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What exercises do you use to help students develop their abilities to engage points of view with which they may not agree?

Written for school teachers (as in grade school, middle school, etc.), this article is not 100% relevant to pedagogical discussions in higher ed. However, the article got me thinking about how I still learn; what gets me intellectually excited; and what diverts me away from other activities in the interest of pursuing an idea. Could I turn one of these instances into an example for my students in order to show them my thought processes and how I go about exploring new pedagogical possibilities? Just et al. (2014) (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0102976) shook the biology/paleobiology world when the discovery of two strange deep-sea species hinted at the possibility of a new phylum. I spent hours reading various accounts of this discovery, including a number of trusted blogs. I compared the article's figures of these enigmatic organisms with other figures in old references I pulled old off my shelves. I referred to dusty old descriptive texts to refresh my memory of basic taxonomic classifications. I drew diagrams. Letting my students see this process could be beneficial. Developing a project that might force them to perform similar procedures and then defend their actions, might be difficult, but it could teach them quite a lot about how learning continues.

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

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.

An overview of fair use presented by the Stanford (University) Copyright and Fair Use Center. This link is to the first page of a four page "spread" on fair use that covers: definitions; how to apply the four factors; summaries of significant cases; and a discussion of disagreements over what constitutes fair use and whether one is likely to get sued or not.

A discussion of the meaning and practical interpretation by recent courts of the term "transformative." Folks in the fields of literature, music, and visual arts will find synopses of recent cases covering the specific application of the law with respect to their media. While not necessarily of direct importance to academicians in the classroom, these synopses should be of interest to anyone (faculty and students) who produce outside of the classroom.

An interesting analysis of the textbook market from the Planet Money podcast. It's worth listening all the way to the end for a brief discussion of why new editions come out so frequently - and whether they will continue to.

In a hyperactive age and an academic culture which tends to reward quick thinking, how can we model the process of slowing down to notice details and let ideas form? Most faculty are aware of the importance of not always calling on the most eager students; this article suggests 7 other kinds of pauses which you could introduce in your classes to give students room to mull over the topic.

This 2008 blog post from a mathematician at Dickinson College is the best summary of my thoughts on curving grades that I have ever come across. Other than the fact that there is more math in here, this is what I think of whenever my students ask me "Do you curve your exams?" Moreover, his discussion on assigning grades includes formulas that can be pasted into either Google Docs or Excel that will generate letter grades based on splits that you can set to your liking. (Note: I have my own blog post about this where I explain these formulas in a bit more detail. Just copy and paste the following link into your browser: https://cip.kenyon.edu/hells-bells-not-question-again-and-formulas-assigning-grades.)

The title of this one pretty much sums up the content completely. There is a link to some good vs. bad examples of PowerPoint slides, but they are pretty self-evident. The guidelines discussed in this article are worth exploring even if you are not developing a MOOC or a smaller online course -- for example, if you just want to flip a class or two.

From Endicott College, an interesting set of suggestions for using the last day of the class to help culminate the class experience and show the transitions to the next steps. Some of these require a fair amount of planning (portfolios and pre- and post-tests) while others (concept mapping and syllabus review) probably could be used on a moment's notice. I particularly like the last suggestion... maybe the CIP needs a fortune cookie machine?

There are many benefits to having students present work in public. How do you engage students with the issues of privacy and public representation around that work?

One issue in discussions of college writing is how to incorporate writing practice into STEM courses. Some Kenyon professors in STEM subjects include journal assignments and process descriptions into their courses. Here are some suggestions on similar metacognitive "writing to learn" approaches, including guidelines for feedback to students.

Fascinating discussion of the semantics of "trigger warnings" through the lens of universal design for accessibility. It seems to imply a question about when (if ever) surprising students with course content is a useful strategy. Thanks to Jeanne Griggs for the link.

This week in our Small Teaching book club, we were discussing the value of monitored practice versus the stress that public feedback can generate in classrooms. Here, John Warner makes some observations about private and monitored practice and suggests that real time feedback is best suited to honing discrete skills

Transparency about your teaching methods may be particularly important when using the Socratic method (or the "semi-Socratic" devil's advocate approach).

Concrete tips for making sure all students have equitable chances to participate in class, from Maha Bali and Steve Greenlaw

An extensive review of 51 years of scholarly literature on student participation. Thanks to Michael Levine and Irene Lopez for pointing this out.

Remarkable suggestions here about the real potential benefits of being an active "moderator" for your panel and not just a time-keeper. The "take 3 questions before giving any answers" approach sounds particularly interesting.