Teaching Time-Out

How much does an instructor’s mindset influence the student experience? This episode will explore how much an instructor’s frame of mind and how they approach students, their potential, and their classes can influence student’s learning and outcomes. 

Muenks et al 2024: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11218-024-09948-6

Muenks et al 2020: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2020-30956-001?doi=1

Rutten et al 2024: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361476X2400064X

Why don’t students read and what can we do about it? In this continuation from the last episode on reading, I’ll share some reasons why college students are not reading, and then provide a few additional tools and strategies that instructors can use to help enhance the importance of reading in their classes and supports for students to actually do that reading. 

Kerr and Frese 2017: https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2016.1222577

Gurung and Martin 2011: https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628310390913  

Dubus and Toledo 2015: https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2014.972319

Davis and Ritchey 2023: https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2023.2271619

Sylan 2018: https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2018.1518892

What can you do to help students be more compliant with assigned readings? In this episode I’ll cover some strategies you might consider adopting to help students feel more confident in their approach to reading, to help them comply more often with the readings you assign.

Sappington et al 2002 https://doi.org/10.1207/S15328023TOP2904_02

Cserni & Rademacher 2021: https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2020.1863318

Ritchey & List 2022: https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2021.1924607

Hatteberg and Steffy 2013: https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X13490752

Thornill 2024: https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2024.2363779

Have you ever given students one last task before they leave class? Exit tickets can be a quick and effective way to formatively assess students' learning and can even lead to improved performance on larger course assignments that summatively assess their knowledge. In this short episode, I’ll discuss a very short intervention to help maximize learning at the end of a course meeting.

Rodriguez et al 2024: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/87567555.2024.2355210

What would you lose if students received a deadline extension on their assignments? It turns out that instructors really don’t lose much, but students gain a whole lot under flexible deadline arrangements with their work. In this episode we’ll explore some data and perceptions related to students who received deadline extensions for their assignments as we reflect on what might actually happen if instructors didn’t penalize late work. 

Hills & Peacock, 2022: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/TLI/article/view/73960

Stallman & Muncy, 2018: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02615479.2018.1517151

Wang, 2011: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/6640/

Taylor-Partridge et al, 2024: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/87567555.2024.2377554

How long do your students spend seated in your classrooms? It has become clear that prolonged sitting can have some rather detrimental effects on our health. And it seems that even a regular regiment of exercise may not be enough to combat prolonged sitting - our classrooms are a prime space to break that up, and research shows that students and faculty alike are benefitting from this creative way to offer active breaks in class. 

Cowgill et al 2021: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07448481.2019.1661419

Paulus et al 2021: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4204

Keating et al 2022: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07448481.2020.1847119

Brownhill 2023: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/87567555.2023.2269457

Why do students attend, or avoid, office hours?

Like many professors, I feel like students don’t really come to office hours, but I don’t totally understand why. In this episode I explore some data about who does and does not come to office hours, and why, along with some fun suggestions for modifying the traditional office hours experience. 

Griffen et al, 2014: https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2014.896777

Hsu, et al, 2022: https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.22-03-0048

Guerrero & Rod, 2013: https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2013.835554

Brodsky, 2018 (online appointment): https://doi.org/10.1080/15228959.2018.1472051

Glynn-Adey, 2021 (public office hours): https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2020.1845599

Taylor, 1994 (office hours by walking around): https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2020.1845599

Teaching Time Out kicks off season two taking a look at the course syllabus. Is there a right way to organize a course syllabus? In this episode, we will discuss some ways that simple syllabus language modification and appearance can result in better retention of information, better course impressions, and how a syllabus quiz may indicate final course performance. 

Yarosh, 2021: https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X21996784

Kerrigan & Bifulco, 2023: https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2023.2208817

Fleck & Richmond, 2024: https://doi.org/10.1177/00986283211072742

Zinger, Lee, & Su, 2023: https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X231198513

Izienicki, 2024: https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X231196173

Hiding a cash prize in a syllabus: https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/18/us/tennessee-professor-syllabus-money-trnd/index.html

Inspired by the premise of Ken Bain’s What the Best College Teachers Do, I wanted to talk to students about their best college teachers. The goal is to reflect on their experiences in a variety of college classrooms to find key actions that a college teacher displayed toward them or for them, so that we can learn how students believe they are best supported for learning. 

In this format, I sit down with a college student to ask a few simple questions about what they think makes for an effective college instructor. I’m curious if we can learn just one thing from each student, that might help us try something new, or double down on an activity or approach that students like and that they know helps them to learn.

In this student episode of Teaching Time-out, I want to introduce you to Josh, a doctoral student who’s got years of experience as a learner and a student, but also as a teacher. We touch on both sides of the classroom in this episode. The thing that really stood out to me in my conversation with Josh was this idea about engaging through the student versus engaging at the student.

This is something I’m going to reflect on for some time to come. He really talked about instructors efforts and passion for the field and for the content using the student’s own work to share and demonstrate that versus the traditional talking at and lecturing. As well as about the instructors efforts that really display both helpful ways for the students to learn and helpful ways for the students to feel like they matter.

Inspired by the premise of Ken Bain’s What the Best College Teachers Do, I wanted to talk to students about their best college teachers. The goal is to reflect on their experiences in a variety of college classrooms to find key actions that a college teacher displayed toward them or for them, so that we can learn how students believe they are best supported for learning. 

In this format, I sit down with a college student to ask a few simple questions about what they think makes for an effective college instructor. I’m curious if we can learn just one thing from each student, that might help us try something new, or double down on an activity or approach that students like and that they know helps them to learn. 

I want to introduce you to Mathew, a junior undergraduate student as we think about some of the strong instruction or strong teachers that he’s worked with. The thing that stood out to me with Mathew was this idea of application. I hear this from my students all the time, “how does this apply? How am i going to use this?”. What Mathew was able to share about was not only applying the content to career and future goals and the sort of job he might end up in, but also applying it to memories and being able to walk out of the classroom and see the world slightly differently, and this idea of real-life examples really broadened for me in talking to Mathew.