Rebecca Brent

Navigating the Bumpy Road to Student-Centered Instruction

In the traditional approach to higher education, the burden of communicating course material resides primarily with the instructor. In student-centered instruction (SCI), some of this burden is shifted to the students. SCI is a broad approach that includes such techniques as substituting active learning experiences for lectures, holding students responsible for material that has not been explicitly discussed in class, assigning open-ended problems and problems requiring critical or creative thinking that cannot be solved by following text examples, involving students in simulations and role-plays, assigning a variety of unconventional writing exercises, and using self-paced and/or cooperative (team-based) learning. In traditional instruction, the teachers primary functions are lecturing, designing assignments and tests, and grading; in SCI, the teacher still has these functions but also provides students with opportunities to learn independently and from one another and coaches them in the skills they need to do so effectively. In recent decades, the education literature has described a wide variety of studentcentered instructional methods and offered countless demonstrations that properly implemented SCI leads to increased motivation to learn, greater retention of knowledge, deeper understanding, and more positive attitudes toward the subject being taught (Bonwell and Eisen 1991; Johnson Johnson and Smith 1991a,b; McKeachie 1986; Meyers and Jones 1993).

How to Improve Teaching Quality

The applicability of TQM (total quality management) to teaching is investigated, as opposed to investigating academic or research programs and administration. When higher education adopted TQM in the 1980s, changes were made primarily in business and s..

Writing Assignments—Pathways to Connections, Clarity, Creativity

Most of us would prefer that our students adopt a deep approach to learning—but how do we get them to do that? We can of course advise them to do it, assuring them that it is for their own good, but we all know how futile such advice tends to be. Fortunately, certain instructional methods have been shown to promote the deep approach to learning, notably making students aware of the relevance of the subject matter to their lives and interests and assigning a variety of learning tasks that require them to deepen their thinking about the subject (Entwistle 1988, Ramsden 1988). Writing assignments can be ideal vehicles for meeting these conditions. They can be used in any class on any subject. Such assignments may help students to seek and find applications of new material to problems in other courses, disciplines, and their personal lives; and to think critically and/or creatively about whatever they are being taught. The assignments may be in-class or take-home, convergent or open-ended, done by individuals or pairs or teams of students, taking periods of time from one minute to an entire semester.

Videotaped microteaching: Bridging the gap from the university to the classroom

Abstract The authors describe a nontraditional approach to microteaching intended to help prepare students for successful early field experiences. A theoretical basis for the approach is outlined and its use in two different courses is described. Guidelines are provided for identifying and communicating goals, structuring peer feedback and self‐evaluation, and getting the most out of instructor‐student conferences.

It's a Start.

Getting off to a good start in a class is a real challenge, however. A source of the difficulty is identified by Peter Elbow (1986), who in his superb collection of essays on teaching, Embracing Con traries, observes that we have two prima ry and conflicting roles as professors? gatekeeper and coach. As gatekeepers, we must set standards high enough to certify that our students will be qualified to enter their intended professions and the broader community of scholars. But as coaches, we must help our students surpass the hurdles we set for them as gatekeepers. Being a professor means walking a tightrope between these two roles. The key to success is to maintain a good balance. As Elbow observes, it is hard enough to fulfill these contrary roles over the course of a semester. The challenge we examine in this paper is that of establish

Faculty teaching practices and perceptions of institutional attitudes toward teaching at eight engineering schools

All engineering faculty members in the eight universities that comprise the SUCCEED Coalition were surveyed about their use of a variety of instructional methods and their perceptions about attitudes toward teaching on their campuses. The results provide a unique snapshot of engineering education at a transitional moment in its history. The same survey will be administered two years and four years from now. The results should provide an indication of the degree to which the SUCCEED faculty development program is meeting its objectives, which are to promote facility adoption of proven instructional methods and materials and to improve institutional support for effective teaching.

Project ACT: An Accelerated Alternative Licensure Program to Recruit Minorities

Abstract The importance of preparing minority teachers has been well established and widely acknowledged. However, the number of minority teachers steadily declines while the number of minority students increases (Gordon, 1994; McLaughlin, 1994; Contreras & Nicklas, 1993). Nationally, the percentage of minority employees in education has dropped from 13% in 1976 to 10% in 1993. By the year 2000, the minority teaching pool is projected to shrink to five percent, although the minority population will increase to one third of school-age students nationally (NCAE, 1994). This article reports the ongoing success of Project ACT, an accelerated alternative licensure program to provide mature adults for public school classrooms. Thirty percent of these adults have been African-Americans, a percentage three times higher than traditional teacher preparation programs.

How do engineering faculty use instructional technology

The Southeastern University and College Coalition for Engineering Education (SUCCEED) was an NSF-sponsored engineering education coalition that functioned from 1992 through 2002, comprising eight engineering schools that accounted for approximately 1/13 of all U.S. engineering degrees awarded. As part of its ongoing program assessment activities, SUCCEED periodically surveyed the 1600+ engineering faculty members on its member campuses to assess their usage of various teaching practices and their opinions about the importance of teaching at their institution. Surveys conducted in 1999 and in 2002 specifically addressed uses of technology-based methods in both on-campus and off-campus course offerings. This paper briefly outlines the survey response analysis methodology and summarizes the principal results related to technology use.

Navegando el disparejo camino a la instrucción centrada en el aluminio

La ensenanza centrada en el alumno es un extenso enfoque que incluye sustituir las clases dadas de la manera tradicional por el aprendizaje activo. Esto permite que los estudiantes sean responsables de su propio aprendizaje y ademas que el aprendizaje se de al ritmo del estudiante y/o emplear el aprendizaje cooperativo, es decir, el basado en equipos. Otras maneras para centrar nuestra ensenanza en el aprendizaje de los alumnos incluye asignar problemas abiertos (open-ended una pregunta o problema que permite respuestas libremente generadas en lugar del establecimiento de una sola respuesta...