Teaching is a skill that can and should be taught in graduate education. Fortunately, many departments offer some teacher training for their graduate students to prepare them to teach introductory and other survey courses. What is apparently still lacking is training for graduate students to teach upper-level seminar-style classes. Therefore, we…

This article outlines a three-phased approach to enhancing online student-instructor interaction using asynchronous threaded discussions: check-ins. These instructor-initiated touchpoints, a form of Classroom Assessment Technique, are staged throughout the grading period to help affirm online presence, clarify expectations, monitor performance,…

Many departments in colleges and universities require a capstone course that involves the students conducting a research project. This author has had over 20 years of experience teaching such a capstone course and describes a flexible research method for student research projects -- the vignette study (an experiment embedded in a survey). She also…

This article discusses and elaborates on how concept mapping as a specific instructional strategy helps students to externalize and transform their understanding of qualitative research; and helps instructors to focus on their students' conceptual understanding of qualitative research. The discussion focuses on concept mapping as a learning…

Psychometrics is the field of designing tests and assessments to measure certain psychological concepts. It is chiefly concerned with two fundamental properties: reliability and validity. These properties are often influenced by confounding variables: other things that can influence performance but are not what you are trying to measure. Here, I…

Undergraduates report a variety of reasons for not reading assigned text(s), including confusion regarding instructors' expectations, while faculty report using reading as a major instructional tool and attest to the negative consequences of students' lack of reading. To bridge this divide, we propose Task-Oriented Reading Instruction (TORI) as a…

In a polarized society, it is a university's responsibility to offer courses that explore highly controversial issues. Traditional forms of debate may create barriers to knowledge and entrenchment of perspectives, with students self-limiting their ability to develop informed opinions. We describe an active learning, double-blinded approach to…

In discussion-oriented courses, students often struggle to think of relevant stories and examples to share, which can impede their learning. Creating and presenting vision boards enables students to reflect on their personal, academic, and professional experiences and envision their ideal futures. By compiling text, photographs, clip art, and…

This article presents a pedagogical strategy that uses Chex Mix™ as a visual and physical means of helping students learn data analysis. The manipulative is used to guide students to a deeper level of analysis by looking "within" and "between" data sources. Specific steps are shared about using Chex Mix™ snacks to teach the…

The author unpacks and utilizes the pedagogical success of improvisational theatre ensembles, offers core course design elements inspired by improv that match best practices, and gives concrete ideas for immediate use to strengthen community and increase engagement in college classrooms. Ensemble Culture is a framework for building community in…

Podcasting targets student engagement through technology-based blended learning and application of the four perspectives previously discussed. Podcast-based walking programs, based off of the Walking Classroom, promote exercise and learning without reducing educational time. The purpose of this commentary is to explain a teaching method that…

Collaborative note-taking is a pedagogical technique that asks students to rotate note-taking responsibilities during class meetings in a shared document. Implementing this technique helped me, as an instructor, better leverage my students' strengths and weaknesses in an introductory American government class--though the benefits should extend to…

In the area of law, metacognition is an implicit goal of instruction, as legal studies classes often stress learning to "think like a lawyer." However, the explicit metacognitive model for using legal reasoning to break down complex problems and seek solutions is rarely identified. This article explicitly identifies the metacognitive…

Much scholarship available on team-teaching focuses on K-12 programming, with limited examples in post-secondary education. Adding to the growing research on college-level team-taught courses, this reflection describes how interdisciplinary team-teaching can offer not only a pedagogically innovative experience for students but also highlight the…

In creating crossword puzzles themselves, students gain an understanding of a concept in order to create the clue for it. The instructor can make this activity either chapter- or domain-specific, for instance, to encourage reading the textbook and researching concepts. In this unique application of the self-generated crossword, students use free…