The college conducts student evaluations of teaching for all courses, and many faculty members supplement those evaluations by asking questions of their own (within, or along side, the college's official system). But do you take time to conduct a self-evaluation? This article includes a link to a self-evaluation form.

A personal essay about the ways in which classroom formality (and the lack of it) is affected by the race and class of the professor and students.

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?

This episode of NPR's Planet Money presents a good case study in applying the 4-factor fair use test. The topic is web sites which present song lyrics. In specific, they look at a site called RapGenius, which makes a "transformative use" case by providing a site where users can annotate and explicate lyrics. (Despite the name, the site includes any genre of music as well as poetry, prose, and news.) RapGenius also has an education program for faculty who want to use it as a classroom tool for close reading exercises.

Multiple interesting discussions in this episode of the Digital Campus podcast. The first 2 discussions are particularly wiorthwhile. They open with a discussion of the ways U.S. government rules on retaining electronic records will impact the teaching of history, and follow with a discussion of the Open Syllabus Project, which analyzes millions of syllabi collected from the web.

The author addresses some of the criticisms of flipped learning, including student resistance and how to overcome it. The key is thinking about how face-to-face time is used to reach higher-level learning goals than otherwise possible.

Concrete suggestions for teaching students how to have a discussion with each other, instead of each student serially talking with the professor.

Simple suggestions for improving the quality of "flipped classroom" screencasts. Suggestion 1: buy a microphone. (The CIP is recommending the Samson GoMic, retailing around $50.) Suggestion 2: look at your lighting. You may need to turn 90 or 180 degrees, or get a desk lamp, to look your best. (I decided to post this under the title from the print edition of the magazine, instead of the online title "The Problem With Flipped Classrooms: Teachers Shoot Lousy Video.")

Using the IDEA course evaluation survey, this report looks at 4 questions specific to the student's relationship with the faculty member and provides specific suggestions of things the faculty member can do to increase rapport with students.

Interesting report on social media use by professors for teaching (and research / professional development). Faculty members use social media personally, including among their professional colleagues, much like the general population does. Classroom use is still slowed by privacy concerns, relating to both the student-teacher relationship and the classroom's privacy from the rest of the world. How would you answer their questions? Issued in 2013 by Pearson Learning Solutions.

A six-page synopsis by Dee Fink of his seminal book on course design, "Creating Significant Learning Experiences." From the text: "The heart of this approach is to decide first what students can and should learn in relation to this subject and then figure out how such learning can be facilitated. Although this approach requires more time and effort, it also offers the best chance of ensuring that students have a significant learning experience."

A short open access textbook which presents main concepts of various kinds of information literacy to students. It includes case studies and hands-on exercises.

Even in this bookmark list, we use the term "flipped classroom". This article describes an attempt at a definition of "flipped learning", where the emphasis is on the student's learning process and not the logistics of the classroom. I think it provides a set of metrics which may be useful in examining anyone's pedagogy.

This paper serves as a guide to starting a portfolio project. It focuses on the "learning portfolio" as a tool which encourages the student to reflect on their own learning, with special attention to their own progress. I was particularly taken with the point that a portfolio can be an appropriate tool at any level of the curriculum - an individual course or set of courses, the program or department level, or the whole institution - though of course, that choice will change the purpose of the portfolio, and therefore its design.

This paper gives good examples of ways to get students to work with course material in ways which lead to more complete and lasting understanding, instead of the surface acquisition of facts. Most of the activities listed are team activities.

This paper gives good examples of ways to get students to work with course material in ways which lead to more complete and lasting understanding, instead of the surface acquisition of facts. Most of the activities listed are team activities.

"Assessing assessment" seems painfully meta, but we spend enough energy on our departmental reviews that we should ensure the process is useful. This article asks 14 questions in order to help guide thinking about whether an assessment plan is currently successful. The questions asked focus more on the students' learning outcomes rather than indirect measures of institutional efficiency.

"Assessing assessment" seems painfully meta, but we spend enough energy on our departmental reviews that we should ensure the process is useful. This article asks 14 questions in order to help guide thinking about whether an assessment plan is currently successful. The questions asked focus more on the students' learning outcomes rather than indirect measures of institutional efficiency.

A review (published 2006) of available resources for interdisciplinary course design and teaching.

A conversation with Julie Thompson Klein of Wayne State University on different approaches to interdisciplinary teaching, and ways to support it at both the grassroots and institutional levels.