This blog post is authored by Dr. Tara Barnhart, Assistant Professor of Attallah College of Educational Studies. When the pandemic hit, I knew I had to make a change. Both my research and teaching are centered around seeing students’ sense-making in their work. I also knew that maintaining students’ attention on Zoom during very long classes,
Teaching untethered removes the physical barriers that separate instructors from the students. The connected classrooms are equipped with Apple TV. Instructors use airplay on the iPad to share their screen with the classroom projector. We encourage instructors to interact with their students and step away from the podium. Instructors can walk around the classroom and
Dear Chapman Instructors, We hope that you are well and that you are enjoying these last few weeks of summer. As you are finalizing your syllabi and preparing your Canvas courses for Fall 2021, you may be grappling with the difficult question of how much work is the right amount to expect your students to
For this week’s edition of Teaching Tips Thursdays, we explored five features of Canvas that can help instructors provide timely, consistent, specific, balanced, and actionable feedback. Feature #1: Quiz Question Feedback Research shows that providing frequent quizzes with timely feedback improves students’ understanding of concepts. Did you know that you can add feedback for answer
I recently did an informal review of three popular learning science texts (see references below). From these three books, I compared information to see what types of topics surfaced regarding important points for instructors to follow in order to support their students’ learning. I found that the four following points received extensive treatment by all
For quite some time I’ve used GoogleDrive to store my course materials. For me it is the easiest way to manage the many documents that I create during a semester, and the iterations of those documents as I update them each time I teach a class. To share these documents with my students I add
Flexible classroom space on the Chapman University campus is becoming more popular. As shown in part 1 of this series on flexible classrooms, it’s clear to see the variety of layouts for the classrooms. Part 2 of this series (this post), seeks to demonstrate one specific pedagogical style, namely large group collaborations, which are facilitated
Have you ever tried to talk to someone who is facing away from you? From a body language standpoint, it certainly doesn’t facilitate much discussion. Unfortunately, in traditional classrooms with heavy/bolted desks and chairs, this is the typical view of anyone sitting behind the first row. Luckily, at Chapman University, we’re adding improved flexibility into several
This YouTube video created by EDUCAUSE has me thinking that after hundreds and even thousands of years, we still don’t have a grasp on our assessments. Even some of our education thought leaders have a hard time defining what learning is. This video acknowledges the struggle of trying to assess learning and it suggests that
This semester has been a tough one for my students. We had illness, car accidents, senior capstone stress, and the typical spring fever–all of which brought a great deal of anxiety into my already-difficult class. As their teacher, I know I’m supposed to maintain a certain amount of rigor in the content and assessment of