Arthur Chickering is Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at Memphis State University. On leave from the Directorship of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Memphis State, he is Visiting Professor at George Mason University. Zelda Gamson is a sociologist who holds appointments at the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan.

Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education

"College teaching and lecturing have been so long associated that when one pictures a college professor in a classroom, he almost inevitably pictures him as lecturing." Few would argue with the statement that the vast majority of today's professoriate were primarily lectured to as both undergraduates and as graduate school students. It is not surprising, therefore, that lecturing continues to be our most prevalent mode of instruction. A host of national reports in the 1980's, however, challenged college and university faculty to develop instructional approaches that transform students from passive listeners to active learners. On first glance, like many of the recommendations provided by "blue ribbon panels," this would seem "easier said than done." The incorporation of active learning strategies into the daily routine of classroom instruction can, and should, be done. To help in this pursuit, this workshop will engage participants in specific, practical teaching strategies designed to model the use of active learning in the classroom. The handout summarizes the workshop's content and identifies resources for further study.

http://foreign-edu.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Active_Learning_Creating_Excitement_in_the_Classroom.pdf

Active learning : creating excitement in the classroom

A longitudinal study of heterosexual dating relationships tested investment model predictions regarding the process by which satisfaction and commitment develop (or deteriorate) over time. Increases over time in rewards led to corresponding increases in satisfaction, whereas variations in costs did not significantly affect satisfaction. Commitment increased because of increases in satisfaction, declines in the quality of available alternatives, and increases in investment size. Greater rewards also promoted increases in commitment to maintain relationships, whereas changes in costs generally had no impact on commitment. For stayers, rewards increased, costs rose slightly, satisfaction grew, alternative quality declined, investment size increased, and commitment grew, whereas for leavers the reverse occurred. Individuals whose partners ended their relationships evidenced entrapment: They showed relatively low increases in satisfaction, but their alternatives declined in quality and they continued to invest heavily in their relationships. Suggestive evidence points to the importance of changes over time in commitment in mediating stay/leave behaviors. The generalizability of these results for men and women and stayers and leavers at all stages of involvement is discussed.

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A Longitudinal Test of the Investment Model: The Development (and Deterioration) of Satisfaction and Commitment in Heterosexual Involvements

Students have different levels of motivation, different attitudes about teaching and learning, and different responses to specific classroom environments and instructional practices. The more thoroughly instructors understand the differences, the better chance they have of meeting the diverse learning needs of all of their students. Three categories of diversity that have been shown to have important implications for teaching and learning are differences in students' learning styles (characteristic ways of taking in and processing information), approaches to learning (surface, deep, and strategic), and intellectual development levels (attitudes about the nature of knowledge and how it should be acquired and evaluated). This article reviews models that have been developed for each of these categories, outlines their pedagogical implications, and suggests areas for further study.

Understanding Student Differences

This component analysis used meta-analytic techniques to synthesize the results of 77 published evaluations of parent training programs (i.e., programs that included the active acquisition of parenting skills) to enhance behavior and adjustment in children aged 0-7. Characteristics of program content and delivery method were used to predict effect sizes on measures of parenting behaviors and children's externalizing behavior. After controlling for differences attributable to research design, program components consistently associated with larger effects included increasing positive parent-child interactions and emotional communication skills, teaching parents to use time out and the importance of parenting consistency, and requiring parents to practice new skills with their children during parent training sessions. Program components consistently associated with smaller effects included teaching parents problem solving; teaching parents to promote children's cognitive, academic, or social skills; and providing other, additional services. The results have implications for selection and strengthening of existing parent training programs.

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A Meta-analytic Review of Components Associated with Parent Training Program Effectiveness

Now in Paperback! "Masterfully balancing the practitioner's need for concrete suggestions and the scholar's quest for intriguing ideas, this book offers tips to be tried in class tomorrow and ideas to be mused on for months" --Maryellen Weimer, professor, Penn State University-Berks Campus "I have used the first edition of Joe Lowman's book for years and found it most helpful The new edition is a must for teachers and faculty developers" --Milt Cox, University Director for Teaching Effectivness Programs, Miami University In this second edition of his classic resource, Joseph Lowman expands on his earlier model of effective teaching to place greater emphasis on motivational skill and commitment to teaching He presents a practical new learning model that compares six sources of influence on what and how students learn in a college course All types of teachers and instructors will discover options on how to organize classes and use group work to promote learning They will also find a checklist for assessing their classroom performance on video, detailed instructions for using video analysis to improve their technique, and an innovative approach to evaluating their overall performance

Mastering the Techniques of Teaching

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effect of state extraversion on different types of affect. Ninety six participants were instructed to be extraverted or introverted in a 10-minute dyadic discussion. State extraversion had a strong effect on positive affect and smaller (but still strong) effects on pleasant and activated affect, with these latter two effects almost equal in magnitude. This pattern of findings appears to increase confidence that the effect of state extraversion is genuine rather than the result of construct overlap, in that extraversion's effect on positive affect is not dominated by its effect on activated affect. No support for reward sensitivity as a potential explanatory mechanism was found. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The effect of state extraversion on four types of affect

To honor exemplary teachers, we need to ask whether there are universal qualities of effective teachers that we can agree upon as a community.

Characteristics of exemplary teachers

This article reports results of a content analysis of 18 teaching assistant (TA) manuals. Topics were divided into four major categories of tasks: professional socialization, intellectual, interpersonal, and organizational. Twenty-six of the 103 topics identified were included in more than 50% of the manuals. Among the common topics, more topics were included from the categories dealing with intellectual and interpersonal tasks than from the other two categories, highlighting the importance of these two dimensions of effective teaching, which is consistent with Lowman's (1984) theoretical model. The topic outline provided by our study could serve as a model for TA manuals.

What Should Graduate Teaching Assistants Know about Teaching

Few words are bandied about in college teaching more frequently or glibly than motivation. Faculty members sometimes complain about the strength or direction of students' motivation: "My students (or today's students) just aren't very motivated," or "They only care about making money (or having a good time)." Stu dents may mirror these attitudes when they complain about the impact of some teaching on their desire to learn: "Prof. So-and-so's classes are so con fusing and boring they kill my motiva tion to study the material," or "His ex ams are so tricky and unpredictable they make it very hard for me to keep trying to do my best." There is surely truth in each of these perspectives: Students do differ in the amount and kind of motivation they bring to classrooms, and teachers can enhance or reduce it. This article re views research on teaching and student motivation in the college classroom, es pecially recent studies of the effect of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motiva tion and of specific ways instructors can encourage intrinsic motivation.

Joseph Lowman

Papers

Mastering the Techniques of Teaching

The effect of state extraversion on four types of affect

Characteristics of exemplary teachers

What Should Graduate Teaching Assistants Know about Teaching

Promoting Motivation and Learning.