College instructors use lecture and its current counterpoint--active learning--widely and often rely on both strategies, but the question of which best promotes student learning has become a debate that ignores the fact that learning can result from both. Students still listen to and learn from lectures. They pass exams, obtain degrees, and…

A scholarship of teaching is recommended, requiring precise observation, the recording of information, and the systematic pursuit of understanding teaching as an intellectual activity. This article outlines the kind of scholarship needed and ways to promote such scholarship through thinking, talking, and sharing views about teaching. (DB)

Very little empirical research or literature in higher education addresses the issues involved when individual faculty implement changes in their instructional policies, practices and behaviors. This paper explains five dimensions of the instructional change process when individual faculty act as change agents. Results of a faculty survey about…

Provides an in-depth exploration of the approaches to identify, codify, report, and communicate the wisdom of practice. Explores: How does the wisdom of practice influence teaching and learning? Is the influence positive? Could it be improved and thereby contribute more to the scholarship of teaching? (EV)

Analysis of journals within the academic disciplines that address pedagogical issues suggests that many articles contain information and ideas useful across discipline boundaries and that content focuses on teaching technique. Recommendations are made to enhance the quality, credibility, and prestige of the periodicals. (MSE)

A practical approach is offered to incorporating desired instructional components into teaching styles of college faculty, in ways that increase their overall effectiveness. The first part of the book places the improvement process in a context, focusing on the impediments to improving college teaching, techniques for encouraging faculty…

The prevailing notion of integration of college teaching and research is more myth than reality. To make the relationship more productive, educators must change the terms, redefine research, and reorient thinking about teaching, understanding that teaching and research are distinct and not automatically linked. Institutions must implement policies…

As concern about the role and performance of teaching assistants grows, universities find themselves initiating training programs. Issues to be considered include: who should provide training, relationships between the different providers, program requirements and curricula, length of the program, follow-up activities, preparation for…

Faculty should be conscious of the need for continuing education in teaching as well as in mastery of their disciplines. This chapter lists some resources to help faculty keep up to date. Resources include books, journals, workbooks, handbooks, sourcebooks, guidebooks, and newsletters. (Author/MLW)

This book for new college teachers is a guide to the fundamentals of college teaching organized around research-identified components of effective instruction. Individual chapters focus on enthusiasm, preparation and organization, the ability to stimulate thought and interest, clarity, and knowledge and love of the content. Chapter 1 takes an…