Blog Prompt for My Freshman Year

For the final blog entry, write a 500-750 word reflection on My Freshman Year.

• What was the most surprising aspect of this book, and why did it surprise you?

• In light of the challenges faced by undergraduate students highlighted in the book, what advice would you give a new college student?

• In light of what you have learned about the typical undergraduate student, what advice would you give a new college instructor?

• Throughout the semester, we have made numerous claims about the nature, motivation, and tendencies of undergraduate students. Has this book changed your perspective on undergraduate students? If no, why not? If so, how so?

Please read the entries posted by the other members of your learning community before we meet on Thursday, December 2. You don't need to comment on these entries, just read them and mentally note points of similarity and difference.

The Shadow Scholar

Fascinating article from The Chronicle of Higher Education about the extent of student cheating, written by someone who currently writes papers for a "custom essay company":

The Shadow Scholar: The man who writes your students' papers tells his story

[h/t to Adam Fetterman]

What do you think of his justification for this type of plagiarism?

Future resource for accessibility issues in higher ed

Advisory Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials in Postsecondary Education for Students with Disabilities

[h/t to Cali Anicha]

Blog Prompt for Week 13: Teaching Diverse Learners

Remember that we rearranged the readings in the syllabus. We will be reading chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 in Tools for Teaching, "Students as People" in On Course, and an excerpt from Learner-Centered Teaching this week.

If you are blogging, discuss what you found most surprising, interesting, or useful in this week's reading. What, in your opinion, are the strongest arguments in favor of being "learner-centered" in your teaching? What are the potential pitfalls? What questions did you have after completing the reading?

Commenters can respond directly to what the blogger wrote, or consider some of the questions above in their responses.

Blog Prompt for Week 12: Using Evaluation to Improve Teaching

Using this week's readings as your guide, design a (formative) midterm course evaluation that you could use in a future class. Explain your assessment instrument to your blog readers, using the following questions as your guide:

• Why are you planning to ask these particular questions?
• How do these questions help you to assess your effectiveness as a teacher?
• How would your midterm course evaluation differ from a final course evaluation?
• How would you administer this evaluation (in-class survey, online survey, focus group, etc.)? Why?
• How would you make use of student feedback from this evaluation?

Commenters:

Suggest an addition or alteration to the midterm course evaluation provided by the blogger, either in terms of content (questions asked) or procedure (how student input is solicited).

Based on what you read for this week, how would this change alter/improve the feedback received from students?