The authors chronicle developing and teaching a National Endowment for the Humanities-funded trauma literature seminar at a public Historically Black University. The course focused on how literary and visual art from different countries and historical eras address two questions: "Can people survive and heal after trauma, not just physically,…

This qualitative study examines how 50 professors employed at open access, broad access, or regionally based institutions view their students and the ways in which these views influence their teaching practices. Analysis found that participants fell into one of two categories: (a) those following a nuanced understanding of the prestige model,…

Hoping to increase student engagement, the author decided to re-envision his course on contemporary global issues in a "flipped" format. The results proved encouraging--to a degree. Over the course of five semesters, applying lessons gleaned from the literature, students learned how to read challenging texts outside of class and…

Success in academic service-learning (AS-L) comes in large measure from the work of faculty dedicated to this pedagogy. The purpose of this study was to examine how faculty who have taught nine or more sections of AS-L courses sustain their motivation despite the pedagogy's inherent challenges. Individual interviews were conducted with 10 faculty…

This study examined the meaning of flexibility in teaching at the postsecondary level and its connection to teaching effectiveness. A total of 500 college students and 15 instructors participated. Data were gathered using an online survey with open-ended questions for the students and one-on-one interviews with instructors. Analysis followed a…

Russell Tufts University This study examines the potential of designing and teaching online courses to prompt university faculty members to reflect on the essence of good teaching, and as a result reconsider their beliefs concerning effective pedagogy. A phenomenological investigation was conducted based on interviews with six long-time university…

Good mentoring of graduate students influences their perseverance and success to completion, whereas bad mentoring can result in negative outcomes, including delayed degree completion or non-completion. What the authors refer to as the gray zone is that which falls between good and bad mentoring. Examples are partial mentoring or changes in…

Frequent student processing of lecture content (1) clears working memory, (2) increases long-term memory storage, (3) produces retrograde memory enhancement, (4) creates episodic memories, (5) increases alertness, and (6) activates many brain structures. These outcomes increase comprehension of and memory for content. Many professors now…

The learning paradigm emphasizes teaching in ways that facilitate learning for all students. As novice instructors of an increasingly diverse student population, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) frequently have full responsibility for teaching undergraduate courses. This study investigated GTAs' beliefs about including diverse learners in their…

Through an analysis of instruction in mathematics classrooms at a community college, the author describes the nature of the interaction and the complexity of the mathematical activities evident in two types of courses: remedial and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) college preparatory courses. Although both types of courses…

Introducing first-year college students to complex thinking is often complicated by their reliance on external authority. A key task for educators is identifying the nature of experiences that offer academic challenge yet are accompanied with sufficient support for students to engage these challenges meaningfully. The authors report the nature of…

The authors explored the barriers to faculty members' incorporation of technology into their classrooms. Faculty members' beliefs toward teaching were examined to determine whether their intrinsic beliefs or extrinsic resources are the main influences on the level and extent of their instructional technology incorporation. The authors speculate…

The author reports on perceptions of East Asian international graduate students (EAGS) regarding active classroom participation, as revealed through two focus group interviews with 15 EAGS at a large Midwestern research university in the U.S. The findings indicate that most EAGS shared similar views with their university instructors and American…

Practice-as-inquiry refers to the blending of instructional practice with systematic curricular inquiry. College and university teachers, while experts in their disciplines, typically are not specialists in instructional practice. Practice-as-inquiry (also referred to as teacher-as-researcher) may function as a mechanism of continuous teaching…

The authors conducted a study of effective teaching using structured interviews of 29 university professors who had won teaching awards. They found that effective teaching is more than a bundle of techniques used in a masterful manner. Indeed, it embodies an elusive quality that the authors call caring. Caring, they found, reveals itself in two…