Written by Eric Nelson, PhD Associate Professor of History Provost Fellow for Teaching and Learning An interesting post-presentation discussion at the most recent Showcase on Teaching and Learning has left me pondering how learning communities can help our students better …

In the December issue of The Teaching Professor, I really enjoyed the article titled “Teachers Who Improved”. Two researchers examined end-of-course teachers’ evaluations to gather a sample of 200 faculty members who had consistently improved in the past 3 years. …

We want students that are better prepared, more motivated, have better character, and outstanding work ethic. However, in conversations with faculty members, we often report that students don’t seem as prepared as they used to be. We can’t go back …

You may have heard me talk about motivation before. I have conducted research in the area of motivation throughout my entire academic career, especially focusing on the ways in which motivation principles affect student learning. Almost everyone I talk to …

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is not simply good teaching and it goes beyond scholarly teaching. It involves the systematic study of teaching and/or learning and the public sharing and review of such work through presentations, publications, or …

I never thought that a trip to the vending machine would teach me something about finance, challenge me to use my critical thinking skills and problem solving skills, but today it did! I have to preface this story by telling …

Every Fall semester, I become introspective and ask myself “Why do I Teach?”  I began teaching in the Fall of 1999 at the University of Rochester, NY.  It seems more than ten years ago, but at the same time, ten …