What do students think about the learning process? This article describes the patterns of what students think about their learning, gathered from 45 classes using mid-semester Small Group Instructional Diagnosis (SGID). We learned that SDIGs provided insights into students' perceptions of how learning works that are not identified in the…

There is much evidence that quality academic advising has a positive impact on college student's academic success. Faculty are often expected to serve as academic advisors to students, which appears to be an ideal practice given their frequent interactions with students and knowledge of academic programs. However, institutions rarely offer…

Grounded as a self-study using arts-based inquiry to explore the experiences of six university faculty members participating in a cross-disciplinary faculty development program, the purpose of this paper is to (1) describe the Madison Research Fellows (MRF) program, and (2) explore the impact of the MRF program. Participating members included…

In this paper, we will describe the challenges and insights gained from conducting professional development workshops aimed at helping faculty prepare materials to support the development of students' quantitative skills in different disciplinary contexts. We will examine some of the mistakes we made, and misconceptions we had, in conducting the…

Self-determination Theory (SDT) presents critical constructs and processes for understanding and improving human learning and development. Though actively utilized as a theoretical framework for K-12 and adult training research, it has been virtually ignored in TA professional development design and research. Self-determination and the process of…

Using the Threshold Concepts Framework, I explore places where faculty frequently get stuck when attempting to adopt new technologies. They may be held back by preconceptions that technology is superfluous to traditional teaching methods or believe that they must understand the technology perfectly before introducing it into their teaching.…

For over a decade, Western Washington University has sponsored the Teaching-Learning Academy, bringing students, faculty, staff, and community members together as co-inquirers into overarching questions about teaching and learning. In this safe space, participants frame one research question of interest each year; sharing their perspectives and…

The purpose of this article is to describe the impact of a three-day academic writing retreat on the writing lives of four female university faculty members. Goals of the retreat included rejuvenating their writing lives, focusing their research agendas, improving their writing, and engaging in concentrated blocks of writing and collaborative…

In this article the author's review of the literature uncovers six potentially negative effects of technology in the classroom. These include: 1) Limiting pedagogy in teaching for cultural competence; 2) Reinforcing the Digital Divide; 3) Constraining the potential for holistic, humanistic education; 4) Privileging one style of communication while…

Plagiarism is an equal opportunity transgression. Repercussions impact students and extend to faculty and their respective colleagues. Plagiarism sullies communities of scholars and thinkers, violates standards of excellence and integrity, and sets poor examples for future scholars. Its frequency lends to a certain evident but dangerous…

A provincial initiative to encourage interprofessional education and research resulted in the implementation of three interprofessional PBL (iPBL) modules at the University of Saskatchewan. The ambitious target of 1200 student iPBL experiences over three years presented a substantial teaching development challenge. Training incorporated many of…

Introductory science courses often have laboratory components in which students are required to write formal lab reports as homework. These reports often have problems such as incorrect data analysis, mistaken conclusions, and unclear graphs, all errors that indicate that students often fail to understand the experiments. Plagiarism is also…

Prior research has called for rigorous evaluations of programs designed to improve college teaching, mostly in response to the missing literature supporting its practice. The purpose of this review was to explore whether such evaluations have taken place since the last examination in 1991. From a systematic review of nine leading publication…

The Two Survey Method (TSM) is a new time-efficient tool for gathering formative student feedback. Based on the Delphi technique, the TSM uses iterative surveys to develop student consensus about key strengths and suggestions for instruction. Evaluation data indicate that both faculty and students are satisfied with the method's efficiency and the…

This paper presents the critical reflections of four mid-career professors who are also beginning music students. These case studies, developed during a faculty learning community, outline how the experience of being learners changed how these professors taught their classes in enduring ways. Based on theories of experiential learning, research in…