Group items tagged

How do you get students to make connections between the facts they learn in a course? This article describes two courses which used Twitter to get students to contribute small connections to a class archive, in a similar way that an Orwell character does in his novel "A Clergyman's Daughter."

Self-awareness is a central component to the Liberal Arts mission and this article lays out simple strategies to promote metacognitive awareness without setting aside class time for it.

Perhaps the biggest outcome of a liberal arts education should be the understanding that every discipline is more based on learned and practiced skills than innate aptitude. The four tips in this article might be boiled down to one umbrella concept - talk to your students about growth mindset.

A professor of learning technology discusses some of the questions faculty should ask themselves about effectively grading digital assignments.

What do you do to mark the beginnings and endings of classes? I took a class in grad school which started with 5 minutes of reviewing the news relevant to libraries, books, or reading... or Elvis, because the prof was a big Elvis fan and wanted to lighten the tone a bit. It worked as an engaging ritual, marking the transition into the class.

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 to connect the job of helping students prepare for end-of-semester assignments or exams with the goal of bringing a sense of closure to your course.

Short metacognitive activities at the end of class are great ways to give coherence to learning and give insights for planning the next session.

A new book offers a strong introduction to digital humanities pedagogy, including both context and concrete potential assignments.