News & Blogs
Can You Explain That 3 More Times? Advice for Universal Instruction
Daniel J. Ruiz, Department of Earth System Science After asking someone to repeat themselves multiple times and still not hear what they’ve said on the 3rd iteration, I’m the type to give up, smile and nod, and be overcome with embarrassment of the whole exchange....
Online Courses: Some Common Mistakes and Recommended Practices
Ángeles Torres Méndez, Department of Spanish and Portuguese The impact of the Internet on education over the last twenty years cannot be underestimated. The availability and accessibility of the Internet continues to transform teaching and new forms of student...
Why the Student-Centered Classroom Might be Key to Conducting More Effective Peer Review Sessions
Franziska Tsufim, M.A., Department of English Over the years, students in my composition classes have repeatedly complained that peer review was a “waste of time”. My students’ experience is not unique. Although most writing teachers use peer review in their...
Pair-Programming: Is It Effective for Learning?
Saehanseul Yi, Department of Computer Science Pair-Programming in Classrooms Pair-programming is a programming paradigm where two or more programmers share a single computer. Lindvall et al. show that pair-programming is effective in professional fields because...
Active Learning in Computer Science
Caio Batista de Melo, Department of Computer Science Active Learning is an already popular concept, and a lot of instructors are familiar with it. However, there were very few times I have taken a Computer Science (CS) class that was not based only on lectures. Why...
Student-Centered Course Design Improves Learning Outcomes in Biology
Andra Ionescu Tucker, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior Biology courses, particularly for first year college students, are taught in a traditional lecture format at most research universities. As a teaching assistant for such a class, I have observed how easy...
Learning and Teaching as Complementary Practices: Examples from Freshmen Experience Courses
Jessica Guerrero, Department of Urban Planning and Public Policy Some instructors are naturals when it comes to teaching, but like everything, teaching has evolved over the years. Pedagogy practices also highlight ways of how studying learning has changed. Research...
Do Scantron Tests on College Campuses Increase Summative Assessment Measurement Error?
Samantha Garcia, MPH, CHES, Program in Public Health Summative assessments are assessments that provide evidence of students’ cumulative knowledge learned throughout a course.1 While it is essential for students to master course content and build a foundation in...
Using Exams as a Learning Experience
Christian Glaser, PhD, Department of Physics and Astronomy Traditionally, exams test students’ knowledge at a certain point in time. They are not intended for the students to learn anything but to show what they know. But what if exams can be turned into a valuable...