Center for Innovative Pedagogy

What are your opinions on grading group work? How do you balance formative and summative comments, group and individual grades, your grading and intra-group feedback?

Conversations about portfolios often suggest them as a solution to one problem at a time, whether that problem is integrative learning, student self-representation outside the college, or institutional (and departmental) assessment. This article tries to juggle 4 very different ways of looking at portfolios at the same time. Such a view might help us understand how many benefits might flow from a pedagogy which includes portfolio construction.

The "special pedagogical challenge" of a course - or, Jay Howard argues here, a discipline - is the key concept or skill which must be unlocked to truly enable thinking like a member of the discipline. (Sometimes it's actually disabusing students of their incorrect beliefs about the subject.) This article focuses on finding that skill in sociology. What's your discipline's special challenge?

We complain about students' distractability, but what can we do in the classroom to practice holding focus?

According to the authors, much of what is widely claimed about learning styles - primarily that learners learn best when they learn in their preferred mode, be it visually, auditorily, or kinesthetically - is simply not backed up with research. They believe that the widespread belief in learning styles has real costs to teachers and students. Faculty neglect other, well-established learning theories and students neglect other modes of learning out of a misplaced belief that they can't learn well in those modes.

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.

"Just to have someone from the university come up and say, 'You belong here' and 'We're so excited to have you here,' " (a first-generation student) says, "that would have changed everything for me."

HASTAC's Pedagogy Project is a website collecting syllabi and course projects which use digital tools or highly collaborative approaches. If you're wondering how to use new forms of communication in assignments, or if you've got a great example to share, this will be a great resource!

At our ODEI/CIP book discussions, there was a lot of concern about stereotype threat. "Stereotype threat refers to being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group." This stress has been linked to reduced performance in a number of academic and social areas. Put another way, recognizing and removing sources of stereotype threat can be a good way to create inclusive environments where everyone can succeed.

A very fascinating, interactive chart that allows you to search for the incidence of words used to describe male and female teachers in millions of RateMyProfessor.com reviews.

An interesting description of the "peer instruction" model used to achieve active learning in large lecture classes by Eric Mazur.

An excellent episode of the "Teaching, Learning, and Everything Else" podcast on civic engagement and service learning, reflecting on experiences at Drew University and Xavier University of Louisiana.

Registration is still required, but Google has discounted their professional-level GIS tool from $399/year to $0.

Everyone's looking for a way to make grading more efficient without sacrificing effectiveness. Most of these tips boil down to finding ways to make feedback engaging, usually by focusing on things the student can do to improve (in a rewrite or on the next assignment).

I've spoken with faculty who are using Problem-Based Learning effectively in their classrooms but were not aware the practice had a name, nor that it had a substantial body of research literature. Here's a sample that outlines the reasons it is an effective practice, best practices, and practical examples plus a brief discussion of the constructivist principles at work. It comes to us at Kenyon through JSTOR.

How do you handle teaching at times that aren't your peak active hours - like the evening seminar or an early morning class? And what can you do to engage students who are clearly in that boat? Anastasia Salter has some techniques which worked for her. (The comment thread on this article also has some useful suggestions.)

This "stoplight" method for end of class assessment is an interesting take on the "minute paper" or having students identify the "muddiest point".

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.

While written for a K-12 audience, the principles apply very well for a college teacher interested in an inquiry-based course. The sooner you talk to your librarian about possible resources and research strategies for your students, the better!

James Lang argues for a "pedagogy of presence" in which we are truly attentive to the individuals we meet during class time. Kenyon's size gives us major advantages in this area, but even in 5-person technology workshops I've found myself on autopilot.