A Review of Recent Articles from The Teaching Professor

by Sandy Gambill, Senior Instructional Developer, Reinert Center

The Reinert Center maintains an institutional subscription to The Teaching Professor newsletter so it is available for free to anyone with a slu.edu email address. Here is an overview of articles you may have missed this summer that might be useful as you plan for classes to begin next week.

Teaching a Course Students Don’t Want To Take
http://www.magnapubs.com/newsletter/the-teaching-professor/127/Teaching-a-Course-Students-Dont-Want-to-Take-14123-1.html

This is a collection of easy-to-implement strategies and tips to motivate students in courses they might be hesitant to take such as large survey courses that a student may not see as relevant or courses with a reputation for having difficult-to-master content.

Grading Advice for Those Who Grade A Lot
http://www.magnapubs.com/newsletter/the-teaching-professor/126/Grading-Advice-For-Those-Who-Grade-a-Lot-14036-1.html
If you teach a course where your students produce work you need to grade on a regular basis, this list of recommendations for handling the workload could be useful.

Does Participation Promote Engagement?
http://www.magnapubs.com/newsletter/the-teaching-professor/124/Does-Participation-Promote-Engagement-13963-1.html
This article presents the findings of two recent studies investigating the relationship between class participation and student engagement. It might be of interest if you are considering how or if to offer credit for oral participation.

Why Won’t They Ask Us For Help?
http://www.magnapubs.com/newsletter/the-teaching-professor/124/Why-Wont-They-Ask-Us-for-Help-13962-1.html
This article presents the results of a study investigating why students don’t come to office hours or delay asking for help until it is too late. It’s of particular interest at the beginning of the semester if you are looking for strategies to increase student attendance at office hours.

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