A substantial body of research, conducted over more than 50 years, makes clear that faculty-student interaction is a key factor in promoting student success, particularly among those students who most need support, such as first-generation college students and students of color. This research is consistent, pervasive, and has informed the…

When you think of global, online education, the first thing that may jump to mind these days are MOOCs, the "massive open online classes" that are widely publicized (and criticized). The author states that his classes were not these, but rather, closer to what are now being called SPOCs--small private online classes. Enrollment is…

Regardless of whether or how one discloses personal information to one's students, the process is often difficult. This article compares the authors' decisions about and experiences around identity disclosure in the classroom to some of her colleagues' approaches. She explains the concept of strategic disclosure, the revelation of…

This author is dropping out from the first college course he has taken in more than 20 years. As a tenured professor, he obviously does not have much to lose from this decision. On the other hand, nobody really seems to care anyway whether he is participating or not. He has been MOOC(h)ing of late. Definition of this lovely neologism? Taking part…

There are many views about what types of actions can or cannot be defined as mentoring. The author opines that educators often make it much more complicated than it needs to be. At its core, mentoring is the act of listening, of asking good questions, and of probing others to more clearly articulate their ideas. Mentoring also involves challenging…

Student ratings, first introduced into the college classroom in the late 1920s, have long symbolized the often uneasy relationship between undergraduates and their professors. Certainly, research about student ratings has been exhaustive over the last 50 years. Several thousand studies have been published, many concerned with issues of validity…

In this article, the author shares how she designs fun and fascinating western humanities courses at a community college in Minnesota. Using the example provided by many excellent past instructors, and through numerous late-night research sessions, she began to develop techniques and exercises that would help her achieve her goals in the…

Many academics like to isolate a piece of the world to study: an important social issue, a central philosophical problem, a key moment in history. They know they're oversimplifying but they do it anyway--it's the only way to make progress, and what's more, their little worlds are often more beautiful than the real one. This paper shares a story of…

Education is an international must, a veritable human right, yet education--especially higher education--in the land of the free is still remarkably elusive. The author has witnessed the many obstacles associated with preparing students for college. Advanced courses are rarely offered in these schools due to a lack of perceived eligible students,…

Discusses learning as a complex and messy process, and uses the ideas of Paolo Freire to describe the college teacher as one who faces students "face to face" as a knower facing other knowers. The neighborhood of education is the minds of students; faculty members are the transients in this neighborhood. (SLD)

Describes how time spent immersed in Talmudic studies at yeshivahs in the United States and Israel had a profound effect on this professor's understanding of the delicate art of teaching, in particular promoting the love of learning for its own sake and fostering respect among students. (EV)

Explores the ongoing, complex, and difficult task of trying to inspire students. Discusses some of a teacher's first steps toward learning how to inspire, including a good will toward students, a trust in the significance of the momentary encounter, and a confidence in the significance of the subject and passionate attachment to its truths. (EV)

A professor recounts how he communicates his philosophy of education and establishes an interactive classroom atmosphere during a class's first meeting by using a questioning, game-like discussion of the meanings of such terms as "education,""student," and "teacher." (DB)

Teaching portfolios, now largely used for evaluation of college teaching, can also be viewed as a form of action research, opening their use to other purposes, including examination of institutional, faculty, and student needs and demands; the dynamics of race, gender, and sexuality in structuring classroom interactions; and the relationship of…

If universities were serious about enhancing student learning, they would explore other ways of organizing work, including reorganization of the curriculum into learning communities that enable learning to span the disciplines, creating classrooms that promote collaborative learning experiences, and using forms of assessment that encourage shared…