by Kelly McEnerny, Graduate Assistant, Reinert Center Imagine attending a course that seemed not to relate to your goals and showed little compatibility with your interests. For anyone who can remember furtively glancing at the clock in the back of the classroom, this exercise should be easy. Your experience would likely have involved some lack… Continue reading Students’ Perspectives on the Meaning of Course Relevance
Author: cttl740935600
Power Over or Power To?
Has the balance of power changed in classrooms full of millennial students? Jennifer Waldeck, in a short article in The Teaching Professor*, “Reflections on Teacher Power in the Contemporary Classroom,” argues that current student behaviors challenge “traditional assumptions” about the power teachers have to influence students. She lists conventional ways of influencing students: Using “rewards”… Continue reading Power Over or Power To?
What’s on our minds: How current events can help inform our approach to teaching and serving students
by Chris Grabau, Instructional Developer, Reinert Center With the recent events in Ferguson, many educators have been looking to find useful resources to help teach about race, racism, inequality, and justice. In response, Marcia Chatelain, a historian of African-American life and culture at Georgetown University, created the Twitter hashtag, #Fergusonsyllabus. Since the hashtag's creation, there… Continue reading What’s on our minds: How current events can help inform our approach to teaching and serving students
Channeling Student Motivation
by Elisabeth Hedrick-Moser, Graduate Assistant, Reinert Center Student motivation can be an elusive creature. Many of us have come up with the perfect lesson plan to convey the most exciting subject matter that our discipline offers…only to look out upon a sea of lifeless faces. Yet, when we step out into the sunshine and see… Continue reading Channeling Student Motivation
Context Matters: Understanding Today’s Students and the Implications for Teaching
If we kept a running total of words we use in the Reinert Center, “context” would without a doubt be near the top of the list. It appears early in conversations with the teachers we work with, through questions such as: “So tell me about your course. Who are your students? What can they typically… Continue reading Context Matters: Understanding Today’s Students and the Implications for Teaching
Teaching in a Time of Crisis: Moving from Reaction to Response
by Debie Lohe, Director, Reinert Center Even before the events of last week landed Ferguson (and, by extension, St. Louis), Missouri, on the national stage, I had been thinking about the distinction between reaction and response. The two words are fairly similar in meaning; some may argue that they are roughly the same thing. But… Continue reading Teaching in a Time of Crisis: Moving from Reaction to Response
Beginning with Accessibility
by Jerod Quinn, Instructional Developer, Reinert Center I had a paradigm shifting experience a couple of years ago. I dabble in web development and have built a number of websites over the years for friends, companies, and for my own projects. My friend Jay asked if I could build a basic website where he could… Continue reading Beginning with Accessibility
Teaching without Talking
by Gina Merys, Assistant Director, Reinert Center In a recent article, "The Silent Professor," Joseph Finckel reflects on his experience teaching on a day when he had lost his voice. Of course, the experience of teaching without a voice is not a singular one; most of us have dozens of examples of teaching while ill… Continue reading Teaching without Talking
Using the Pomodoro Technique to Help You and Your Students Be More Productive
by Chris Grabau, Instructional Developer, Reinert Center The Pomodoro Technique can be a useful approach to help dedicate time and energy to a specific task. Developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980’s, the technique has become a popular method to set goals, boost productivity, and improve concentration. Named after Cirillo’s tomato shaped timer, the technique… Continue reading Using the Pomodoro Technique to Help You and Your Students Be More Productive
Tips for Sustaining Collaborative Learning
by Dipti Subramaniam, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Reinert Center Implementing collaborative learning in the classroom is an exciting process. However, one can quickly learn that incorporating new efforts can be a daunting task for many instructors, especially for first timers. Here are four useful tips for sustaining collaborative learning in the classroom: 1. Plan Think about when… Continue reading Tips for Sustaining Collaborative Learning
The Notebook 