identify at-risk students earlier and offer interventions which improve academic success. Most of the case studies are being done at larger institutions with lower graduation rates than Kenyon, but the possibilities and risks involved in the process are worth keeping an eye on.

This is an interesting discussion about vulnerability, trust, and power in the classroom (and outside it). It comes from the Connected Courses community, which focuses on teaching courses with a large public online component, but the discussion is applicable to any class where students are asked to take risks. It's an hour long, but well worth it. (It's also an interesting case study in bringing material from the backchannel into the foreground.)