Thriving in Academe

Transformation

Recent emphasis on the more utilitarian aspects of higher education have led many to downplay the significance of what many educators believe is our primary role: opening our students to the life of the mind. Thriving authors, Greg Valde and Lisa Kornetsky, present their findings on the professoriate's attitude toward education that transforms lives.

Seeing is Believing

Our K-12 colleagues are adept at using visuals as teaching tools. They know students can learn a great deal from photos, paintings, artifacts, videos, and film. Chuck Boone, our Thriving author, makes a forceful case for making better use of visuals in the college classroom.

Stopping to Listen

When he was mayor of New York City, Ed Koch made a point of asking most New Yorkers he ran into the same question: How Am I Doing? These Thriving authors suggest this might be a good approach for faculty, too.

Information, Please

Information sources are proliferating and becoming more complex. The sheer volume of information is overwhelming, and the complexity of choosing between good information and bad information requires new competencies and upgraded skills—for both students and faculty. Leora Baron offers practical advice for expanding information literacy.

Showing the Way

Researchers are finding that syllabi, the too often neglected road maps to our courses, play an important role in ensuring student success. Mike Strada offers practical advice on creating your own elegant syllabus and demonstrates that the effort pays off.

Promoting Oneself

Most professors do their research and teach their classes, allowing their work to speak for itself. But, more and more, the professoriate is asked to portray itself in the best light for skeptical audiences: legislators, trustees, taxpayers. W. Alan Wright offers some advice for scholars unaccustomed to blatant, self-promotion.

 

Ecological Campus

Teaching can be difficult enough under the best of circumstances. But we don't often stop to consider what the best—or worst—of circumstances are for our students. Jim Banning, professor of Education at Colorado State University, looks at the ecology of teaching: Does the size of your classroom, the number of students, the arrangement of desks really make a difference? How's the ecological balance in your classroom?

 

Measuring Up!

These days, when legislators, parents, students, and administrators seem to care more about assessment than they do about teaching, many professors are asking: Is there any way to make assessment into a tool that actually enhances learning? Read what Martha Stassen and Mary Deane Sorcinelli of UMASS-Amherst have to say about effective assessment.

 

A Class Web Site

Today's college and university instructors are looking to cyberspace to beef up their traditional class offerings. But, too often, these attempts to incorporate technology create only more work for professors and confusing Web sites for students. Joyce W. Nutta, assistant professor at University of South Florida, offers practical advice on creating easy-to-use course Web pages that can actually enrich the learning experience.

next page