Supporting biology courses for non-majors involves addressing the diverse needs of students with little intrinsic motivation to study the subject. Many take these courses as
I’ve tried a few different techniques for class discussions over the years, some that I’ve written about previously in Faculty Focus. In recent years, I’ve
Teaching in a large-size classroom differs significantly from teaching in a small-size classroom in terms of engagement, interaction, and instructional methods (Wang & Calvano, 2022).
In undergraduate classrooms, instructors encounter a variety of students with diverse backgrounds and different personalities. Since discussion-based learning, both in-person and virtual, remains important, teachers
Eighteen students crammed themselves into a stuffy classroom assigned for my first-year seminar course on a sunny day in September. With desk tops touching and
Despite debate and disagreement about how to define and measure attention spans, numerous studies have put student attention spans in approximately the 10-minute range (Bradbury,
Data has become the cornerstone of decision-making and institutional strategy in today’s higher education landscape. From tracking retention rates to measuring academic performance, data offers
“What you appreciate appreciates” (Twist, n.d.). One of the practices I have employed in most of my classes during the past several years is “the appreciative close,” which is an offshoot of “the appreciative pause” recommended by Stephen Brookfield (Brookfield, 2015, pp.95-96).
Engagement – it’s another one of those words that’s regularly bandied about in higher education. We talk about it like we know what it means,
Have you ever struggled to get students to do required readings? Do your students treat them as optional? Perhaps they do the readings, but when
