This paper describes a reading assignment that resulted in students completing 80-90% of the assigned reading in a content-heavy science course taught in a flipped format. Students reported almost unanimously that the assignment was valuable in helping them learn the material, and a majority reported that other professors should adopt a similar…

To a growing student population for whom smartphone and Internet use started in their early childhood, social media and popular culture can be effective tools to mitigate potential anxiety and alienation students may feel when taking a theory course. This paper offers strategies and insight on the endeavor of utilizing both popular and social…

Instructors are always looking for new ways to engage students in reading assignments. The authors present a few techniques that rely on a web-based data visualization tool called Wordle (wordle.net). Wordle creates word frequency representations called word clouds. The larger a word appears within a cloud, the more frequently it occurs within a…