Bloom's Sixth

There’s no shortage of ideas for remaking higher education. Consider a few recent ones: Identifying educational niches and providing more flexibility in course structure for students. Replacing classes with modules.…

Participants in the Best Practices Institute work on a backward design exercise at the Spahr Engineering Classroom. I’m always surprised at the common themes that emerge when faculty members talk about teaching. Goals and challenges transcend disciplinary boundaries, allowing for robust discussions about learning; class design and preparation; assessment; the struggles of students, and other areas of teaching. In discussions Tuesday at CTE’s Best Practices Institute,…

Angelique Kobler offered an uncomfortable question about education last week. Kobler, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning at the Lawrence school district, met with the KU Task Force on Course Redesign and explained the steady expansion of blended learning in Lawrence public schools. To illustrate the need for new ways of engaging…

So, I’ve decided to flip a class.  [File this blog post under ‘Confessions’.]  Specifically, I’m going to flip a course this Spring semester, titled “Design of Steel Structures.”  It’s a fourth-year design class taken by civil and architectural engineers. This is an undertaking that I’m both excited and nervous to tackle.  The part that I’m really looking forward to the most is really, really focusing in on “what should students be able to do” when they’re done with the course.  This is also the part that I am the most nervous about. When I’ve taught this…

Lecturing as an educational form emerged at a time of scarce information and oral culture. It’s a top-down method of conveying information that under the right circumstances can be quite effective, especially at motivating listeners. For many students, though, the lecture can seem like more of an endurance test than a learning experience. In a world of abundant information, lecturing is usually not the best method to help students learn. Many faculty members have long suspected as much, and …