by Elissa Sonnenberg, MSEd

Fall has always been my favorite time of year—crisp breezes offer hints of rebirth after a long, hot, Cincinnati summer. This year, as I look forward to meeting a fresh new crop of UC students, the pre-birth contractions have already begun as talk of semester conversion and an exciting office move pull me back toward campus, anticipating new routines and pedagogical discoveries.

But as July matured, it was the whiff of independence that quickened my pulse—the independence to create new spaces for learning and growing alongside students. The independence to find ways to glimpse how the process of learning can part the curtain between the teacher and the taught, revealing extraordinary, and often unexpected, truths.

by Michael J. Sharp

I spot a back-row vantage point in my classroom from which I can critique today’s round of student speeches. I wade passed the already glazed-over eyes, ready my trusty stopwatch, pile my speech-critique sheets on the desk, and place my two blue Precise V7 Pilot Rolling Ball pens atop the pile. It’s the sixth week of the quarter and the last day of the second round of these speeches. I teach two sections of this course, which means a total of approximately 50 students: And folks, that’s a lot of speeches to sit through. I breathe deliberately, not so much out of anxiety or exhaustion but because I know what to expect spanning the next eighty minutes—not to mention the same thing all over again in the second section meeting later today. It’s going to be a long, long Thursday, and I know it.

by Jenny Wolfarth, MA

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should start by clarifying that I’m not a technophobe. Once a rabid photocopier who generated reams of handouts for my students, I’ve been on the Blackboard bandwagon nearly since its introduction at UC. I’ve happily and, I think, successfully employed useful tools like online-discussion boards in meaningful ways outside of the classroom, and my students can find fresh, and often interactive, online content on a weekly basis. I am gradually incorporating multimedia assignments in my curricula, am venturing into the world of podcasting, and have even converted my own professional portfolio into a snazzy digital experience that I can share with my students.

But I’ve found myself occasionally rebelling against the inevitable push to fully digitize the teaching and learning experience, and I think it has more to do with the lamentable absence of thoughtful interaction and our culture’s digitally impaired communication etiquette than the fact that I may be a little resistant to change my ways.

For those professors still wondering about how strong teaching impacts the university’s bottom line, please head immediately over to the  Chronicle of Higher Education and read Frank Heppner’s “On the Bottom Line, Good Teaching Tops Good Research.”  Really. You’ll thank us. Go ahead and thank us right now.

by Wayne Hall, PhD

IT’S NOT A GAME! It’s an immersive world. Or maybe an interactive learning environment. Would you accept “multi-user simulation”? What about “contextualized role playing”?

Okay, so maybe it is a game. But this is serious stuff. Check out The Serious Games Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, “focused on uses for games in exploring management and leadership challenges facing the public sector.” And the MacArthur Foundation sponsored a project for the Pew Research Center, a national survey of over 1100 youth ages 12 to 17. Although one purpose of the survey was to consider if gaming led teens to be more socially isolated, the results indicated that “gaming can be tied to civic and political engagement. Indeed, youth have many experiences playing games that mirror aspects of civic and political life, such as thinking about moral and ethical issues and making decisions about city and/or community affairs.” 

by Rebecca S. Borah, PhD

Early this past quarter, I spent an afternoon replying to my composition students’ emails in which they pitched their ideas for a first-person research assignment involving a nonprofit social-service agency.  After sending affirmative replies to the first few, I paused before rejecting one email concerning a medical marijuana-advocacy group.  I saved my reply to this student for last and put off the likely thumbs down by asking some basic questions to determine how much thought the student had invested in the topic.  (You never can tell when they’re 100% serious at this point.)  Once finished, I took a few quiet moments to consider how long it had been since someone had wanted to write about marijuana.

by Kevin Grace

When I teach a class, a song from The Who’s rock opera Tommy always seems to course through my brain.  In “Go to the Mirror, Boy,” an exchange between Tommy and the doctor results in lyrics most of us have heard at one time or another: “See me, Feel me, Touch me, Heal me.” Like those lyrics, it all comes down to “experiential” learning, our pedagogical emphasis on hands-on curricula.  For me, experiential learning boils down to putting primary documents—15^th century manuscripts, 17^th century rare bindings, 19^th century letters, early 20^th century photographs—into the hands of students so they can see them, feel them, and of course, smell them.   

“The MLA Focuses on Teaching—And Job-Hunting Skills—at Its Annual Meeting” is Jennfier Howard’s report from the recent December 2008 Modern Langauage Association meeting; in her report, Howard refreshingly remarks “it is not intellectually unserious to talk about teaching” and “Pedagogy is not a dirty word.” 

Please access the link above to enjoy Howard’s piece. Her article was published in the January 9, 2009 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education.