In an instructional experiment, I split students into three groups––no quiz, announced quiz, and pop quiz. I used the same instructional style and teaching materials (including the same textbook and handouts) with each of these three groups. I also gave the same two midterms and
Unfortunately, various analyses of multiple-choice test questions have revealed that many of them do not test higher-order thinking abilities. Questions that test higher-order thinking abilities are difficult and time-consuming to write. But for many teachers, those teaching multiple courses and those teaching large sections, multiple-choice
Clearly written goals and objectives serve several important functions in an online course. They provide students a “successful pathway to learning,” indicate to the instructor teaching points to hit when teaching the course, and suggest appropriate teaching and assessment methods, says Sandra Bennett, instructional designer
Online course content should be challenging, but the course itself should be straightforward and include “purposeful redundancy” to aid navigation and provide multiple ways to learn, says Michelle Manganaro, who teaches online education and communications courses at several institutions, including Massasoit Community College. In terms
Incivility in an online course can reduce student satisfaction and negatively affect retention. This is why it’s important to understand what causes it, design your course to minimize it, and know what to do when you encounter it.
Some technologies become so ubiquitous that we wonder how we ever got along without them. How did people cook before microwaves, and how did we get money out of banks before ATMs? Google Drive is one of those technologies. Drive is Google’s cloud-based suite of
During the last six years, I have become a convert to online teaching, offering students opportunities to participate collaboratively in my online literacy courses. Below are some ways I use educational technology to foster collaboration.
As classrooms become more digitally enhanced, many educators consider how they will move traditionally face-to-face elements of their content so that interactions are not lost in translation to online environments. In the language arts classroom, two such activities are the writers’ workshop and literature circles—both
If you’re looking for a way to improve your teaching, consider teaching squares. A teaching square consists of four faculty from different disciplines who visit each other’s classes within a two-to-three-week period. After the classroom visits, the four gather around coffee or a meal to
Here’s a great resource: the Teaching Practices Inventory. It’s an inventory that lists and scores the extent to which research-based teaching practices are being used. It’s been developed for use in math and science courses, but researchers Carl Wieman and Sarah Gilbert suggest it
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