I read this morning that an influential leader in educational thought, Arthur Chickering, passed away on August 15. While Chickering had a prolific career in advancing undergraduate education, he is most widely known for his 1987 collaboration with Zelda Gamson, “Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education,” which led to an 1996 adaptation with… Read more »
Tag: 7 principles
Academic Year In Review: Top Blog Posts from 2016-17
The CITL Blog Year in Review: 45 blog posts to date have been read over 6800 times this past year by more than 2400 unique readers from across the world. We are beyond pleased the CITL Blog has become a part of your professional reading and hope you will continue to read and grow with us. When we started this… Read more »
Embracing Student Diversity
Our knowledge of what diversity in the classroom means has expanded since the 7 principles for good practice in undergraduate education were first proposed. Current discussions around classroom diversity are found within the inclusive teaching literature, with a focus on embracing student diversity. This literature indicates all students need to feel welcome, treated fairly, treated… Read more »
Realistic Student Expectations
Research suggests college students rarely complete learning tasks such as applying, evaluating, or synthesizing knowledge and instead complete tasks that require remembering and understanding information. Our expectations for students tend to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. When we communicate high, but attainable expectations for our students, they will make significant learning gains. When designing a course,… Read more »
Feedback, not just Grading
Good feedback creates dialogue between the instructor and student. In order to foster this dialogue, it’s important to give students feedback both early and frequently throughout the semester. Timely feedback allows students to act on the information to improve their learning while still in your course. This requires providing students with frequent opportunities to demonstrate… Read more »
Emphasize Time on Task
Outside of class, students should spend 2 hours preparing for every 1 credit hour (i.e. 6 hours per week outside of class for a 3 credit hour class). However, most students only spend 1 hour preparing per credit hour (i.e. 3 hours per week for a 3 credit hour class). During this hour, students often… Read more »