Expectations for tenure-track faculty are often high. Professors must often balance schedules filled with teaching, service projects, and other duties, leaving little time for meaningful research. The author suggests ways to connect research to other professional responsibilities to increase engagement, enthusiasm, connectedness, and overall…

Presents a range of techniques that faculty can use to help prevent the development of negative emotions and conflict in their classes. Recommendations include communicating warmth and sensitivity toward students by remaining enthusiastic and available, establishing a shared course framework by determining course objectives and seeking students'…

Shaping classroom experiences before controversial material is encountered in a class increases the likelihood that students will maintain higher mental function while examining that material. Presents 10 strategies for planning a course that facilitates quality discussion and thoughtful debate. (SLD)

Presents library tips for college students doing research and guidelines for faculty members designing library research assignments. Outlines some pitfalls to avoid, the first of which is assuming students already know the basics of library research. (SLD)

Asserts that writing assignments should be collaborations between students and instructors. Explores stages of the writing assignment and offers suggestions for making each step purposeful and successful. Includes an appendix offering a scale for trait analysis of compositions. (EV)

Proposes that syllabi serve three major roles: the syllabus as a contract, the syllabus as a permanent record, and the syllabus as a learning tool--each of which has implications for what a syllabus should contain. Offers general observations about constructing syllabi. (EV)

Encourages the use of authentic tasks and assessment rubrics to round out the assessment of student learning in many college courses. Provides a rationale for these methods and offers several rubrics than can be used in a variety of courses. (EV)

Discusses how college instructors and administrators can decrease significantly the instances of classroom incivility by applying a variety of proactive and reactive measures. (EV)

Redefines service learning as a valuable instructional tool that can be applied across a variety of disciplines and content areas. Presents a set of steps for using it and examples of successes and failures. (EV)

Asserting the usefulness of case studies in college teaching, this article begins with an exploration of the advantages and drawbacks of traditional cases. It then describes an alternative: incremental cases, in which material is released piecemeal in an effort to infuse drama and conflict, and participants play certain roles. Concludes with…

Describes certain characteristics of lesbian, gay, and bisexual students and the needs they have in common with all college students. Recommends strategies and curricular ideas for faculty who want to improve the quality of their teaching for all students with regard to issues of sexual orientation. (EV)

Offers a broad rationale for using feature films in teaching along with practical points on their use. Discusses active learning and critical thinking, film's ability to reflect psychological reality and the broader socio-historical context, feature films in other disciplines, connected learning and student diversity, and applications in an urban…

Summarizes research related to humor in testing and presents new evidence on the effectiveness of humor in constructed-response items. Findings from a survey at Johns Hopkins University's School of Nursing indicated that students feel that humor makes a difference in their test performance. Describes specific strategies for using humor in tests.…

Discussion of ways to use the World Wide Web in college instruction considers first, logistical issues; second, ways the Web can meet the needs of the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learner; third, ways to accommodate the social learner; and fourth, using the Web with four cognitive learning styles, as measured by the Gregoric Style Delineator.…

Suggests five activities for the college classroom to stimulate discussion when students report results of small- group discussions to the class as a whole. The activities "newsprint dialogue," rotating small-group stations, "snowballing,""cocktail party," and "jigsaw" stress maximum student participation, interaction, and intellectual engagement.…