Resources for
College Teaching

Donelson R. Forsyth, University of Richmond
Reduce teaching to intellect and it becomes a cold abstraction; reduce it to emotions and it becomes narcissistic; reduce it to the spiritual and it loses its anchor to the world. . . . Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.
Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach (1998, p. 4, 10)



Key Readings

The Professors Guide
To Teaching Contents
 •  Preparing
•  Lecturing
•  Guiding
•  Testing
•  Grading
•  Managing
•  Evaluating
•  Documenting

APA site for
The Professors Guide
To Teaching

Online Chapters

Resources
Idea Papers from KSU
Tools for Teaching
APS's Teaching Tips TeachPsych.org
Syllabus
Converge
Chron. of Higher Ed.
Black Issues of Higher Ed.

     

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Professors are not just scholars, researchers, statisticians, and consultants, but also teachers who promote the dissemination of the field's stock of knowledge, skills, and outlook to others. Like their colleagues in other teaching disciplines professors must deal with issues related to learning and instruction, such as lecturing, testing, grading, and evaluating instruction, but unlike professors in other disciplines they approach these issues informed by their broad understanding of their discipline and its assumptions.

Writing, Teaching, and Learning

When learners write their thoughts down on paper, they are learning, in a literal sense. They are organizing their ideas, testing ways to express them, and formulating new ideas and identifying implications. What is gained? As Donald Murray (1985, p. 7) explains "Why write? To be surprised." People write to find out what they know, and to refine their understanding of the topic they are examining. Writing is so valuable as a learning method that Pliny recommended Nulla dies sine linea: Never a day without a line.

Teaching with Technology

Technological advances in computing and information processing are changing the way students learn and professors teach. Ten years ago students learned by reading their textbooks, listening to lectures, taking part in discussions, and writing papers. Professors still use these fundamental tools in classes today, but they have added computer-based technologies--email, webpages, on-line discussion forums, multimedia programs, quiz-giving programs, and the like--to their teaching toolbox.

Academic Integrity

Even though their top priority is promoting students' learning and achievement, professors must also enforce basic principles of academic integrity and civility. When students violate principles pertaining to cheating or plagiarizing and rules of etiquette that govern classroom conduct, the professor must intervene with sanctions for the violators and rewards for those who conform. Professors, too, should strive to comport themselves in an appropriate fashion. This page examines issues of academic integrity from both the student's side and the professor's side.

Guiding

Service Learning is a widely adopted model used to integrate academic preparation with practical experience. Students in courses with a service learning component, like those in traditional internships, working for as many as 10 to 20 hours a week in a community setting. Service learning courses require that the service component provides a public good for the community, and that the community is fully involved in the students' educational experience. For more information visit The Idea List pertaining to service learning .

Curriculum Models

  • National Survey of Student Engagement. The NSSE is a nationally administered survey of "best practices" used in college and universities. The NSSE is unique in that it establishes benchmarks for defining the quality of instruction and campus environment in six domains.
  • Chickering and Gamson's Seven Principles of Good Practice
  • The Teaching Goals Inventory was developed by Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross. The details of the development and background on the properties of the inventory are reported in their book Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, but the Teaching Goals Inventory can be completed on line at The Center for Teaching at The University of Iowa.

Teaching Resources
University of Richmond | Donelson R. Forsyth
Date: 2005