Here the Sheridan Center has compiled evidence-based, effective teaching practices and resources on how to implement them in your classroom. These resources encourage you to consider the location and size of your class, current events, strategies or methods to develop specific skills, activities to achieve your course goals, and ways to increase the clarity of the content you teach.
The Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning
Classroom Practices
Promoting Effective Course Reading
How can I lead effective discussion and seminars?
Across courses of different sizes, levels and audiences (concentrators and non-concentrators), research suggests that students learn more in classes that integrate active learning (Freeman et al., 2014; Hake, 1998). In fact, research supporting the use of active learning is so compelling that some have suggested it is unethical for instructors to continue to use a purely lecture-based approach (Freeman et al.).
Chances are that you have encountered conversations about artificial intelligence (AI) in the classroom.
Students learn through their participation in the attainment of knowledge by gathering information and processing it by solving problems and articulating what they have discovered.
We share key evidence-based strategies that can be used to create a more invitational approach to office hours.
A syllabus is one of the earliest messages students receive about a course, often before the first day of class. A syllabus serves many purposes, including functioning as an academic plan, outlining expectations and policies, and identifying resources for student success.
Laboratory environments require many different forms of instruction: pre-lab lectures, facilitating interactions with instruments, organizing group work, monitoring safety, providing feedback to students, grading, etc.
Successful learning experiences in large classes are dependent upon good planning, effective monitoring, inclusive teaching, appropriate assessment and active engagement by professors and students.
Presentations involving PowerPoint (and other software) are a popular platform for lecture material and can ease retention of course concepts.
Metacognition is the practice of thinking about thinking or identifying one’s cognitive process (Lovett, 2008) and is a reflective skill that is necessary for creativity, critical thinking and problem solving. Students often perform metacognitive work in writing classes by reflecting on their writing process or development, or in STEM courses by reflecting on course design projects.
The pandemic has had more and more of us reaching for news, stories, and music that we can listen to on-demand, making podcasts more popular than ever before. But podcasts aren’t just a source for news and entertainment—they can also play a useful role in teaching.
We invite you to review this wide range of resources related to teaching when a variety of disruptions might occur in your classrooms.
By bringing together students from two (or more) universities, a virtual exchange course can foster new and transformative ways of learning. Developing such a course requires careful planning and coordination among everyone involved.