Category higher education
Programs remembering astronauts Christa McAuliffe and Ron McNair continue their commitment to the importance of learning
We remember today the Challenger shuttle disaster that happened 25 years ago. Their crew photo captures their excitement, camaraderie and the team’s unique diversity. The Challenger’s launch was special for me, as Christa McAuliffe was the first teacher in space, and I had been following the process of her selection and training. In life and […]
Student excuses: Faculty need to be discerning but not cynical
One part of teaching — at whatever level — is dealing with student absences and the honesty of student excuses. A colleague recently e-mailed the department members with a link to FemaleScienceProfessor’s blog about excuses she had received from her students for missing the final exam. [A Chronicle blog post last fall also addressed student […]
How you present yourself in a campus visit plays a major role in whether you are offered the faculty position
In Mass Communication Teaching, we’ve spent the semester discussing strategies for effective teaching and promoting student learning. Each class member has taught class on a topic related to teaching in higher education — promoting group discussion, structuring group projects, promoting academic honesty, addressing the needs of students with learning disabilities, developing multiple-choice exams, etc. A […]
Visiting campus auditoriums — in person or via smartphone photo — helps in assessing an auditorium’s potential
A room assignment, a campus map and a smartphone were the ingredients for a fun teaching activity in my Mass Communication Teaching. The students in the course are hoping to attain college teaching positions when they graduate. Many are teaching assistants in the College of Journalism and Communications. Every week we take on issues related […]
Preparing students to be free-agent employees in today’s challenging economy
Freelancers. Contingency employees. Contract employees. Temporary workers. Free-agent employees. Those terms apply to an increasing percentage of the U.S. workforce and were terms used in a recent article in USA Today –“Freelance workers reshape companies and jobs.” According to researchers cited in the article, at least 10 percent of the current work force are cotingency workers. […]
Open Access Week encourages faculty to think about their use of open source materials in their classes
I first read that this was Open Access Week in a blog post on The Chronicle of Higher Education that discussed the benefits of using open source course management systems, such as using WordPress, rather than using the standard university course management systems, such as Blackboard or Angel. I was interested in the discussion, as […]
How much should instructors model their syllabus policies on the university’s recommended syllabus policies?
Graduate students in Mass Communication Teaching are designing course syllabi for undergraduate communications courses. One of the resources I’ve alerted them to is the University of Florida Policy on Course Syllabi. Here’s a question about the use of the policy information. Q: How closely can we parallel our syllabus to the general syllabus outline provided […]
Julie Dodd 