Higher Education Observer

Use less technology, more face-to-face. Big thing on my campus now is "the clickers." They are a fun gadget. But they don't encourage critical thinking and they don't encourage social interaction, the two primary goals of college. (Filling one's head with random facts is not really one of them, although many of us succeed there).

Take roll. Seriously. Make being there matter. Yes, I know we can argue, if they need to be there, if they want to be there, they will be. I don't disagree. But we are not dealing with intrinsically motivated people, all the time. Some extrinsic reminders help. Of course, if one's goal is to keep the riff-raff out, to gatekeep one's discipline, and to lose students so that there are fewer papers to grade, then taking attendance is not a good idea.

I make sure I learn my students' names by the second week. For my English 1101 students, I have them come in for a conference over their first paper (an easy diagnostic essay). We chat. I know everyone can't do that, but it helps with smaller classes. (I give them a day off for the conferences, too.)

In the classrooms, you meet all kinds. You can never really know the struggles, baggage, challenges, your students are having. So kindness always beats rigor; charity always triumphs over rightness. Believe it or not, this took me a long time to learn, because I felt like students were taking advantage of me (and some probably were) and because I thought it was my job to teach them life skills such as responsibility and respect. In other words, I had too high a view of my own importance.

I asked my son, a college student at a private college three hours from here, how he thought I could relate to my students better. He told me to stress that the students could come by my office during my office hours, and make it seem more welcoming, thus me more welcoming. I have taken his advice. They aren't beating my door down, but my sweetness factor is going up a bit, I think.

What is spoonfeeding? That term has always bothered me. What one person considers spoonfeeding another considers scaffolding, a fancy term for providing the background the students need to build future learning on. I teach freshmen for the most part, and many are unprepared for the college classroom environment. So I feel it is my job to teach them to be college students, at least in my class. That does not mean whole lectures on learning skills. It does mean occasional tips on how best to takes notes in my class. It does mean having very organized lectures (maybe too organized, for some people's views, but I am left-brained and like the structure of typical outlines.) It does mean reminding them of the learning outcomes of the class occasionally. It foes mean providing an agenda of the class period at the beginning. Coming from a rhetoric and communication background, I learned early on about the research that audiences are not very adept at creating a structure for a sp...

I like to use a lot of collaborative assignments. They don't need to listen to me lecture anyway. But, here's a tip: NEVER, NEVER let them pick their own groups. Never say, "You guys just get in groups." This is not the playground. In the work force they won't be able to pick their own groups, so they shouldn't in the classroom. I micromanage groups for diversity and balance. I see no other way. And no, I'm not usually this dogmatic about everything. But random doesn't work.

I don’t think I am the only one to whom this has happened. (And you can tell from the opener I am an English professor very concerned with the correct use of pronouns.) I have before me, on a bright and sunny day, a stack of essays to grade for my English 1101 class. They need to be graded; they need my full attention; the students need helpful, solid feedback. I pull out my pen and start. Ah, but first, let me see if I have any messages on Facebook. That is important because, well, that is the way I communicate with the students in the Registered Student Organization I sponsor. So off to Facebook. No, no messages. Well, let me check the “Who’s Online” function because my son might be on and I have a prompting (from the Holy Spirit, I can argue) to see how he is and give him a word of encouragement. He is three hours away at college and has said his senior year is kicking his rear. No, he’s not online; that’s good, he should be working, and normally his Facebook account is a...