October 2004

The Teaching Professor October 2004 full issue PDF
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Hearing Students Voices with the ‘Class Communicator’
By Suzanne L. Medina, California State University, Dominguez Hills
For the most part, communication between professors and students is limited and therefore less than ideal. To begin with, it’s generally one-way since the professor speaks and students listen. Although students are encouraged to ask questions and make comments during class or office hours, most do not. Furthermore, I wonder how representative of the larger class the individual questions and comments made by the few students who do participate in class are. Ideally a professor should hear from all her students, not just a few. After giving it some thought, it occurred to me that I could acquire that kind feedback by asking students to complete a form that I’ve now named the “Class Communicator.”

Technology as a Tool, Not a Teacher Replacement
By Elizabeth J. Wark, Springfield College, MA
I am writing in response to two articles in the June/July issue of The Teaching Professor: “12 Commandments for PowerPoint” and “Presentation Software: Does the Course Make a Difference?” Many cogent points raised in the articles caution instructors that much of the technology available today supports instruction but it does not take the place of fundamental teaching tasks.

Finding the ‘Deliberate Negatives’ in Our Student Evaluations
By Rob Dornsife, Creighton University, NE
Despite all the questions end-of-course student evaluations raise, reading our own evaluations constructively is a crucial part of our job as teachers. What I’d like to do here is offer some advice that might be helpful in sorting out and through evaluative student feedback.

Tom Cruise Saves a Failing Student
By Kathleen Hagen, Nova Southeastern University, FL
I’ve always considered myself the prototypical professional student. Dean’s list, honor roll, graduating cum laude. I’m never happier than when sitting in a classroom, learning some unusual concept. Through countless hours of college credit, I’ve explored a diverse curriculum: history, English, French, Spanish, Latin, writing, psychology, music, speech, physics, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, chemistry, biology, anatomy, physiology, and accounting. No matter the course, I’ve always enjoyed learning the material and never had a problem adjusting my mindset to that of the field I was studying. Never, that is, until this past month when I found myself in a coin grading class.

Learning by Doing: Teams Present Math Homework
By Roxane Gunser, University of Wisconsin-Platteville
Early in my career, my basic teaching approach consisted of an enthusiastic, interactive lecture for several class periods followed by one class session devoted to solving homework problems. Each class period that the homework was due, I was disappointed by how few students actually completed or at least attempted the homework prior to coming to class. Rather, most students feverishly wrote down the solutions I provided on the board. Test scores were also disappointing because students simply memorized problem solutions instead of understanding them. I realized there was one simple way to ensure that the majority of the students would complete the homework prior to coming to class: have them present a homework problem to the rest of the class.

Pedagogical Scholarship: An Innovative Example
Scholarship doesn’t always have to take the form of articles in refereed journals and sometimes when the scholarship is pedagogical, other formats make very good sense.

Grade ‘Insurance’ in Large Enrollment Classes
By James Peploski, Clarkson University, NY
I employ a system of “grade insurance” in my large (450 student) introductory chemistry course. Students use it to guard against the very real possibility of ending the semester close but just below the numerical cutoff for a letter grade. Insurance may be purchased by completing a small number of additional problems throughout the semester as “premiums.” Since it must be purchased prior to the final exam, students do not know if they will finish the semester in a situation where the protection afforded will be needed.