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This article discusses college-level writing assignments designed to stimulate students to (1) explore initial student attitudes, (2) activate prior knowledge, (3) increase subject relevance, (4) clarify and organize course material, (5) connect new and previously known material, (6) improve critical thinking skills, and (7) develop and strengthen creativity. (MSE)

Card sorting has been used in qualitative studies in various fields to better understand how individuals organize information and make choices based on it. As part of a mixed-methods study of why Black engineering students initially chose their major and why they subsequently decided to persist in or switch out of it, we developed a card-sort activity and used it in 79 semi-structured student interviews. Besides generating data relevant to the mission of our study, the activity shifted the students' focus to their own experiences and away from the interviewers, who were not matched with them on race or age and with whom there was a power differential (interviewers with doctorates talking with undergraduates). The article contains a brief overview of the broader study, a description of steps taken to promote authentic storytelling by the interviewees, an outline of the development and application of the card-sort activity, representative findings, and recommendations for other researchers contemplating using a similar technique. We believe our experience in using the card-sort technique and our subsequent mixed-method analysis of the resulting data will benefit qualitative researchers seeking authentic stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As these authors have observed on several occasions, college professors may be the only skilled professionals who do not routinely get training in the skills they need to succeed in their profession. Most universities either provide no orientation and mentoring for their new faculty members or they offer a campus-wide half-day orientation workshop consisting mainly of welcoming speeches and lectures on such things as health benefits and retirement packages. Most faculty members are consequently left on their own to learn what they will need to know about starting and building a research program and designing and teaching courses. The fact that most new faculty members have never been trained to teach is known throughout the academy, but a common assumption is that graduate and postdoctoral studies provide good preparation for independent research. Unfortunately, that assumption is generally wrong. Doctoral students and postdocs may learn to carry out a research project that someone else has defined and gotten funded, but few of them learn how to select research topics, write successful proposals, assemble an effective research team, and get papers published in top journals. While experienced faculty members may believe that their new colleagues have been adequately trained in research, the new colleagues know better. The authors recently led a conference workshop for faculty members in the first few years of their careers. They first had them list their career-related concerns, two-thirds of which involved research. In the remainder of this column, the authors summarize the faculty members' research-related questions and the responses, and cite publications containing the authors' responses to faculty members' questions about teaching and time management.

Papers comparing technology-based and traditional course offerings are appearing with regularity and technology looks better all the time. Universities that specialize in distance education are using multimedia courseware and the Internet effectively, and the quality of their offerings is gaining increased recognition. Speculates on the future of technology in higher education and the continuing need for gifted professors. (PVD)

New faculty members rarely receive guidance on how to be a faculty member, and entry into the profession gets more difficult over time. Lists common characteristics of new faculty members including characteristics of those labeled as quick starters. (DDR)

BACKGROUND Economic globalization, rapid advances in technology and cognitive science, and a worldwide movement toward outcomes-based program accreditation increasingly require changes in the traditional model of engineering education design and delivery. As yet, no validated framework exists for designing instructional development programs that would equip engineering educators to make those changes. Existing programs consequently vary considerably in scope and effectiveness across countries and institutions. PURPOSE This article reviews the content and structures of instructional development programs around the world and to formulate a robust framework for designing and delivering effective programs for engineering educators. SCOPE/METHOD Literature on the design, implementation, and evaluation of instructional development programs is reviewed and summarized. Five criteria drawn from Raymond Wlodkowski's theory of adult learner motivation (expertise of instructors, relevance of content, choice in application, praxis [action plus reflection], and groupwork) are proposed as a framework for designing engineering instructional development programs, and the framework is applied to formulate recommendations for making programs effective. Research questions that should be explored to validate the framework are suggested. CONCLUSION Wlodkowski's five-factor theory of adult learner motivation provides a good framework for the design of engineering instructional development programs. The criteria are compatible with the cognitive science-based How People Learn instructional model and also with recommendations of faculty development authorities. Making engineering instructional development effective at an institution will require applying the criteria to program design and delivery and creating an institutional expectation of faculty participation in the programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND The National Effective Teaching Institute (NETI) is a three-day teaching workshop that has been given annually since 1991 in conjunction with the Annual ASEE Conference. Its goals are to improve the participants' teaching effectiveness, promote their engagement in scholarly teaching and educational scholarship, and motivate them to engage in instructional development on their campuses. To evaluate the impact of the NETI on its participants, a Web-based survey was administered to alumni of NETI offerings from 1993 to 2006. PURPOSE (HYPOTHESIS) The study was designed to test the hypothesis that the NETI met its stated goals, and to the extent that it did, to identify factors in the workshop's structure and delivery that might have contributed to its success. DESIGN/METHOD An online survey collected information regarding the participants' awareness and use of selected teaching strategies, their students' and their own ratings of their teaching, and their engagement in scholarly teaching, educational research, and giving their own teaching workshops and seminars. The validity of the survey structure is supplied by several published studies that compared sell-assessments of teaching with internal evaluations by trained observers. RESULTS The NETI has motivated many of its participants to adopt or increase their use of proven teaching strategies known to correlate with improved student learning; made them more student-centered, scholarly, and reflective in their teaching practice; and induced many of them to engage in instructional development and educational scholarship. CONCLUSIONS The NETI has satisfactorily met its goals. When integrated in the light of a theory of adult motivation, the results support the effectiveness of discipline specific faculty development for engineering educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ABET EC 2000 criterion requiring that engineering graduates 'understand engineering solutions in global and societal context' has proved problematic to address, because most engineering faculty are neither trained in, nor enthusiastic about including, topics which are logically part of the larger view required of 'global and societal context'. We present here our experience in providing 'engineering solutions' in broader contexts, achieved through integration of lecture or laboratory in technology into a foreign language course. We have offered such integrations in three formats: (i) Technology cameos in English, set in a Spanish language course, (ii) Technology cameos in French, set in a French language course, and (iii) Device dissection lab activities executed as part of a Spanish course. We demonstrate that engineering/ foreign language faculty collaboration within such integrated courses formats provides one potential path to introducing 'engineering solutions in global and societal contexts'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I Academicians have been arguing for decades about whether or not faculty research supports undergraduate instruction. Those who say it does—a group that includes most administrators and faculty members—cite many ways in which research can enrich teaching, while those on the other side cite numerous studies that have consistently failed to show a measurable linkage between the two activities. This article proposes that the two sides are debating different propositions: whether research can support teaching in principle and whether it has been shown to do so in practice. The article reviews the literature on the current state of the research- teaching nexus and then examines three specific strategies for integrating teaching and scholarship: bringing research into the classroom, involving undergraduates in research projects, and broadening the definition of scholarship beyond frontier disciplinary research. Finally, ways are suggested to better realize the potential synergies between faculty research and undergraduate education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students have different levels of motivation, different attitudes about teaching and learning, and different responses to specific classroom environments and instructional practices. The more thoroughly instructors understand the differences, the better chance they have of meeting the diverse learning needs of all of their students. Three categories of diversity that have been shown to have important implications for teaching and learning are differences in students' learning styles (characteristic ways of taking in and processing information), approaches to learning (surface, deep, and strategic), and intellectual development levels (attitudes about the nature of knowledge and how it should be acquired and evaluated). This article reviews models that have been developed for each of these categories, outlines their pedagogical implications, and suggests areas for further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As college students experience the challenges of their classes and extracurricular activities, most undergo a developmental progression in which they gradually relinquish their belief in the certainty of knowledge and the omniscience of authorities and take increasing responsibility for their own learning. At a high developmental level (which few reach before graduation), they recognize that all knowledge is contextual, gather and interpret evidence to support their judgments from a wide range of sources, and willingly reconsider those judgments in the light of new evidence. This paper reviews several models of intellectual development, discusses their applicability to science and engineering education, and defines the difficulties that confront instructors seeking to promote the development of their students. A companion paper formulates an instructional model for promoting development that addresses those difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As college students experience the challenges of their classes and extracurricular activities, they undergo a developmental progression in which they gradually relinquish their belief in the certainty of knowledge and the omniscience of authorities and take increasing responsibility for their own learning. At the highest developmental level normally seen in college students (which few attain before graduation), they display attitudes and thinking patterns resembling those of expert scientists and engineers, including habitually and skillfully gathering and analyzing evidence to support their judgments. This paper proposes an instructional model designed to provide a suitable balance of challenge and support to advance students to that level. The model components are (1) variety and choice of learning tasks; (2) explicit communication and explanation of expectations; (3) modeling, practice, and constructive feedback on high-level tasks; (4) a student-centered instructional environment; and (5) respect for students at all levels of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a guide to the effective design and management of team assignments in a college classroom where little class time is available for instruction on teaming skills. Topics discussed include forming teams, helping them become effective, and using peer ratings to adjust team grades for individual performance. A ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ section offers suggestions for dealing with several problems that commonly arise with student teams, and forms and handouts are provided to assist in team formation and management. 6 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the new ABET accreditation system was first introduced to American engineering education in the middle 1990s as Engineering Criteria 2000, most discussion in the literature has focused on how to assess Outcomes 3a-3k and relatively little has concerned how to equip students with the skills and attitudes specified in those outcomes. This paper seeks to fill this gap. Its goals are to (1) overview the accreditation process and clarify the confusing array of terms associated with it (objectives, outcomes, outcome indicators, etc.); (2) provide guidance on the formulation of course learning objectives and assessment methods that address Outcomes 3a-3k; (3) identify and describe instructional techniques that should effectively prepare students to achieve those outcomes by the time they graduate; and (4) propose a strategy for integrating program-level and course-level activities when designing an instructional program to meet the requirements of the ABET engineering criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of its program assessment activities, the Southeastern University and College Coalition for Engineering Education (SUCCEED) conducted a faculty survey of teaching practices, involvement in faculty development programs, and perceptions of the importance of teaching in the faculty reward system. The survey was first administered late in 1997 and a modified version was administered late in 1999. This paper summarizes results from the 1999 survey that address the two questions: (1) to what extent do engineering faculty write instructional objectives and use active and team-based learning?; and (2) how effective are faculty development programs at changing professors' teaching practices? The results indicate that well over half of the 1999 respondents were using the stated teaching methods, with most attributing their use of the methods to their participation in teaching workshops and seminars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors describe a nontraditional approach to microteaching intended to help prepare students for successful early field experiences. A theoretical basis for the approach is outlined and its use in two different courses is described. Guidelines are provided for identifying and communicating goals, structuring peer feedback and self‐evaluation, and getting the most out of instructor‐student conferences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on ineffective teaching and suggests teaching strategies based on cognitive science

The authors suggest that students fail tests due to ineffective studying strategies such as rereading texts, notes and old test problem solutions and/or studying mainly the night before the exam, and recommend a varied retrieval practice to improve students' test performance.

The article offers the teaching method which uses handouts with gaps when catching up the class schedule that have fall behind for a week and the three things to remember such as the lecturing on the material, the using of active learning to fill in the gap, and giving it as an homework exercise.

The article discusses the flipping approach in a classroom in which students who encounter new material outside class applies them later in class, as compared to the opposite order in the traditional method. Topics covered include the good and bad ways of using flipping in a classroom, and insights for consideration before flipping one's class. Also noted is the importance of keeping students actively engaged in the applied learning approach.

The article discusses several powerful teaching strategies for chemical engineering educators. Topics covered include asking students to brainstorm, troubleshoot in courses, and training students to critically think about possibilities that expert scientists and engineers think about. Also mentioned is urging students to send links to videos and pictures that show course-related concepts.

The article presents questions and answers related to teaching, including the amount of time for teaching preparation, integrating course handouts and class activities with PowerPoint slides, and how to maintain both structure and variety.

The article presents tips on encouraging students to read their lessons before class. It states that assignments can be effective if these involve multimedia tutorials. According to the author, such resources can equip students and encourage students to come to class ready with the tasks assigned to them by instructors.

The article reports on the preparation that universities offer to new faculty members. As part of its information drive for faculty members of the North Carolina State College of Engineering provided an orientation workshop for new faculty members which answered their queries including topics on the start of a research program and the requirements that a teacher needs to acquire tenure and promotion. The workshop reportedly proved to be helpful to new faculty members.

The article provides information on active-learning structure called Thinking-Aloud Pair Problem Solving or TAPPS. Cognitive science offers an explanation for the effectiveness of the technique. Studies showed that students are better at solving new problems when they have first gone through worked-out samples in the manner described.

The authors recommend the book "How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching," by S. A. Ambrose, M. W. Bridges, M. C. Lovett, M. DiPietro and M. K. Norman for its instructional materials on cognitive science. They discuss teaching strategies that incorporate the research principles which include data collection, learning goal challenge and construction of activities that provide feedback on student skills.

The article addresses the challenge of evaluating and grading student products such as essays, and written and oral project reports. To evaluate student products in these areas, two types of instruments can provide reliability and fairness grading system. These include the use of grading checklist, which is a form that lists the grading criteria and allocates maximum points to each criterion and a grading rubrics that lists the grading criteria.

The article discusses the top four mistakes college teachers are guilty of making. According to the author, professors commonly give exams that are too long. It is suggested that they should give tests that test the knowledge and skills mastery of a student rather than long tests that test a student's speed. Also included in the list of mistakes are keeping outdated courses, having unclear learning objectives and disrespecting students. Suggestions to correct the mistakes are also presented.

The article presents a list of the top ten teaching mistakes committed by college faculty members. One mistake is calling for volunteers upon questioning the class, which makes the students avoid eye contact. According to the article, calling on students without giving them enough time to think is called cold-calling, resulting to alarmed students who cannot follow the lecture. It also notes that putting lecture notes into PowerPoint is generally a waste of time for everyone.

The author offers tips on completing the draft of a writing project related to chemical engineering. He suggests keeping the creating and editing functions separate. He advises to make a commitment to regularly devote short periods of time to major writing projects. He also recommends paying attention to grammar, syntax and style.

The authors present their views on the myths, facts and good practices involved in student ratings of teaching in educational institutions in the U.S. They opine that myths about student ratings of teaching are usually accompanied by confident assurances that ratings are just popularity contests. They refute the notion that student ratings are not valid assessment of teaching quality.

The article focuses on approaches to preparing for and teaching a new course. It describes the usual approach to a new course preparation, including attempting to cover everything known about the topic in lectures. Also suggested are alternatives to the usual way, one of which is through writing detailed learning objectives.

The article presents advice on improving the knowledge and skills of new faculty members at the North Carolina State University. The university developed a support program for new faculty members. It is a four-day orientation workshop that covers grantsmanship, recruiting and working with graduate students.

The article offers insights on how chemical engineering teachers will enable their students to develop and improve a targeted skill. It recommends to write detailed learning objectives and give them to the students as study guides for examinations and as guidelines for other assignments such as project reports and oral presentation. It advises to use scoring rubrics to grade anything that involves subjective judgment on the part of the grader.

Discusses the use of portable computers in lecture classes. Suggestions for conducting computer-based tutorials; Ways to help students develop computer skills; Importance of computer simulations.

Discusses the use of PowerPoint in teaching. Experiences of teachers in using such tool; Advantage and disadvantage of the teaching device; Guidelines in using PowerPoint.

Presents a summary of the report `Navigating the Bumpy Road to Student-Centered Instruction,' by Richard M. Felder and Rebecca Brent published in the Spring 1996 issue of the periodical `College Teaching.'