Teaching Techniques Resources
Classroom Assessment
The benefits of CATs are described and strategies for use are presented along with descriptions of the Minute Paper, Muddiest Point, and the One-Sentence Summary in this webpage produced by the Center for Support of Teaching and Learning at Syracuse University.
http://tinyurl.com/l2dvez
A Berkeley Compendium of Suggestions for Teaching with Excellence
Teaching with Excellence, a UC-Berkeley compendium of best teaching practices by Barbara Gross Davis, Lynn Wood, and Robert C. Wilson, contains several sections relevant to developing and delivering lectures as a teaching technique.
http://teaching.berkeley.edu/compendium/
Alternatives to Large Group Discussion
The "Alternatives to Large Group Discussion" website advises that "Meeting as a large group for discussion week after week can get old for students and instructors...a variety of activities [will] keep student participation and interest high. You will also find that different students shine depending upon the class format." Included are suggestions for simulations, field trips, concept maps, debates, games, invited speakers, panel presentations, and small groups.
http://tinyurl.com/peb9ua
Classroom Assessment Techniques
An overview of Classroom Assessment Techniques is provided along with the characteristics of CATs, assumptions, how to begin, and suggestions for success.
http://tinyurl.com/2tlo36
Common Teaching Methods
List of strengths and limitations of 14 teaching methods, such as lecture, lecture with discussion. brainstorming, videotapes, class discussion, small group discussion, case studies, etc.
http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/comteach.htm
Common Visual Aids
Honolulu Community College's website lists the advantages and disadvantages of the following common visual aids: slides, flip charts, posters, videos, overhead transparencies, and PowerPoint presentations.
http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/visuals.htm
Concept Mapping
"Concept Mapping," by Steven Hale at Georgia Perimeter College, describes the steps of constructing concept maps and give some examples as illustration.
http://www.gpc.edu/~shale/humanities/composition/handouts/concept.html
Distance Education at a Glance
"At its most basic level, distance education takes place when a teacher and student(s) are separated by physical distance, and technology (i.e., voice, video, data, and print), often in concert with face-to-face communication, is used to bridge the instructional gap." Barry Willis and the University of Idaho Engineering Outreach staff have developed thirteen guides covering a wide range of concerns in distance learning.
http://www.uidaho.edu/eo/distglan.html
Effects of teacher wait time on discourse characteristics in mathematics and language arts classes
"Effects of teacher wait time on discourse characteristics in mathematics and language arts classes." Tobin, K. (1986). American Educational Research Journal, 23, 191-200.
Enhancing Your Teaching Effectiveness
Practical tips on improving your teaching.
http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/enhance.htm
Facilitating Discussion: A Brief Guide
By Katherine K. Gottschalk, Director of Freshman Writing Seminars in Cornell University's John S. Knight Writing Program, provides helpful insight on: creating rapport, encouraging participation, facilitating discussion, getting students to talk to and argue with each other, using small groups, other ideas for invigorating your class.
http://tinyurl.com/qjhe9e
Gerontology Program at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington
This site defines intergenerational service-learning and has several resources from the Gerontology Program at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington including an example service-learning contract.
http://www.uncw.edu/hahs/GRNSvcLrng.html
Group Discussion Techniques in a Technical Course
Glenn Blackwell's paper, "Group Discussion Techniques in a Technical Course" discusses his use of small group discussions in engineering courses and how these discussions relate to the test format he uses.
http://www.fie-conference.org/fie98/papers/1278.pdf
Intended Learning Objectives and Optimal Learning Methods
A table summarizing the efficacy of individual, competitive and collaborative learning methods in reaching specific learning objectives. Based on 122 research papers on the topic
http://www.gdrc.org/kmgmt/c-learn/types-learn.html
Jepson School of Leadership Studies
An example of a service learning contract from the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond.
http://tinyurl.com/2nsfnq
Office of Community Service-Learning
An example service-learning contract from the Office of Community Service-Learning at Willamette University.
http://www.willamette.edu/dept/csl/pdf/contract.pdf
Service Learning Contract
An example of a service-learning contract from a course at the University of Minnesota.
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/bran0368/wost4402/wost4402service_learning_contract.pdf
Service Learning Enrollment Form
An example service-learning contract from NorthWest Arkansas Community College.
http://www.nwacc.edu/LDC/careerservices/service-learning/documents/2007Service-LearningEnrollmentForm.pdf
Service Learning Volunteer Center
An example "internship learning contract" from the Service Learning Volunteer Center at Northwestern Michigan College.
http://www.nmc.edu/socialscience/service-learning/noncredit-contract.html
Shumer's Self-Assessment for Service Learning
Shumer's Self-Assessment for Service Learning--a self-reflective system for
professionals in the service-learning and experiential learning fields. What follows is a series of instruments and analysis worksheets arranged to help individuals evaluate their current service-learning
initiatives to improve and strengthen them.
December, 2000 by Rob Shumer, for the Center for Experiential and Service-Learning, Department of Work, Community, and Family Education, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota
http://www.servicelearning.org/filemanager/download/3/shumasses.pdf
Some Ideas for Motivating Students
Robert Harris provides a list of practical ideas for motivating students. Then he compares classroom learning with playing a sport. Sports are highly motivating for the players. What do sports and classroom learning have in common? What aspects of sports can we adapt to our classrooms?
http://www.virtualsalt.com/motivate.htm
Suggestions for Creating Effective Overhead Transparencies
University of Akron's College of Education presents suggestions for creating effective overhead transparencies. The website includes the advantages and disadvantages, design guidelines, preparation tips, types of film and how to prepare multiple layer transparencies
http://www2.uakron.edu/irteach/overheads.htm
Suggestions for Leading Small-Group Discussions
The article "Suggestions for Leading Small-Group Discussions" from Iowa State's Center for Teaching Excellence, outlines how and when to use small group discussions as a teaching technique
http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/small_group.html
Supplemental Material
"If students are going to feel that discussion invites them to develop and express their ideas in an unpressured way, then the discussion leader must find a way to teach that is neither too dominant nor too reserved." Chapter 10 from Discussion as a Way of Teaching: Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms by Brookfield, Stephen and Stephen Preskill. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999) discusses at length the roles, responsibilities and actions of a discussion leader. It also provides a checklist of questions that a teacher can use to maintain the balance between "saying too much" and "saying too little."
http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/suppmat/83brook.htm
Teaching Effectiveness Program
Resources from the Teaching Effectiveness program at the University of Oregon, including strategies for new teachers, instructional technology tools, and methods for improving instruction. In particular, check out "Teaching FAQs," "Large Class Teaching," and the "Resource Exchange."
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~tep/index.html
Teaching Effectiveness Program
University of Oregon's Teaching Effectiveness Program offers a collection of Frequently Asked Questions regarding student motivation. Some examples of questions include: How do I encourage students to be active and interested? How do I deal with apathetic students? How do I deal with groups that are not functioning well together? How do I empower students?
http://tep.uoregon.edu/resources/faqs/motivatingstudents/motivating.html
Teaching Handbook
The Indiana University Teaching Handbook discusses specific instructional methodologies, including lecturing, facilitating discussions, group work, assessing student performance, using case studies, managing science labs, and teaching with technology. Particularly good are the sections on using questions as a teaching tool and facilitating discussions.
http://tinyurl.com/2nojrm
Teaching Tips
"Teaching Tips" from Honolulu Community College provides links to resources on topics covering many of the basics of teaching: assessment techniques, communication, course design, dealing with stress, how people learn, preparing a course syllabus, preparing a lesson plan, human development, motivating students, effective questioning strategies, etc.
http://tinyurl.com/zhg
The Active Learning Site
Research summaries at discuss how talking less during lectures increases student learning.
http://www.active-learning-site.com/sum1.htm
Tools for Teaching and Learning
A well-organized website containing information on course design, teaching techniques and assessment strategies from the Penn State Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence.
http://www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu/Tools/
Transcending Disciplines, Reinforcing Curricula: Why Faculty Teach with Service-Learning
A report based on the 2004 AACC study to identify factors that motivate faculty to include service learning in their courses.
http://tinyurl.com/kndoa9
Twenty Ways to Make Lectures More Participatory
Lectures play a vital role in teaching. Here are twenty ways to make lectures more participatory. Adapted from Participatory Lectures, Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, 1992.
http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/TFTlectures.html
Using Overhead Transparencies
"While the current trend is heading toward the use of the LCD projector technology, the overhead projector is still the most popular presentation device used today." Seminar leader Lenny Laskowski offers guidelines and tips for an effective presentation using the overhead projector.
http://www.ljlseminars.com/transp.htm
Wait Time: Slowing Down May Be A Way of Speeding Up
In the paper "Wait Time: Slowing Down May Be A Way of Speeding Up," Professor Mary Budd Rowe discusses the concepts of wait time 1 (pausing after asking a question) and wait time 2 (pausing after a student response). Based on her research, the conclusion is that the quality of discussion can be markedly improved by increasing up to 3 seconds or longer the average wait times used by teachers after a question and after a response.
What Constitutes a Good Lecture?
This article, "What Constitutes a Good Lecture?" offers an inside look at how students view lectures. By Jann Lacoss, Faculty Consultant, UVA Teaching Resource Center and Jennifer Chylack, Graduate Student Associate
http://tinyurl.com/2wv7qj
