Bloom's Sixth

Saundra McGuire urges faculty members not to judge students’ abilities too quickly or too harshly. She speaks from experience. As a chemistry professor at Cornell and Louisiana State universities, she used to make snap judgments about her students, separating them into achievers and non-achievers. Then she realized that those students who skipped class and didn’t study but then acted surprised at bad grades were “just being good scientists.” Really. (More about that shortly.) A…

CTE is hosting a series of lunchtime workshops for experienced GTAs who want to discuss facets of teaching in higher education. The workshops will take place from noon to 1 p.m. on the final Friday of every month, through April, in 135 Budig Hall. To participate in a session, register at cte@ku.edu at least two days before the event. A light lunch will be provided. Please note that space is limited. If you have any questions or need accommodations, contact Judy Eddy at jeddy@ku.edu. January 31: Using Film in the Classroom Have you always wanted…

My trips to the office of Paul Jess often seemed liked counseling sessions. I was a master’s student at KU in 1990, and I’d go to Jess’s office with a stream of problems: My students weren’t responding as well as I’d hoped, and some even seemed hostile toward me in the classroom. My thesis wasn’t going as well as I’d expected, and I didn’t know where to begin a search for doctoral programs. It all seemed so grave then (and seems so innocuous now). Jess would lean back in his office chair, fold his hands over his bulging stomach, and listen intently. Then he’d smile and nod and…

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…

Learning is a partnership, I tell students. As an instructor, I do my best to provide interesting and relevant material, use class time wisely, and grade student work fairly. I also make time in and out of class to help students better understand material they struggle with. I can do only so much, though, I explain, and I certainly can’t make students learn. Learning takes place only when students engage themselves in their education, complete their work meaningfully, come to class prepared, and participate in discussions and projects. It sounds simple, but it’s not, as a new…

Connecting with students in online courses challenges even the best instructors. I was reminded of that recently when I spoke with Tracy Russo, an associate professor of communication studies, at the C21 Course Redesign Consortium (There was link, but the page no longer exists). C21 brings together about 60 instructors from many disciplines at KU who are interested in making learning more active and more meaningful by changing the ways they approach their classes. The discussions teem with energy as…

If you want to find a quick answer to a question, where do you go? Google, most likely. If you want to help students from half a dozen disciplines understand how the elements of linear algebra apply to them, where do you go? Again, Google. But this time, think outside the search box. That’s one of the tricks Erik Van Vleck, a professor of math at KU, uses to help students learn linear algebra. Students in all disciplines use Google to search for information. Van Vleck pushes them to look at the search…

Here’s my challenge for the week: Rearrange the furniture in your classroom. Go ahead. Have students help you. Some may look at you quizzically, but they will soon understand. If the room has tables, push them together and create collaborative clusters or arrange them in a U shape. If it has individual seats, get rid of the rows. Make it easier for students to see one another and to talk to one another. Make it easy for you to sit among them. Break down the hierarchies. Break down the barriers. Photo via sxc.hu. Illustration by Doug Ward. Are you with me? If not, ask yourself why. Yes,…

A session from an education conference I listened in on last week reminded me of the parallels between teaching and editing. That might seem strange, but bear with me. I used to commute on Amtrak between Philadelphia and New York City, where I worked at The New York Times. One afternoon, I sat next to a chatty woman who wanted to know all about my job as an editor. As the train sped through central New Jersey, I explained how editors scrutinize the work of others, raising questions, fixing errors, working out the kinks in articles…

Several faculty members and graduate students from KU attended this year’s conference of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. I wasn’t able to go, though I did listen in on a few of the sessions remotely. I’ve collected tweets and videos into a Storify presentation that shows some of the thinking, conversations and approaches of the convention and the society.