By Mary R. Vermilion, Ph. D., Assistant professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology In thinking (critically and creatively, of course) about the issues of critical and creative thinking, I have come to the conclusion that they are intrinsically tied. I will elaborate on this idea later. First, however, I want to discuss the particular issues surrounding… Continue reading Creative Critical Thinking
Make Office Hours Great Again
by Mitch Lorenz, Graduate Assistant, Reinert Center The focus on effective teaching within the classroom can overshadow the importance of effective teaching outside of the classroom. Interactions with students outside of class can take many forms, from the post-class clarification to the awkward public run-in, but the most structured outside of class interactions occur during… Continue reading Make Office Hours Great Again
Upcoming Events at the Reinert Center
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Symposium Oct. 23, 2:00 - 4:30 p.m., Boileau Hall The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Symposium will be held on Friday, October 23, 2015. Poster presentations will take place from 2:00-3:00 followed by the ceremony and reception for theJames H. Korn Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Awardfrom 3:00-4:30. We invite all faculty and… Continue reading Upcoming Events at the Reinert Center
Thinking Critically about Critical Thinking
by Paul Lynch, Associate Professor, English The question we’ve been asked is straightforward: what do critical and creative thinking look like in your discipline? Mine is rhetoric, and in rhetoric I’m not sure there’s much distinction between critical and creative thinking. There is no way to engage in one without engaging in the other. To… Continue reading Thinking Critically about Critical Thinking
Making the Invisible, Visible: Engaging Students in Critical Media Literacy
By Lauren Arend, Assistant Professor, Education A few years ago a graduate student in my statistics course shared with me the website “Spurious Correlations,” a site replete with near perfect statistical correlations between variables such as per capita consumption of margarine and the divorce rate in Maine. While humor in statistics is always welcome, the… Continue reading Making the Invisible, Visible: Engaging Students in Critical Media Literacy
Encounters with Primary Sources: On Teaching Critical Thinking in History
by Luke Yarbrough, Assistant Professor, Department of History Last week a student in one of my courses told me that she was feeling frustrated. In the course—an advanced seminar on how the concept of “jihad” has been interpreted historically—students break up each week into three “task forces,” each of which works to master an assigned primary or… Continue reading Encounters with Primary Sources: On Teaching Critical Thinking in History
One Key to Pedagogical Success: Questions and Enduring the Awkward Silence
by Kenneth L. Parker, Steber Professor in Theological Studies At the beginning of each academic year, I have to relearn the same lesson: enduring the awkward silence after a question has been asked. At the start of my career this “skill” seemed unendurable. It felt far easier to fill the empty void of fifty or seventy-five… Continue reading One Key to Pedagogical Success: Questions and Enduring the Awkward Silence
Critical Thinking in Medicine: Reflections of a Third Year Student
by Priya Parikh, Graduate Student, School of Medicine “So, what is your assessment and plan for this patient?” As a third year medical student, I am used to hearing this question during rounds when we present the patients we have been following to our residents and attending physician. Early on in the year, this was… Continue reading Critical Thinking in Medicine: Reflections of a Third Year Student
Mind Body Spirit: Teaching in the Jesuit tradition
by Stephen Belt, Assistant Professor, Aviation Science I started riding my bicycle to work again. Finally. A week before classes began I made the (quiet) commitment to ride to work 80% of the time- 4 out of 5 days. Two weeks in and I’m at 75%. For you overachievers, I consider that a victory. I’ll… Continue reading Mind Body Spirit: Teaching in the Jesuit tradition
Communicating Engagement, Engaging Communication
by James Fortney, Instructional Developer, Reinert Center The term “engagement” continues to be fashionable in conversations about teaching, research, and the role of service in higher education. It often functions as a buzzword, referenced here and there to signify a thing we value and strive to achieve in our work. And yet, we are rarely… Continue reading Communicating Engagement, Engaging Communication
The Notebook 