Learning Designs

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One page Teaching Tactic: helping students to reflect on their reading practices.

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This paper addresses a perennial question of the religious studies and, indeed, of most liberal arts classrooms: How do I get my students to read texts thoroughly and with understanding? After briefly reviewing the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) data, I argue that what teachers desire is not just basic literacy, but fluency, which is the capacity to read analytically (and, for me, appreciatively), deploying the strategies of reading in a high process, improvisational mode. I unpack the elements and efficacy of one close reading classroom teaching practice I use, guided annotation, as a strategy for developing fluency. I argue that close analysis of a short, intentionally chosen passage with a guiding question builds towards reading fluency. Annotating short passages, singly and then in relation to other passages, with the author's and disciplinary concerns as the foci, practices the skills that build fluency. Annotation is akin to playing scales in music, repeating a baseline task of reading; working slowly and simply at first, but then with increasing speed and complexity, moving the student towards reading whole texts well.

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The issue is richly augmented by a set of teaching tactics (Allen, Ghosh, and Woodard and Mabry) across a range of religious traditions which briefly describe further practices that can be productive in the classroom.

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One-page Teaching Tactic that has students write creatively in the voice of an ancient person to help them learn to exercise sensitivity to historical, social, political, and social contexts of ancient documents and gain proficiency in reading texts critically and sympathetically.

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One page Teaching Tactic: a worksheet to help students place each new theological text into its broader conversation partners.

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Abstract: Provides a cutting-edge resource for academics and practitioners in effective ways of reaching today’s students through the use of their favorite tool, social media

Outlines a range of strategies taking advantage of the unique learning styles and habits of net generation learners

Exposes students to ways in which these technologies can be used in their professional and personal lives

Reinforces students' growth as productive, reflective, and involved twenty-first century citizens

New technologies are transforming the way students work. The Plugged in Professor provides a timely and exceptional resource for using social media and other new technologies to help college students meet both general and discipline-specific objectives. The title covers techniques built around well-known social networking technologies, as well as other emerging technologies such as mobile phone and tablet apps. With a practical focus and reader-friendly format, this book shows educators how to apply techniques in each technology, and includes clear student learning objectives, step-by-step directions, observations and advice, and supplemental readings and resources. Twenty-five chapters by leading contributors cover key aspects of new technologies in education, in four parts: Writing, research and information fluency; Communication and collaboration; Critical thinking and creativity; and Integrative learning.

Readership: Educators in higher education, academics, teachers, and all those who wish to develop their techniques to more effectively reach the Net Generation will find this book useful. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
List of tables and figure
List of abbreviations
Acknowledgments Preface
About the editors
About the contributors

Part 1: Writing, Research, and Information Fluency
ch. 1 Writing for Wikipedia: co-constructing knowledge and writing for a public audience (Lori L. Britt)
ch. 2 Organizing with Pinterest and Delicious (Melanie L. Bufington)
ch. 3 Students' inadequate exposure to learning technology: overcoming the pedagogical challenge using wikis (Linzi J. Kemp)
ch. 4 Collecting and analyzing primary sources (Lisa M. Lane)
ch. 5 Unraveling the research process: social bookmarking and collaborative learning (Caroline Sinkinson, and Alison Hicks)

Part 2: Communication and Collaboration
ch. 6 Using Wimba Voice Board to facilitate foreign language conversation courses (Silvia U. Baage)
ch. 7 Web conferencing and peer feedback (Kevin Garrison)
ch. 8 Learning through YouTube (J. Jacob Jenkins, and Patrick J. Dillon)
ch. 9 Wiki-workshopping: using Wikispaces for peer writing workshops (Hans C. Schmidt)
ch. 10 Using persistent wikis as a pedagogical resource (Evan D. Bradley)
ch. 11 Social media and public speaking: student-produced multimedia informative presentations (Paul E. Mabrey III, and Juhong "Christie" Liu)
ch. 12 Collaborative presentations using Google Docs (Michael S. Mills)
ch. 13 Cooperative study blog (Amanda Evelyn Waldo)

Part 3: Critical Thinking and Creativity
ch. 14 Using Facebook to apply social learning theory (Michelle Kilbum)
ch. 15 Technology as a tool to develop problem-solving skills in general chemistry (Madhu Mahalingam, and Elisabeth Morlino)
ch. 16 Communicating experimental learning through an online portfolio in Tumblr (Aaron J. Moore)
ch. 17 The Biology Taboo Wiktionary: a tool for improving student comprehension of key terminology in introductory biology courses (Jeffrey T. Olimpo, and Patricia A. Shields)
ch. 18 Mobile digital storytelling in the second language classroom (Apostolos Koutropoulos, David Hattem, and Ronda Zelezny-Green)
ch. 19 Creating a video dialogue with streaming video clips (Sandra L. Miller)
ch. 20 Remix as an educational activity (Christopher Shamburg, Kate Mazzetti-Shamburg, and John Shamburg)
ch. 21 Using Twitter to assist students in writing a concise nut graph (Tia C. M. Tyree)

Part 4: Integrative Learning
ch. 22 Using simulation, video sharing, and discussion threads for practice-based skills (Lindsay B. Curtin, and Laura A. Finn)
ch. 23 Using Facebook Mobile as a tool to create a virtual learning community for pre-service teachers (Erkkie Haipinge)
ch. 24 Using social software tools to facilitate peer e-mentoring and self-reflection among students on practicum
ch. 25 Using opinion leaders on Twitter to amplify PR and marketing messages (Sarah H. VanSlette)

Index

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This essay analyzes a critical incident that took place in a hybrid distance-learning Hebrew language class that was adapting interactive, immersion-style, kinesthetic pedagogy during the week-long face-to-face intensive portion of the class – including Total Physical Response techniques in which students respond to the language with whole-body actions, entering into the world created by the language and the particular biblical text. Memorization, performance, interactive games, songs, and skits also contribute to the immersion-style learning environment. A snafu on the final day of the week led to a serendipitous solution that demonstrated Parker Palmer's idea of subject centered pedagogy. A brief description and analysis of the critical incident is followed by two short responses.

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This essay provides a brief overview of an educational board game developed by the author for use in upper division Old Testament classes. The game, extending in stages across the semester, heightens student learning by requiring strategic thinking about various historical, political, and geographical relationships. Appendices and links to online material provide full details necessary to adapt the game in local classrooms.

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One-page Teaching Tactic that works with embodied metaphors and drawing to help students draw relationships between complicated concepts.

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An online tutorial for using Power Point as a teaching tool.

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One page Teaching Tactic: students write tweet 140 character summaries of the week’s reading.

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This article considers the “create your own religion” or “fictive religion” assignment as a pedagogical tool, contextualizing it within the scholarship of teaching and learning, and positioning it as a tool for broad adoption in a variety of courses. I argue that we ought to conceptualize the fictive religion assignment as an instructional game, and make use of scholarship on teaching through games as a foundation for my analysis. While I offer the example of my own fictive religion assignment as a case study, the overall argument is a theoretical one, namely that the assignment works because of the nature of games.

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One-page Teaching Tactic that sends students walking around campus to take photos that fit prompts sent by the professor using What'sApp.

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American colleges and universities have invested millions of dollars in equipment and "smart classrooms," but the jury is still out on whether computers have led to a revolutionary improvement in the quality of teaching.

Professors are finding new ways to lecture, to run lab sessions, and to interact with students, however. The Chronicle dispatched reporters to classrooms across the country to find some of the most promising or unusual methods of teaching with technology.

Some of the courses involve teams of professors and designers, as well as serious investments of time and money, while others are techniques that individual professors have developed using tools that are common on most campuses. No matter how much support they have, the professors have hit their share of roadblocks. But these wired teachers say students are responding positively as class sessions become more interactive. (From the Publisher)

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One page Teaching Tactic: an in class exercise in which students to apply course material to a local issue on the  college campus.

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The article discusses two versions of a complex role‐playing exercise in undergraduate courses on Buddhism. The pedagogical exercise demonstrated how imagination cultivated through creative writing could be used to enhance learning about history, culture, and religion. Students were also challenged to generate an understanding of religious practice that arose from both cognitive and sensory learning. The project showed that by interacting with a form of engaged pedagogy that worked with the imagination, without leaving the classroom students developed a deep care for and active engagement with communities located spatially and temporally far from home. With empathy and critical reflection, they came to see how religious meaning is constructed at a communal level through embodied action and emotional sensibility.

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One page Teaching Tactic: student writing assignments in which they are forbidden to use direct quotations but required to provide a citation for every sentence that uses information from one of their sources.

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One page Teaching Tactic: teaching critical thinking skills by interpreting real-life ethical issues.

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One page Teaching Tactic: final projects for an online course.

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One page Teaching Tactic: using, and critiquing, social media to learn about and learn to interpret current events and the role of technology.

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Abstract: One powerful response to the disaster of Hurricane Katrina was the Peabody Award-winning HBO documentary film event, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, by Spike Lee. Now, through the generosity of the Rockefeller foundaiton, faculty and staff at Teachers College, Columbia University have created this compelling curriculum guide, based on the documentary and for use in high schools, colleges and community groups.
In September 2007, through a generous collaboration between The Rockefeller Foundation, Teachers College, and HBO, 30,000 copies of a new curriculum package addressing the issues of citizenship, race, class and poverty raised in the aftermath of Katrina were distributed to school, college and community educators. The package included a copy of Spike Lee and HBO's epic documentary, 'When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts,' as well as the highly acclaimed multidisciplinary curriculum guide, Teaching The Levees. Due to the continued immense demand for this resource, the accompanying curriculum guide is now available for purchase. Teaching The Levees, developed by faculty at Teachers College, Columbia University, includes chapters on history, media literacy, civics, economics and geography. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Letter From Judith Rodin
Letter From Susan Fuhrman
Introduction
Hurricane Katrina Timelines
Katrina Timeline: 2005--2007
Putting Katrina in Context: 1993--2007
Viewing Guide
Questions by Chapter
Opening and Closing Scenes
People Appearing in the Documentary

ch. 1 An American City (Cally Waite, James Alford, and Sharon Pearson)
ch. 2 In Our Own Image
Using Representations of Katrina to Empower Media-Literate Citizens (Judith Cramer, David Boxer, and Duane Neil)
ch. 3 Race, Class, and Katrina in When the Levees Broke
Lessons Designed for Adult Audiences (Jeanne Bitterman, Addie Rimmer, and Lucia Alcántara)
ch. 4 New Orleans: Past, Present, and Future
A Curriculum for College Students (Ellen Livingston)
ch. 5 What Does It Mean to Be a Citizen?
A Curriculum About Katrina Using Civics and Government (Anand Marri, Christina Morado, and Christopher Zublionis)
ch. 6 Third World Conditions in a First World Country
Using Economics to Understand Events Before and After the Levees Broke (Anand Marri, Christina Morado, and Christopher Zublionis)
ch. 7 A Sense of Place, A Sense of Home
Using Geography to Understand the Levees Catastrophe (William Gaudelli, Thomas Chandler, and Yom Odemtten)
ch. 8 Learning From History in an Effort to Understand the Tragedy of Katrina (William Gaudelli, Thomas Chandler, and Yom Odamtten)
ch. 9 Three Options for Summative Activities

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A single page “How-To Guide” from UCLA College Library.

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One page Teaching Tactic: using twitter as a tool for class discussion.

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This essay explores a midrange teaching and learning issue regarding the teaching of biblical languages and one strategy for addressing the issue. Seminary students do not yield a great enough return in exchange for the investment they are required to make in learning biblical languages. Students invest great time and money, but they do not learn to use the biblical languages to think critically about the Bible. This essay argues that a fruitful strategy for addressing this midrange issue is to require students to write in English about the Hebrew language. This strategy fosters students' ability to think critically about the biblical text. It also fosters their ability to use their budding knowledge of a biblical language to engage questions of meaning and issues of interpretation.

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One page Teaching Tactic: student preparation of reading material to increase comprehension and engagement with each other and the topic.

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This book presents novel and interesting ways of teaching archaeological concepts and processes to college and university students. Seeking alternatives to the formal lecture format, the various contributions seek better ways of communicating the complexities of human behavior and of engaging students in active learning about the past. This collection of imaginative exercises designed by 20 master instructors on three continents includes role-playing, games, simulations, activities, and performance, all designed to teach archaeological ideas in interesting and engaging ways. Sponsored by the World Archaeological Congress. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Lectures as Usual? Teaching Archaeology for Fun (Claire Smith and Heather Burke)

Part 1 - Role Play
ch. 2 Seven Degrees of Archaeology, or Diverse Ways of Interpreting the Past (Heather Burke and Claire Smith)
ch. 3 The Great Debate: Archaeology, Repatriation, and Nationalism (Morag Kersel)

Part 2 - Games
ch. 4 Grasp, or Happy Families, the Archaeological Way (Gail Higginbottom)
ch. 5 The Skin Game: Teaching to Redress Stereotypes of Indigenous People (Claire Smith and Heather Burke)
ch. 6 The Big Dig: Theoretically Speaking (Gail Higginbottom)
Part 3 - Simulations
ch. 7 The Game of Context: Teaching the History of Archaeology Without Foregone Conclusions (John Carman)
ch. 8 The Simulated Excavation: An Alternative to Archaeological Site Destruction (Bradley F. Bowman and Glenna Dean)
ch. 9 Digging Your Own Grave: Generic Skills from an Archaeological Simulation (Clive Orton)

Part 4 - Hands-on Activities
ch. 10 Playing with Ochre: Some Problems Associated with the Analysis of Indigenous Rock Markings (Michael Diplock and Abigail Stein)
ch. 11 Perspectives from a Pot: IntroducingArchaeological Theory Through Visual Interpretation (Melinda Leach)
ch. 12 Culture of Litterbugs (M. Jay Stottman, Sarah E. Miller and A. Gwynn Henderson)
ch. 13 Toilets as Tools of Teaching (H. Martin Wobst)
ch. 14 Simple Ideas to Teach Big Concepts: 'Excavating' and Analyzing the Professor's Desk Drawer and Wastebasket (Larry J. Zimmerman)

Part 5 - Creative Construction and Performance
ch. 15 The Draw-an-Archaeologist Test: Eliciting Student's Ideas About Archaeology (Susan D. Renoe)
ch. 16 Using the Fictional Tale as a Learning Tool (Caryn M. Berg)
ch. 17 Telling Stories About the Past: Archaeology and Museum Interpretation (Jane Lydon)
ch. 18 Scenarios for Archaeologists: A Teaching Tool (Mitch Allen)

Part 6 - Critical Reflection
ch. 19 The Scrapbook Exercise: Teaching Archaeology of Death as Critical Thinking (Patricia Rubertone)
ch. 20 Brain Candy (K. Anne Pyburn)

Index
About the Contributors

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This article explores a set of practices in the teaching of Talmud called “the pedagogy of slowing down.” Through the author’s analysis of her own teaching in an intensive Talmud class, “the pedagogy of slowing down” emerges as a pedagogical and cultural model in which the students learn to read more closely and to investigate the multiplicity of meanings inherent in the Talmudic text, thus bridging the gap between an ancient text and its contemporary students. This article describes the specific techniques in the pedagogy of slowing down, and the ways in which this teaching practice contributes both to students’ becoming more attentive readers and to the ongoing development of their religious voices.

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For students, a concise review of how to evaluate the authority, usefulness, and reliability of the information found through the process of library research. Including: books, periodical articles, multimedia titles, or Web pages – whether looking at a citation, a physical item in hand, or an electronic version on a computer. Links to lengthier discussions.

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One page Teaching Tactic: encouraging more thoughtful engagement with online discussion boards.

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Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: This book is written for anyone who has been inspired by the idea of Team-Based Learning (TBL) through his or her reading, a workshop, or a colleague’s enthusiasm, and then asks the inevitable question: how do I start? Written by five authors who use TBL in their teaching and who are internationally recognized as mentors and trainers of faculty making the switch to TBL, the book also presents the tips and insights of 46 faculty members from around the world who have adopted this teaching method. TBL is a uniquely powerful form of small group learning. It harnesses the power of teams and social learning with accountability structures and instructional sequences. This book provides the guidance, from first principles to examples of practice, together with concrete advice, suggestions, and tips to help you succeed in the TBL classroom. This book will help you understand what TBL is and why it is so powerful. You will find what you need to plan, build, implement, and use TBL effectively. This book will appeal to both the novice and the expert TBL teacher. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Foreword (Larry K. Michaelsen)
Preface
Acknowledgments

Part One: Overview of TBL ch. 1 Introduction ago Team-Based Learning
ch. 2 Getting Your Course Ready for Team-Based Learning (Bill Roberson and Billie Franchini)
ch. 3 The Whole Course ExperienceH
ch. 4 The Evidence, Please (Karla A. Kubitz)

Part Two: Essential Elements of TBL
ch. 5 Using Teams Effectively
ch. 6 Readiness Assurance Process
ch. 7 Application Activities
ch. 8 The Importance of Accountability

Part Three: Getting Yourself Ready
ch. 9 The Emotional Journey to Team-Based Learning (Bill Roberson and Billie Franchini)
ch. 10 The Last Word

Appendices
Appendix A Additional Resources
Appendix B More Simultaneous Reporting Options
Appendix C Lessons Learned in Faculty Preparation - A Retrospective (Bill Roberson and Billie Franchini)
Appendix D List of Interviewees

References
About the Authors and Contributors
Index

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This book shows college instructors how to communicate their course organization to students in a graphic syllabus—a one-page diagram, flowchart, or concept map of the topical organization—and an outcomes map—a one-page flowchart of the sequence of student learning objectives and outcomes from the foundational through the mediating to the ultimate. It also documents the positive impact that graphics have on student learning and cautions readers about common errors in designing graphic syllabi. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
About the Author
Preface
Acknowledgments

ch. 1 The Limits of a Text Syllabus
ch. 2 How and Why Graphics Enhance Learning
ch. 3 Designing a Graphic Syllabus
ch. 4 Charting an Outcomes Map
ch. 5 How Graphics Benefit Course Organization

Appendix A. More Model Graphic Syllabi for Inspiration
Appendix B. Computer Software for Graphic Syllabi and Outcomes Maps

Bibliography
Index

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One page Teaching Tactic: prompting student discussion using word clouds.

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One page Teaching Tactic to diagnose the level of learning students' bring to a course.

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These brief essays by Mary Hess, Eugene Gallagher, and Katherine Turpin are solicited responses from three different contexts to the provocative book by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown, The New Culture of Learning (2011). Mary Hess writes from a seminary context, providing a critical summary of the authors' major concepts and their ramifications, positive and negative, for theological education and the church. Eugene Gallagher writes from a liberal arts setting, identifying characteristics of the face-to-face classroom that would go missing in a careless adoption of online learning environments. Finally, Katherine Turpin reports from the classroom, chronicling her experience in a course she redesigned for a graduate theological setting to employ some of the authors' pedagogical principles and strategies. Together, these responses offer critical appreciation and constructive critique of the work Thomas and Seely Brown have done – and point the conversation forward.

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In Taking Learning to Task, Vella draws from current theory and practice to explore the meaning and power of learning tasks. To illustrate this unique approach, she provides seven steps to planning learning-centered courses, four types of learning tasks, a checklist of principles and practices, critical questions for instructional design, key components for evaluation, and other invaluable tools." "Taking Learning to Task is a hands-on, practical guide to designing effective learning tasks for diverse learners and diverse content. Teachers, trainers, and all types of instructors will find a wealth of advice for refining their day-to-day practice. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
ch. 1. Learning Tasks: Assumptions and Definition.
ch. 2. Comparing Teaching Tasks and Learning Tasks.
ch. 3. Learning Tasks As Part of a Complete Design.
ch. 4. Four Types of Learning Tasks.
ch. 5. The Power of Action: "The Verb's the Thing".
ch. 6. Principles to Guide Design.
ch. 7. The Art of Leading Learning Tasks.
ch. 8. Time and the Learning Task.
ch. 9. Checkpoint: Reviewing Concepts Through Examples.
ch. 10. Matching Tasks to the Group: One Size Does Not Fit All.
ch. 11. Tasks for Distance Learning and the Internet.
ch. 12. Using Learning Tasks: Twenty Reasons and Twenty Principles.

Resources.
A. Learning Tasks in Action: A Workshop Model.
B. Example of a Distance-Learning Course.
C. Technical Guide for Designing and Using Learning Tasks.

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One page Teaching Tactic: students learn some of the difficulties of translation when interpreting the bible.

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One page Teaching Tactic to help students learn how to participate in effective class discussions.

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Is it possible to teach pastoral care online? McGarrah Sharp and Morris describe their process of transforming a residential on-campus pastoral care course into the first online offering of the course at their seminary. They begin by describing a series of pedagogical choices made with the intent of facilitating dynamic movement between peer-to-peer, small group, and whole class discussions throughout the semester. Before and during the course, anxieties arose at many levels of instruction for the professor, teaching assistant, and students. Anecdotes and examples from the online course show how the online course design and facilitation was able to name and respond to anxieties as part of integrating pastoral care course content and practice – a key learning goal for the course. The authors are persuaded that online pedagogy can help identify how anxieties create space for developing empathy as much, if not more than, a traditional on-campus format.

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One page Teaching Tactic: using study sheet handouts to help students learn from lectures, in a compressed "Maymester" class.

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One page Teaching Tactic to help students engage course readings.

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One page Teaching Tactic: a method for convening discussion in large groups.

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One page Teaching Tactic to determine the level of knowledge and understanding students have of a particular subject (in this case, in a Hebrew Bible course).

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This essay describes a web site evaluation project which served as the final assignment for an undergraduate “Introduction to Religion” course. The essay discusses lessons learned from the design and implementation of this web-based research assignment over three consecutive semesters. It includes insights from an instructor and a reference librarian who collaborated on this project.

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Much debate exists regarding the purpose of education. This article explores the idea that religious education can be used to inspire change and action in the lives of students beyond the classroom. We describe a study of students who took a required religion class at a private religious university. The intended outcomes of the class centered on encouraging students to make the following changes in their lives: to develop a habit of regular scripture study, to use new methods to study the scriptures, and to make positive choices in their lives. Specific assignments were designed to encourage these outcomes. At the end of the semester, students were surveyed as to whether they had made changes in their lives in these three areas. The vast majority of students reported that they had made changes in their lives because of assignments given in the class. Implications and limitations are discussed.

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This paper is a guide to the effective design and management of team assignments in a college classroom where little class time is available for instruction on teaming skills. Topics discussed include forming teams, helping them become effective, and using peer ratings to adjust team grades for individual performance. A Frequently Asked Questions section offers suggestions for dealing with several problems that commonly arise with student teams, and forms and handouts are provided to assist in team formation and management. 

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Leypoldt provides forty distinct ways to teach young people and adults, with diagrams to illustrate each method. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Teaching In Groups
ch. 2 Which Way is Best For Me?
ch. 3 The Forty Ways to Teach
ch. 4 Book Report
ch. 5 Brainstorming
ch. 6 Buzz Groups
ch. 7 Case study
ch. 8 Chain-Reaction Forum
ch. 9 Circle Response
ch. 10 Colloquy
ch. 11 Couple Buzzers
ch. 12 Debate Forum
ch. 13 Demonstration- Work Group
ch. 14 Depth Bible Encounter
ch. 15 Expanding Panel
ch. 16 Field Trip
ch. 17 Film Talk-Back
ch. 18 Gallery Conversations
ch. 19 Group Discussion
ch. 20 Group Drawing
ch. 21 Group Response Team
ch. 22 Group Writing
ch. 23 Inductive Bible Study
ch. 24 Interview Forum
ch. 25 Lecture
ch. 26 Lecture Forum
ch. 27 Listening Teams
ch. 28 Music Forum
ch. 29 Panel
ch. 30 Panel Forum
ch. 31 Play-Reading Talk-Back
ch. 32 Questions and Answers
ch. 33 Reaction Panel
ch. 34 Research and Report
ch. 35 Role-Playing
ch. 36 Screened Speech
ch. 37 Seminar
ch. 38 Sermon Forum
ch. 39 Symposium
ch. 40 Symposium Dialogue
ch. 41 Symposium Forum
ch. 42 Work Groups
ch. 43 Workshop
ch. 44 Evaluation
ch. 45 Bibliography
ch. 46 Appendix

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Because the drive toward external assessment speaks almost exclusively in terms of standardized testing, we need to be reminded of the internal purposes of assessment: measuring learning for both student and teacher so that instruction can be adjusted and improved. This book is written for college instructors who are striving to creatively change assessment practice to better reflect learner-centered teaching. It is intended to consider not only the multiple ways in which individuals learn content, but also the multiple avenues to assessment the variety of learning styles demands.
Creative assessment is defined here as assessments that spin, twist, and reform what might be a standard kind of assessment in an ordinary classroom. Instructors should use these examples of creative assessment as starting points, and as the beginnings of an internal discussion on what matters most in the courses they teach: What components of each course count the most for solving a range of problems in the discipline? If facts are important, and they usually are, how can they be used to support a flexible approach to thinking, solving, considering options, and gathering and interpreting evidence? What are the facts not telling us? (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Why These Assessment Opportunities Make Sense in a World Where Assessment of Factual Knowledge Has Taken Hold (Elizabeth Gayton)

ch. 1 Why Creative Assessment? (Richard J. Mezeske, Barbara A. Mezeske)
ch. 2 Concept Mapping: Assessing Pre-Service Teachers' Understanding and Knowledge (Richard J. Mezeske)
ch. 3 Getting Creative in a Required Course: Variable Grading, Learning Logs, and Authentic Testing (Barbara A. Mezeske)
ch. 4 "From Now on You'll Be History": The Transition from Memorization to Analysis (Janis M. Gibbs)
ch. 5 Resurrecting the Lab Practical (Kathy Winnett-Murray)
ch. 6 Exams as Learning Experiences: One Nutty Idea After Another (Thomas Smith)
ch. 7 Web-Based Instruction and Assessment in a German Culture Course (Lee Forester)
ch. 8 Challenging Students (and the Professor) to Use All of Their Brains: A Semester-Long Exercise in Thinking Styles and Synthesis (Elizabeth A. Trembley)
ch. 9 Demonstrating Synthesis: Technology Assessment Tools for Field Experience Learning (Susan Cherup)
ch. 10 Assessing an Engineering Design Team Project: Build It, and They Will Come (Michael Misovich and Roger Veldman)
ch. 11 Tracking Learning Over Time in Health Care Education Using Clinical Proficiency Transcripts (Richard Ray)
ch. 12 Verbing the Noun: Grammar in Action (Rhoda Janzen)
ch. 13 Hands-On Assessment Can Work for Pre-Service Elementary Teachers (Mary DeYoung)
ch. 14 Building Assignments Within Community: Assessment in the Real World (David B. Schock)

Conclusion: Do Classroom Assessment Techniques Improve Student Learning and Fulfill Larger Assessment Goals? (Scott VanderStoep and Carla Reyes)
Index

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One page Teaching Tactic to help students understand the contingencies of historical documents.

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Essentials for Blended Learning: A Standards-Based Guide provides a practical, streamlined approach for creating effective learning experiences by blending online activities and the best of face-to-face teaching.

This guide is:

Easy to use: Clear, jargon-free writing; illustrations; and references to online resources help readers understand concepts.

Streamlined: A simple but effective design process focuses on creating manageable activities for the right environment.

Practical: Real-world examples from different subject areas help teachers understand principles in context.

Contemporary: The variety of modern, connected technologies covered in the guide addresses a range of teaching challenges.

Forward-Looking: The approach bridges the gap between formal classroom learning and informal lifelong learning.

Standards-based: Guidelines and standards are based on current research in the field, relevant learning theories, and practitioner experiences.

Effective blended learning requires significant rethinking of teaching practices and a fundamental redesign of course structure. Essentials for Blended Learning: A Standards-Based Guide simplifies these difficult challenges without neglecting important opportunities to transform teaching. This guide is suitable for teachers in any content area. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Introduction

ch. 1 Orientation to Blended Teaching and Learning
ch. 2 Elements of Blended Courses: A Tour
ch. 3 Engaging Learners in a Blended Course
ch. 4 Designing Blended Courses
ch. 5 Planning Your Course from Goals and Outcomes
ch. 6 Blending Assessment and Feedback for Learning
ch. 7 Blending Content-Driven Learning Activities
ch. 8 Blending Community-Driven Learning Activities

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This Forum collects the papers presented at a 2010 panel at the Society of Biblical Literature, an outcome of a Wabash Center funded grant project. The project examined the unique dimensions and experiences of teaching Biblical exegesis at the six historically black theological schools (HBTSs), including discussion of the unique needs of HBTS students and their communities, and appropriate learning goals and effective teaching practices for this context. None of the biblical studies faculty were prepared as graduate students for the unique challenges that they have encountered teaching at a HBTS, so they have all had to “learn on the job” how best to approach the unique needs of the student body. The brief statements collected here summarize the findings from the project, describe and analyze some effective teaching strategies, and offer suggestions for continuing the conversation.

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"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay scaffolding student engagement with difficult texts from non-Western Christian contexts.

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"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay describing role playing exercise to help students engage a challenging text.

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This book tells the story of building a campus “Learning Garden” over a series of cohorts of student teachers and environmental education students. The garden began with high ideals, no funding, and a strong desire to “do something” about the environment. The result was a transformation in attitude toward nature, community and toward the learning process itself. Described through three metaphors (garden as environment, garden as community, garden as transformation) this book provides a bridge of theory and practice for ecology-centred teaching and learning. As new teachers and teacher educators decide how to include “the environment” and principles of “sustainability” into their lessons, this groundbreaking text provides a bridge between theory and practice and guides the reader into the ways that teaching in the natural world changes how people learn, and, how they teach. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments

ch. 1 The Learning Garden: Introduction
ch. 2 Learning in School Gardens: Historical and Theoretical Overview
ch. 3 Garden as Environment
ch. 4 Garden as Community
ch. 5 Garden as Transformation
ch. 6 Practical Matters, A Simple Plan, Activities, Teaching Resources
ch. 7 Environment, Community, Transformation: Photo Essay
ch. 8 Conclusion: At the Hear of Teaching and Learning

Notes
Bibliography

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"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay describing scaffolding to help students engage a challenging text.

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"Teaching Difficult Texts." 1000 word essay describing a student-interactive, small -group discussion of challenging texts.

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Journal Issue.

Table Of Content:
Contributors

ch. 1 Let’s Get Physical: Using Sports, Yoga, and Dance to Teach about Religion (Fred Glennon)
ch. 2 From Durkheim to Game Day: Sports as a Bridge for Introducing Religious Studies (Arthur Remillard)
ch. 3 Religion and Sports (Philip P. Arnold)
ch. 4 Using Sport to Teaching American Religious History (Annie Blazer)
ch. 5 Using Case Studies to Teach Religion and Sports (Rebecca T. Alpert)
ch. 6 Yoga in Theory and Practice: Pedagogical Strategies (Patton Burchett)
ch. 7 Sensing the Gods: Utilizing Embodied Pedagogy to Understand Hindu Devotion (Katherine C. Zubko)

Resources

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Analysis, resources, and recommendations by a colloquy of 7 Asian and Asian North American professors of religious and theological studies in largely white institutions. What impact does this isolation have on their functioning as faculty, and specifically in their attempt to introduce Asian or Asian North American perspectives into their respective theological disciplines? What extra constraints or requirements are placed on their struggle to teach as effectively and faithfully as they would like? And what about the dynamics of teaching primarily white or other non-Asian students?

Table Of Content:
PROJECT TEAM MEMBERS 3

INTRODUCTION
Who are We? 5
Why this Project? 5
Mid-term Progress 6
The Consultation 6

PART I THE TEACHING OF ASIAN AND ASIAN NORTH AMERICAN WOMEN’S THEOLOGIES IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
Asian and Asian North American Presence in ATS Schools 8
Curricular Constraints 9
Alternate Venues 10

PART II TEACHING MATERIALS AND INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING ASIAN AND ASIAN NORTH AMERICAN WOMEN’S THEOLOGIES
Challenging the Canon of Theological Knowledge 11
Development of Asian and Asian North American Women’s Theologies 14 Pedagogical Approaches 17
Learning Styles, Teaching Styles 21
Teaching about Racism 22
Classroom Dynamics 23
The Use of Multimedia in Teaching 26

PART III ASIAN AND ASIAN NORTH AMERICAN WOMEN AS FACULTY AND STUDENTS
Issues Facing the Faculty 29
Differences between Asian and Asian North American Students 32
Issues Facing Asian North American Women Students 34

PART IV RECOMMENDATIONS TO INSTITUTIONS (through appropriate channels via the Association of Theological Schools and the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion) 37

NOTES 42

APPENDICES
1. Selected Bibliography on Asian and Asian North American Women’s Theologies 47
2. Selected Bibliography on Teaching and Pedagogy 52
3. Selected Novels and Audio-visual Resources 55

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With an ever increasing emphasis on continuing professional development, in-service training, plus widening participation in further and higher education, the importance of group learning has never been higher. Collaborative and co-operative learning is a crucial method for helping people get the most out learning, and because it offers the possibility to teach higher numbers, or diverse groups of people successfully, it has become an important technique for educators and trainers to call upon. Using the well-known, tried and tested 500 Tips format, this book provides practical, user friendly, easy-to-use advice and support which will enhance learning and training. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Acknowledgements
Foreword

ch. 1 Learning with others
ch. 2 Getting groups going
ch. 3 Particular group learning contexts
ch. 4 Exercises and processes for groups
ch. 5 Groups behaving badly?
ch. 6 Assessing group learning

Further Reading
Index

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In “Reacting to the Past” courses students learn by taking on roles, informed by classic texts, in elaborate games set in the past; they learn skills—speaking, writing, critical thinking, problem solving, leadership, and teamwork—in order to prevail in difficult and complicated situations. That is because Reacting roles, unlike those in a play, do not have a fixed script and outcome. While students will be obliged to adhere to the philosophical and intellectual beliefs of the historical figures they have been assigned to play, they must devise their own means of expressing those ideas persuasively, in papers, speeches or other public presentations; and students must also pursue a course of action they think will help them win the game.

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Discusses how college teachers can deal with multiculturalism in the classroom. Faculty arguments over diversity requirements in the curriculum; Intercultural education among students of diverse cultures and ethnicities; Strategies for multicultural discussions.

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Focus is on using Role-Play to help historical figures come alive.

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One-page Teaching Tactic that offers a stragety for improving students' participation in classroom discussions.

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You have finished your Ph.D. and landed your first academic job. Scanning the fine print, you realize the introductory class you have been assigned to teach is being held in an auditorium. A really big auditorium. Panic begins to set in. . . . In this handy and practical book, Elisa Carbone offers a wealth of sound advice on how to deal with a large class, from the first day to end-of-semester evaluations. Full of examples taken from many different disciplines, Teaching Large Classes will be an ideal companion for any teacher facing the challenge of the large introductory class. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Listening to the Experts

ch. 1 Starting the Semester: The First Class
ch. 2 Personalizing the Large Class
ch. 3 Lecturing 101: Getting Your Students to Listen
ch. 4 Lecturing 102: Using Stories and Examples
ch. 5 Using Demonstrations, Visual Aids, and Technology
ch. 6 Active Learning in a Large Class
ch. 7 Are There Any Questions?
ch. 8 Assessment and Feedback in Large Classes
ch. 9 Managing Student Behavior
ch. 10 Working Effectively With Teaching Assistants (TAs)

Index
About the Author

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One-page Teaching Tactic in which students share their social location, to build community and set the stage for tough conversations about race, gender and privilege.

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One page Teaching Tactic: low-stakes writing assignments to improve students engagement with texts.

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One page Teaching Tactic: on the first day of class, students discuss course content by discussing classification strategies

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One-page Teaching Tactic with information on how to get more out of in class quizzes.

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Helpful, brief list of teaching strategies. Addresses why and how to use inclusive teaching strategies in the college classroom. Highlights potential benefits

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In this article, I explore an ethical and pedagogical dilemma that I encounter each semester in my world religions courses: namely, that a great number of students enroll in the courses as part of their missionary training programs, and come to class understanding successful learning to mean gathering enough information about the world's religious “traditions” so as to effectively seduce people out of them. How should we teach world religions – in public university religious studies courses – with this student constituency? What are/ought to be our student learning goals? What can and should we expect to accomplish? How can we maximize student learning, while also maintaining our disciplinary integrity? In response to these questions, I propose a world religions course module, the goal of which is for students to examine – as objects of inquiry – the lenses through which they understand religion(s). With a recognition of their own lenses, I argue, missionary students become more aware of the biases and presumptions about others that they bring to the table, and they learn to see the ways in which these presumptions inform what they see and know about others, and also what they do not so easily see.

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One page Teaching Tactic: a warm-up exercise requiring students to recall and synthesize course material by selecting what is applicable to a practical pastoral care setting that they might reasonably expect to encounter.

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One page Teaching Tactic: using Twitter for student discussions of films outside of class, teaches them to write thoughtful and critical comments in a succinct but expressive manner.

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This note from the classroom explores teaching new or alternative religions within the context of a Roman Catholic Liberal Arts College. The essay will specifically focus on a section of a course entitled "Modern Religious Movements" in which students were asked to consider different methodological approaches to the teaching and study of Scientology and the Catholic cult of the Virgin Mary. This note from the classroom details how this rather unexpected comparison prompted students to reconsider the category cult and argues that encouraging self-reflexivity in a largely Catholic classroom can become a crucial means for engaging a broader discussion of new religions, cult discourse, and the academic study of religion itself.

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One page Teaching Tactic: To make theoretically dense, conceptually difficult readings more concrete and easier to discuss. This enables our class discussion to begin with something besides “I don't get it.”

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Sooner or later, almost every university teacher confronts having to teach a course with 200 students in it, or suddenly finds 60 enrolled in a course so carefully designed for 20.

For that teacher, we here present Maryellen Gleason's all-too-necessary "survival kit," a set of ideas and resources that recognizes the special challenges of the large class and that can enhance it as an environment for student learning.

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Sexual violence on campus is a major issue facing students, faculty, and administrators, and institutions of higher education are struggling to respond. This forum brings together three responses to the problem, with a focus on the religious studies classroom. The responses move from the institution to the faculty to the classroom, exploring three separate but linked spaces for responding to sexual violence. The first contribution (Graybill) critiques common institutional responses to sexual violence. The second contribution (Minister) advocates for long-term, classroom-based responses to sexual violence and describes a faculty/staff workshop response. The third contribution (Lawrence) emphasizes the classroom, examining the issues that arise when perpetrators of sexual assault are part of the student body. Read together, the pieces offer a comprehensive view of the complicated intersections of sexual violence, the university, and pedagogical issues in religious studies.

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Sensitive issues, rife in religious studies and in theology, present a pedagogical challenge when teaching students to nuance their thinking around positions that are often sharply defined and elicit strong feelings. I developed a learning tool that I call the “Agency Paradigm.” The purpose of this tool is to help students comprehend diversity within religious traditions, particularly regarding the agencies of women who are committed to them. Drawing on the open and critical dialogue of emancipatory pedagogy, the Agency Paradigm encourages students to explore a range of ways women in world religions choose to act in varying contexts. This approach to teaching world religions increases students’ cognitive knowledge base and expands their understanding of each of the religions studied in the course, as examined through the perspective of differing women; it also assists them in developing their own agency through thoughtful reflection.

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This article emphasizes the need for religious educators to address the issue of divine violence in Scripture with students, and it offers various pedagogical strategies for doing so. The focus is on violent Old Testament texts, with special attention given to the issue of Canaanite genocide. A general framework for structuring class time around divine violence in Scripture is proposed which includes (1) encouraging students to encounter violent biblical texts firsthand, (2) helping them understand why people find these passages problematic, and (3) offering various options for dealing with the potential problems these passages raise. In the second half of the article, significant attention is devoted to a number of practical considerations that should be taken into account when talking about this sensitive issue in class. A brief word about assessment is offered at the end.

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One page Teaching Tactic: students work in groups to study on line presence of African-American religious groups.

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Engaging students in a course in the Sociology of Religion can be a challenge, particularly when working with student populations in a homogeneous region of the country who have limited experience with religious diversity. We approached the course from a sociological/anthropological perspective, requiring each student to complete an in-depth participation/observation research experience and write an ethnographic account of a religion or belief system different from his or her own. While other instructors have used a similar pedagogy, using ethnography with our student population was generally successful as a learning and writing tool.

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One page Teaching Tactic: students work collaboratively to define religion.

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One page Teaching Tactic that moves students around the room to help them identify and discuss the major points in an assigned reading.

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One page Teaching Tactic: students reflect on a religious practice they have selected to experience.

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One page Teaching Tactic: specific prompts for student presentations of a religious artifact they select.

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One page Teaching Tactic: a structured writing group for graduate students.

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A 1000 word essay in response to a Call for Papers: “Compare the pedagogy of your classroom and a Wabash workshop"

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Click Here for Book Review
Breakthrough Strategies identifies effective strategies that faculty have used to help New Majority students—those from minority, immigrant, or disadvantaged backgrounds—build the necessary skills to succeed in college. As the proportion of New Majority students rises, there is increased attention to helping them gain access to college. Once enrolled, however, these students often face significant challenges of adjustment, with few resources for support. Specifically, there is little attention to students’ experiences within their college classrooms and their relationships with professors. At the same time, faculty who work with these students have little guidance on how to help them adjust to new expectations and identities as they engage with college-level work.

Sister Kathleen A. Ross, a MacArthur fellow and president emerita of Heritage University, has devoted three decades to helping New Majority students get college degrees. Based on an action-research project undertaken at Heritage University and Yakima Valley Community College in Washington State, the book highlights eleven strategies to encourage student success, including: asking questions in class; navigating the syllabus; and developing an academic identity. Written in a warm, down-to-earth voice, Breakthrough Strategies is infused with the belief that faculty can become a powerful resource for students, and that classroom instruction can be an important vehicle for supporting these students’ development and success. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Foreword (Michelle Asha Cooper)

ch. 1 The Breakthrough Strategies Project
ch. 2 Welcome to Heritage University
ch. 3 Communication, Culture, and the New Majority

Part One - Strategies For Engagement
ch. 4 Engaging Students Through Effective Feedback
ch. 5 Helping Students Ask Questions
ch. 6 Engaging Students with Analogies

Part Two - Strategies To Promote A Sense of Belonging
ch. 7 Welcoming Students with First-Day Activities
ch. 8 Relating to Students’ Life Situations
ch. 9 Reframing the Classroom as Community

Part Three - Strategies to Engender Confidence
ch. 10 Creating Confidence: A Professor’s Role
ch. 11 Journaling for Confidence and Deeper Thinking
ch. 12 Developing Students’ Own Academic Ideas

Part Four - Strategies To Build A Vision For The Future
ch. 13 Envisioning an Academic Identity: How Professors Can Help
ch. 14 Building Professional Identities to Counter Stereotypes

Notes
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Index

Additional Info:
A 1000 word essay in response to a Call for Papers: “Compare the pedagogy of your classroom and a Wabash workshop"

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A 1000 word essay in response to a Call for Papers: “Compare the pedagogy of your classroom and a Wabash workshop"

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Strategies for teaching writing across the curriculum. Idea Paper no. 48, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

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Extensive workbook reviews differences in adult and child learners and discusses adult learning styles. Offers strategies on presentation, facilitation, course design, and course evaluation. Includes sample materials in appendices.

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We have an uneasy relationship with the relentless deluge of information gushing out of academia and our media outlets. To turn it off is escapist, but to attempt to cognitively grapple with it is overwhelming.

In Unforgettable: Enabling Deep and Durable Learning, a nationally recognized master teacher gives professors and their students the means to chart a clear path through this information explosion. Humans crave explanatory patterns, and this book enables teachers to think deeply about their academic disciplines to find and articulate their core explanatory principles and to engage their students in a compelling way of thinking. An alternative title for this book could be Why the Best College Teachers Do What They Do because the author articulates a compelling rationale that will equip faculty to create and deliver transformative courses. Students in transformative courses grapple with essential questions and gain mental muscle that equips them for real world challenges. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction

ch. 1 Teaching for Transformation
ch. 2 Becoming a Clear-Thinking Teacher
ch. 3 Thinking Like an Expert
ch. 4 Developing and Clarifying Your Ideas
ch. 5 Explanatory Power
ch. 6 This Is The Way: Designing the Optimal Learning Path
ch. 7 Student Flourishing
ch. 8 Ask, Don’t Tell
ch. 9 Speaking Truth in Love: Assessment as Communication
ch. 10 Averting Disaster

Appendix 1 - Logic of a Chief
Appendix 2 - Richard Paul’s eight elements of thought compared with my approach
Appendix 3 - Gowin’s Knowledge Vee
Appendix 4 - Socratic GPS
Appendix 5 - Assessment is Course Design
Bibliography

Additional Info:
Although comparative theology is a continuously growing method in the study of religion, it is still relatively new and not widely accepted in either confessional or secular institutions. Scholars may face difficulty when seeking their institutions' acceptance for a comparative theology course. One way of generating interest and approval for such a course is by designing it from the center of the institution's mission. Professors can look to the institution's mission as a resource for teaching comparatively. We offer four examples from Catholic institutions of how this might be done. Reid Locklin offers further insights in his response to our explorations.

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This paper is a reflection on the two most significant challenges that I have faced teaching the introductory course in Islam. The first is the challenge of teaching Islam after September 11, 2001, the events of which gave rise to such pedagogical questions as how much and in what ways the course syllabus should change, and in particular how we should address issues such as extremism and terrorism. The second is the challenge of being a non-Muslim teaching Islam, which raises issues of authority (particularly when there are Muslim students in the classroom). The limitations and advantages of teaching a tradition as an outsider are explored, and strategies for compensating for the limitations are suggested. The final section of the essay explores the following question: When, if ever, can (or should) we as teachers move from explaining and analyzing the positions taken by members of a tradition to criticizing them?

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Reviews research and explains several concrete best practices on how to motivate students. Idea Paper no. 1, from the series developed by the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University.

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This article discusses an experiential teaching method that uses secular activities that are simple, accessible, and analogous to religious practice in order to facilitate comparative religious study. These “analogous activities” – for example, social rituals, stillness, yoga, a social media fast, singing, nonviolent communication, and mindfulness meditation – provide a third point of reference that allows students to pivot between their understanding of religion and those of practitioners and scholars of religion. Experiential learning can be quite successful if deliberately sequenced to allow students to encounter a series of interpretive frameworks and structured with prompts and parameters that encourage reflection and critical analysis of their experience. In my course engaging in analogous activities not only impacted students' understanding of Asian religions, but also led them to question two previous assumptions: first, that religious beliefs were more important than religious practices, which is particularly problematic in regards to Asian religious traditions that place more emphasis on orthopraxy than orthodoxy, and second, that religion was something separate from one's everyday or lived reality.

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One-page Teaching Tactic that describes ways that to enhance a class field trip to an academic conference.

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One-page Teaching Tactic that taps into students' interest in and knowledge of Facebook to help them read the Bible's four Gospels with fresh eyes.

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How can poetry be a resource for effective teaching of congregational life and leadership? Drawing on poetry from an array of sources, the author weaves a narrative to discuss specific strategies employed for using poetry in the classroom. Recognizing the capacity of poems to awaken latent imaginations and evoke new insights about church leadership among his students, the author provides details about particular methods that can serve as alternative approaches for learning about a subject.

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Many undergraduates are culturally shaped to avoid making ethical judgments. They spontaneously adopt relativist and skeptical strategies such as “It all depends,” or “Whose morality?” or “Who's to say?” as ways of fending off the challenge of making moral decisions. The current tsunami that is washing away traditional sexual norms is both a result and a cause of this cultural shift. Case studies can mitigate this decline and help students to grow in both confidence and ability to make good ethical judgments. The case method, used with a Socratic pedagogy, engages imagination and counters the deficits in empathy found in many contemporary students. It moves students toward understanding morality itself. Against skepticism, it assists students in exercising practical reason, culminating in decision. Five cases invite students to overcome extreme relativism, to look for and evaluate relevant differences, and to enter into ethical discussion with other students on the sexual issues they face in their college years.

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Sexual assault is prevalent, but many educators find themselves ill-prepared to address it in the classroom. This article conceptualizes a trauma sensitive pedagogy that engages the psychological, social, and theological implications of sexual assault for classroom conversations about sex and sexuality. First, the article examines the impact of the classic power disparity between student and teacher as a dynamic that can trigger recall of the abuse of power inherent in sexual violence. Next the article reframes understandings of trigger warnings to consider how they can be used to support educators in taking seriously the vulnerability of those who have experienced sexual assault. The article also presents perspectives on the role of “teacher self-disclosure” in facilitating conversations that acknowledge sexual assault, followed by a teaching strategy that demonstrates pedagogical sensitivity to trauma. Suggestions on how to support students through and beyond conversations that can trigger traumatic stress conclude the article.

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One page Teaching Tactic: students write an anonymous autobiography at the beginning of the semester, and return at the end of the semester to place their original reflections in conversation with the course readings.

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Journal Issue. Full text is available online.

Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Teaching Religion and Ecology: Background and Overview (Ellen Posman, and Reid B. Locklin)
ch. 2 Religion and Ecology from a Postcolonial Perspective (Isabel Mukonyora)
ch. 3 Channeling Realities: Religion, Ecology, and Technology in the Classroom (Whitney A. Bauman)
ch. 4 Divinity and Forestry: Graduate Religious Education for Environmental Problems (Willis Jenkins)
ch. 5 Performative Pedagogies: Religion and Ecology, Wilderness Spirituality (Bobbi Patterson)
ch. 6 The Project Component Does Work in Environmental Ethics (Carol S. Robb)
ch. 7 Environmental and Economic Injustice (Laura Stivers)
ch. 8 Teaching Religion and Ecology: Suggested Resources

Additional Info:
The Bible is a non-western text subject to a variety of interpretations and applications – constructive and destructive. The academic study of the Bible, therefore, requires critical thinking skills and the ability to engage with diversity. The reality is that most first-year college students have not yet developed these skills. Rather than bemoan students' lack of development, the essay explores ways of teaching and applying critical thinking within the context of an introductory Religion course. The essay claims that first-year college students can better learn the content of the discipline and function in a pluralistic world if the teaching of critical thinking skills is a part of the pedagogy.

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Can students learn religious history from movies? While using film as text is likely to attract students' interest, will such a course be able to negotiate the complex intertwining of film with religion and history to provide students with more than mere entertainment? Will students respond to a challenge to move beyond a movie's surface visual experience to address the core lessons history posits: it's not always been this way, we are the product of what has come before us, I/we are being called to change? This article discusses one attempt to answer these questions and examines both the opportunities and difficulties of using movies to teach religious history.

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One page Teaching Tactic: How to start classroom discussions about sensitive issues such as human sexuality

Additional Info:
Journal Issue

Table Of Content:
Contributors

Ch 1. Harnessing the Power of Storytelling in the Hindu Studies Classroom and Beyond (Raj Balkaran)
Ch 2. Teaching Stories about Teaching Self: Upaniṣadic Narrative in the Classroom (Steven E. Lindquist)
Ch 3. Innovative Narrative Strategies in Hinduism Textbooks (Hillary Rodrigues)
Ch 4. Teaching Tales: Mokashi’s “Religious” Narratives (Jeffrey M. Brackett)
Ch 5. The Dynamic Canon of the Purāṇas and the Ethnography of the Classroom (Elizabeth M. Rohlman)
Ch 6. Teaching Hindu Stories as Ways of Fashioning Selves and Framing Lives (Shana Sippy)
Ch 7. Narrative Pedagogy and Transmedia Balancing (Caleb Simmons)

Resources

Additional Info:
Journal Issue

Table Of Content:
Contributors

Ch 1. Contemplative Pedagogy and the Religious Studies Classroom (Sarah Jacoby)
Ch 2. Why I Do Not Use Contemplative Pedagogy in the Public University Classroom (Candy Gunther Brown)
Ch 3. Making Reading Relevant: Critical Thinking as Contemplative Practice (Kathleen M. Fisher)
Ch 4. Contemplating the Smartphone Dis/Connect (Daniel A. Hirshberg)
Ch 5. Critical, Creative, Contemplative (Karolyn Kinane)
Ch 6. Simplicity: Portals to the Contemplative (Anne Carolyn Klein)
Ch 7. Contemplative Pedagogy (Harold D. Roth)
Ch 8. Teaching Contemplation in 3D (Michael Sheehy)
Ch 9. Reading with a Fresh Mind: Contemplative Reading Exercise (Judith Simmer-Brown)

Collected Resources

Appendix

Additional Info:
This article presents a particular teaching strategy that involves using food playfully in the classroom in order to change the mood, generate different forms of learning, and prod students to connect food and religion. I offer a rationale for teaching with food, then provide an application from a university course on Gnosticism. My goal is to encourage college and university teachers of religion to take food, and play, more seriously in their teaching.

Additional Info:
The number of Asian American students in schools and colleges has soared in the last twenty-five years, and they make up one of the fastest growing segments of the student population. However, classroom material often does not include their version of the American experience. Teaching about Asian Pacific Americans was created to address this void. This resource guide provides interactive activities, assignments, and strategies for classrooms or workshops. Those new to the field of Asian American studies will appreciate the background information on issues that concern Asian Pacific Americans, while experts in the field will find powerful, innovative teaching activities that clearly convey established and new ideas. The activities in this book have been used effectively in classrooms, workshops for staff and practitioners in student services programs, community-based organizations, teacher training programs, social service agencies, and diversity training. Teaching About Asian Pacific Americans serves as a critical resource for anyone interested in race, ethnicity, and Asian Pacific American communities. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Acknowledgments
Introduction

Part I: Definitions, Concepts, and Issues
ch. 1 Vietnamese Boat People: Separation and Loss
ch. 2 Feast of Resistance: Asian American History Through Food
ch. 3 "Pin@y Time": Mapping the Filipino American Experience
ch. 4 Deconstructing the Model Minority Image: Asian Pacific Americans, Race, Class, Gender, and Work
ch. 5 Building Allies: Linking Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in Asian American Studies
ch. 6 Globalization and Transnationalism Role-Playing Activity: Korean Immigrants and the Garment Industry
ch. 7 Expressive Therapies for Asian American Clients: The Value of Nonverbal Sand Tray Therapy
ch. 8 Are High Achieving Asians Individualists?
ch. 9 Representations of Asian Americans in Advertising Constructing Images of Asian Americans
ch. 10 Ripping Up Cultures: Helping Students Reconnect with Their Cultural Values

Part II: War, Colonialism, and Imperialism
ch. 11 Paradise and the Politics of Tourist Hawai'i
ch. 12 Racializing the "Enemy": Japanese Americans after 12/7/41 and American Muslims and Arabs after 9/11/01
ch. 13 Teaching about Hindus and Muslims in the USA: "Any all they will call you will be deportee"
ch. 14 On the Curses and Blessings of War: Discussions for a Filipino American Experience Class
ch. 15 Addressing Redress: Japanese American's Reparations for Their Incarceration during World War II

Part III: Community Building, Learning, and Organizing
ch. 16 Making Student Leadership Development an Integral Part of Our Classrooms
ch. 17 Beyond the Egg Rolls, Fortune Cookies, and Paper Fans: Seeing the Residential Side of Chinatown
ch. 18 Mobilizing Students to Respond to Community Needs: Organizing a Class around a Community Project
ch. 19 Bridging Generations: Bringing the Experiences of Illness, Health, and Aging into the Classroom
ch. 20 Oral History and Multiculturalism
ch. 21 Bridging Asian American and African American Communities

Part IV: Critical Thinking Teaching Strategies
ch. 22 Understanding Privilege in American Society
ch. 23 An Exploration of Meaning: Critically Thinking about History
ch. 24 Generative Thinking: Using a Funding Proposal to Inspire Critical Thinking
ch. 25 Promoting Transgressions through the Automatic Reward System in the Literature Classroom
ch. 26 What's Wrong with a Color-blind Perspective? A New Model of Critical Caring for Teachers
ch. 27 Modeling Whiteness: Minorities, Assimilation, and Resistance

Part V: Resources
ch. 28 Web Resources for Teaching Asian American Studies

Index
About the Contributors

Additional Info:
Classroom instructors implementing pedagogical strategies for embodied learning about sexuality and religion need institutional support and assistance from colleagues and mentors to be successful. One means of providing institutional and peer support for classroom instructors is to host and lead a pedagogy workshop. Building on the work of Ott and Stephens on embodied learning and other articles and teaching tactics found throughout this issue of Teaching Theology and Religion, this article presents a sample design for a two-hour workshop with faculty and/or graduate teaching assistants on the topic of teaching sexuality and religion. Non-expert facilitators can lead this workshop and it is intended to start a conversation about pedagogy rather than to provide definitive answers to end the discussion. The goals are to demystify a taboo topic and to provide concrete strategies for teaching that will promote responsible engagement and a better-integrated learning experience for students.

Additional Info:
Features 20 articles from faculty teaching at a wide range of institutions throughout the United States and Canada, tackling some of the trickiest challenges in creating an inclusive and respectful learning environment for a community of learners that is growing increasingly diverse.

Table Of Content:
Ch 1. Managing Hot Moments in the Classroom: Concrete Strategies for Cooling Down Tension
Ch 2. Seven Bricks to Lay the Foundation for Productive Difficult Dialogues
Ch 3. Activities for Building Cultural Competencies in Our Students and Ourselves
Ch 4. Overcoming Racial Tension: Using Student Voices to Create Safe Spaces in the Classroom
Ch 5. Managing Microaggressions in the College Classroom
Ch 6. Classroom Tools to Defuse Student Resistance
Ch 7. #CharlestonStrong: Continuing the Diversity Conversation and Healing Process
Ch 8. Microaggressions and Microresistance: Supporting and Empowering Students
Ch 9 . Teaching and Learning ‘Respect’ and ‘Acceptance’ in the Classroom
Ch 10. Using Punk Rock to Invite Dialogues on Diversity and Inclusion
Ch 11. Creating an Inclusive and Respectful Classroom Environment
Ch 12. Inclusive Assessment: Equal or Equitable?
Ch 13. Creating a Culture of Inclusion in the Online Classroom
Ch 14. Three Ways to Create a Safe and Supportive Learning Environment
Ch 15. Set-Create-Reflect: An Approach for Culturally Responsive Teaching
Ch 16. Introducing Computer Science Majors to (the Lack of) Diversity and Inclusivity
Ch 17. Diversity is a Foundational Value, Not an Added Value
Ch 18. Building a Collegial Classroom Across Cultures
Ch 19. Facilitating Spiritual Competence through Culturally Responsive Teaching
Ch 20. Establishing a Classroom Culture of Diversity and Inclusivity: One Instructor’s Viewpoint

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: What comes to mind when you hear student-centered learning? Do you immediately see a classroom without a teacher? Do you see students teaching other students? How do you know which pedagogies to use when designing the best learning environment? The question of determining what pedagogies to use within the classroom (on-ground or virtual) can often plague teachers given today's student.

This book will help you to identify the difference between teacher-centered and student-centered learning and the various pedagogies commonly associated with each. This book will draw upon the research and experience of three different educators and their pedagogical variations and uses within the classroom and online. Crumly’s synopsis of student-centered learning and suggested action is followed by a collaborative dialogue with Pamela Dietz and Sarah d'Angelo. Dietz and d'Angelo provide practical commentary regarding the successful implementation of Crumly's proposed approaches. As a group, Crumly, Dietz, and d'Angelo create a text that extends pedagogical innovation in inspiring but practical ways. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface
Introduction

ch. 1 Student-Centered versus Teacher-Centered Learning (Cari L. Crumly)
ch. 2 Student-Centered Pedagogies and Tactics (Cari L. Crumly)
ch. 3 Teaching Theatre Acting: A Case for Student-Centered Learning (Sarah d’Angelo)
ch. 4 Designing a Student-Centered Learning Environment (Cari L. Crumly)
ch. 5 Leadership and Research: Student-Centered Learning (Pamela Dietz)

Epilogue
Appendix
Exhibit 1 - Example of Barnga
Exhibit 2 - Concept Map Example
Exhibit 3 - Examples of Defining Features Matrix
Works Cited

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Why are so many students intellectually disengaged? Faculty, administrators, and tuition-paying parents have been asking this question for nearly two centuries. And the answer is always more or less the same: students are so deeply absorbed in competitive social play (fraternities, sports, beer pong, World of Warcraft, social media) that they neglect academics.

In Minds on Fire, Mark Carnes shows how role-immersion games channel students’ competitive (and sometimes mischievous) impulses into transformative learning experiences. His discussion is based on interviews with scores of students and faculty who have used a pedagogy called Reacting to the Past, which features month-long games set during the French revolution, Galileo’s trial, the partition of India, and dozens of other epochal moments in disciplines ranging from art history to the sciences. These games have spread to over three hundred campuses around the world, where many of their benefits defy expectations. Students think more critically by internalizing alternative selves, and they understand the past better by filtering it through their present. Fierce competition between opposing sides leads to strong community bonds among teammates and develops speaking, writing, leadership, and problem-solving skills.

Minds on Fire is a provocative critique of educational reformers who deplored role-playing pedagogies, from Plato to Dewey to Erikson. Carnes also makes an impassioned appeal for pedagogical innovation. At a time when cost-cutting legislators and trustees are increasingly drawn to online learning, Carnes focuses on how bricks-and-mortar institutions of higher education can set young minds on fire. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Debate at Dawn

ch. 1 “All Classes Are Sorta Boring”
ch. 2 Subversive Play: The Bane of Higher Education
ch. 3 Creating an Academic Subversive Play World
ch. 4 Critical Thinking and Our Selves
ch. 5 Overcoming the Silence of the Students
ch. 6 Learning by Failing
ch. 7 Building Community and Global Citizenship
ch. 8 Inculcating Morality and Empathy (!)
ch. 9 Teaching Leadership through Teamwork
ch. 10 Teaching the Past by Getting It Wrong?
ch. 11 The Strange World outside the Box

Socrates at Sunset
Appendix: List of Reacting Games
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

Additional Info:
A project team developing resources for teaching Biblical languages using methods borrowed from the field of Second Language Acquisition used for modern languages. 

Additional Info:
Journal Issue. Full text is available online.

Table Of Content:
ch. 1 Teaching for Civic Engagement: Background and Overview (Ellen Posman, and Reid B. Locklin)
ch. 2 Engaged Pedagogy and Civic Engagement (Swasti Bhattacharyya)
ch. 3 Site Visits and Civic Engagement (Marianne Delaporte, and Hans Wiersma)
ch. 4 Civic Engagement and International Service-Learning (Philip Wingeier-Rayo)
ch. 5 Civic Engagement and Civic Spaces (Rebekka King)
ch. 6 Reflections on Engaged Civic Learning and Teaching (Bobbi Patterson)
ch. 7 Teaching for Civic Engagement: Suggested Resources

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Contemplative pedagogy is a way for instructors to:
- empower students to integrate their own experience into the theoretical material they are being taught in order to deepen their understanding;
- help students to develop sophisticated problem-solving skills;
- support students’ sense of connection to and compassion for others; and
- engender inquiries into students’ most profound questions.

Contemplative practices are used in just about every discipline—from physics to economics to history—and are found in every type of institution. Each year more and more faculty, education reformers, and leaders of teaching and learning centers seek out best practices in contemplative teaching, and now can find them here, brought to you by two of the foremost leaders and innovators on the subject.

This book presents background information and ideas for the practical application of contemplative practices across the academic curriculum from the physical sciences to the humanities and arts. Examples of contemplative techniques included in the book are mindfulness, meditation, yoga, deep listening, contemplative reading and writing, and pilgrimage, including site visits and field trips. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Foreword by Parker J. Palmer
Preface
Acknowledgments
The Authors

Part One - Theoretical and Practical Background
ch. 1 Transformation and Renewal in Higher Education
ch. 2 Current Research on Contemplative Practice
ch. 3 Contemplative Pedagogy in Practice: Two Experiences
ch. 4 Teacher Preparation and Classroom Challenges

Part Two - A Guide to Contemplative Practices
Introduction to the Practices
ch. 5 Mindfulness
ch. 6 Contemplative Approaches to Reading and Writing
ch. 7 Contemplative Senses: Deep Listening and Beholding
ch. 8 Contemplative Movement
ch. 9 Compassion and Loving Kindness
ch. 10 Guest Speakers, Field Trips, and Retreats
ch. 11 Conclusion

Afterword by Arthur Zajonc
References
Index

Additional Info:
Teaching religion and theology requires interpretation of the vast corpus of religious poetry that is found in every religious tradition, but students are generally ill-equipped to interpret this material. Therefore teachers would do well to teach the students how to interpret religious poetry. This article discusses some of the challenges of teaching this material to students and discusses techniques and exercises that have been found useful in teaching students how to navigate the terrain of religious poetry.

Additional Info:
This article introduces English for Bible and Theology (EBT), an inherently interdisciplinary field that merges English language learning with the content of biblical and theological studies in a context that is, by nature, cross-cultural. Within this collaboration there exists the possibility not only to enable theological study, but also to enhance it through a focus on personal meaning and its communication, both of which are foundational to the communicative language classroom. That is, EBT seeks both to aid students worldwide in attaining the specialized language and cultural proficiency necessary to access English theological resources and to provide a community in which students can connect theological content to their lives. It is this second aim that provides EBT its relevance across a range of theological contexts, as native English-speaking students likewise stand to benefit from the application of EBT’s principles.

Additional Info:
“Metacognition” refers to helping students learn how to learn. This article provides suggestions for integrating student metacognition into a college course. It uses the example of a biology classroom, but the material is easily transferable. 

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This paper explores the possibilities and challenges inherent in employing community service-learning as a pedagogy for engaging undergraduates in theology and religious studies courses that contribute to racial reconciliation. The paper summarizes research from the scholarship of teaching and learning on best practices for structuring service-learning projects and processes that hold the possibility of students' genuine engagement with issues of race and the wisdom of the Catholic tradition.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: A final paper assignment that knits together the major themes of the course by drawing on activities from the first day of class and peer interviews students have conducted during the semester.

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This essay analyzes student learning through place-based pedagogies in an American Religions course. In the course, students analyzed cultural meanings and practices of regional religious communities and participated in sensory awareness and ecological learning in a campus garden. Embodied learning increased student understanding and appreciation of land-based religious practices and epistemologies, and promoted multiple student literacies. In Religious Studies, place-based learning is vital to the examination of the rich dimensions and expressions of religious experience. Across disciplines, place-based pedagogies can expand and deepen text-based learning, cultivate recognition of various ways of knowing, foster affective connections to the local community, and develop critical skills for addressing patterns of displacement and ecological denigration.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: Students work alone and in groups to identify effective research questions for their capstone essay.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: dealing with emotional outbursts or rude student behavior.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: Inspiring students through informal encounters with the wide diversity of actual living biblical scholars.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: low-stakes quiz at the start of a unit to encourage student discussion and engagement.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: Scaffolded activities and assignments beginning the first day of class to help students engage significant life questions in the Bible.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: student-centered process demonstrating the processes and reasonableness of biblical textual criticism.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: individual oral exams during office hours in place of the first high stakes exam, helps encourage student engagement and diagnose learning problems.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: encouraging discussion of significant course material on the first day of class.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: using images as an analogy to help students understand the difference between plagiarism and other appropriate uses of scholarship.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: take home writing prompts to get mid-semester feedback on the course while simultaneously helping students to make connections to their other courses.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: providing a series of web pages for students to visit and respond to in online posts.

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Experiential Education in the College Context provides college and university faculty with pedagogical approaches that engage students and support high-impact learning. Organized around four essential categories—active learning, integrated learning, project-based learning, and community-based learning—this resource offers examples from across disciplines to illustrate principles and best practices for designing and implementing experiential curriculum in the college and university setting. Framed by theory, this book provides practical guidance on a range of experiential teaching and learning approaches, including internships, civic engagement, project-based research, service learning, game-based learning, and inquiry learning. At a time when rising tuition, consumer-driven models, and e-learning have challenged the idea of traditional liberal education, this book provides a compelling discussion of the purposes of higher education and the role experiential education plays in sustaining and broadening notions of democratic citizenship. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface
Foreword

Part One: Landscape of Experiential Education
ch. 1 Introduction
ch. 2 Defining Experiential Education
ch. 3 Models and Methodologies of Experiential Education
ch. 4 The Instructional Paradigm: Leaving Safe Harbors

Part Two: Principles and Practices of Experiential Education
ch. 5 Design and Experiential Education
ch. 6 Facilitation and Experiential Education
ch. 7 Assessment and Experiential Education
ch. 8 The Integrated, Experiential Campus

Afterword

Additional Info:
(Text not available on web.) This paper focuses on methods to improve the reading abilities of college students. A list of five elements college instructors (who are not reading specialists) should establish in a content reading agenda is offered; (1) an instructional basis for the reading process which will work for them; (2) content literacy environments; (3) insights into the skill level characteristics of readers; (4) working relationships with the campus reading program; and (5) inclusion of reading strategies in their content instruction. Stating that students must know the purpose of the course and understand what is to be done with the information provided through lectures and textbook reading assignments to successfully interact with the text, the paper offers methods of establishing the five elements suggested. Also addressed are the unique challenges of social science, mathematical, and scientific reading instruction. The paper concludes with a brief summary and suggestions for collaboration between the content specialist and the reading staff.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: scaffolds progressively more nuanced student understanding of difficult religious studies theory.

Additional Info:
This essay describes an introductory class exercise to help prepare students to critically examine both religious beliefs and scientific findings. Using a published pedagogical exercise originally designed to teach Popperian falsificationism and modified to encompass a variety of schools of thought about hypothesis testing, the paper explores how groups of students utilized assigned philosophical approaches such as neojustificationism, falsificationism, or conventionalism. A description of the exercise and some of the learning outcomes are included.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: discussion of a classical text that moves students from description to analysis and evaluation.

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One page Teaching Tactic: a discussion exercise on the first day of class fools students in order to disrupt their prior assumptions of what constitutes a “real religion."

Additional Info:
Teaching Tactic: role play helps students learn how far a custodian's salary goes.

Additional Info:
Teaching Tactic: low stakes writing assignments to improve class discussions.

Additional Info:
TTR Teaching Tactic: a group process to design an interfaith ritual in which every religion is respected and no religion is privileged.

Additional Info:
TTR Teaching Tactic: designing effective discussion prompts when the professor had laryngitis.

Additional Info:
TTR Teaching Tactic: an analysis of what makes for good questions to prompt student discussions.

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Flipped learning is an approach to the design and instruction of classes through which, with appropriate guidance, students gain their first exposure to new concepts and material prior to class, thus freeing up time during class for the activities where students typically need the most help, such as applications of the basic material and engaging in deeper discussions and creative work with it.

While flipped learning has generated a great deal of excitement, given the evidence demonstrating its potential to transform students’ learning, engagement and metacognitive skills, there has up to now been no comprehensive guide to using this teaching approach in higher education.

Robert Talbert, who has close to a decade’s experience using flipped learning for majors in his discipline, in general education courses, in large and small sections, as well as online courses – and is a frequent workshop presenter and speaker on the topic – offers faculty a practical, step-by-step, “how-to” to this powerful teaching method.

He addresses readers who want to explore this approach to teaching, those who have recently embarked on it, as well as experienced practitioners, balancing an account of research on flipped learning and its theoretical bases, with course design concepts to guide them set up courses to use flipped learning effectively, tips and case studies of actual classes across various disciplines, and practical considerations such as obtaining buy-in from students, and getting students to do the pre-class activities.

This book is for anyone seeking ways to get students to better learn the content of their course, take more responsibility for their work, become more self-regulated as learners, work harder and smarter during class time, and engage positively with course material. As a teaching method, flipped learning becomes demonstrably more powerful when adopted across departments. It is an idea that offers the promise of transforming teaching in higher education. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
PART ONE: WHAT IS FLIPPED LEARNING?
ch. 1. What is Flipped Learning, and Why Use It?
ch. 2. The History and Theory of Flipped Learning
ch. 3. Models of Flipped Learning
PART TWO: FLIPPED LEARNING DESIGN
ch. 4. Designing a Course Around Flipped Learning
ch. 5. Designing Flipped Learning Experiences, Part I: Building the Framework for a Lesson
ch. 6. Designing Flipped Learning Experiences, Part 2: Designing Effective Activities
PART THREE: TEACHING AND LEARNING IN A FLIPPED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
ch. 7. Variations on a Theme
ch. 8. Living and Working with Flipped Learning

Additional Info:
TTR Teaching Tactic: analysis of effective use of case studies for teaching ethics.

Additional Info:
Teaching Tactic: allowing students to establish parts of the curriculum of a course.

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: Despite a growing body of research on teaching methods, instructors lack a comprehensive resource that highlights and synthesizes proven approaches. Teaching for Learning fills that gap. Each of the one hundred and one entries:

- describes an approach and lists its essential features and elements
- demonstrates how that approach has been used in education, including specific examples from different disciplines
- reviews findings from the research literature
- describes techniques to improve effectiveness.

Teaching for Learning provides instructors with a resource grounded in the academic knowledge base, written in an easily accessible, engaging, and practical style. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments

ch. 1 The Lecture Method
Guided Note-taking
Pause Procedure
Punctuated Lecture
Wake-Up Call
Interpreted Lecture
Responsive lecture
Socratic Seminar
Take a Guess
Lecture Bingo
Find the Flaw
Field Lecture

ch. 2 The Discussion Method
Snowball
What If
Scored Discussion
Think-Pair-Share
In the News
Formal Argument
Circle of Voices
Can We Have Class Outside?
Seeded Discussion
Observation Team Discussion
Campus and Community Events
Journal Club
Case Study

ch. 3 Reciprocal Peer Teaching
Note-Taking Pairs
Pairs Check
Milling
Gallery Walk
Anonymous Cards
Each One, Teach One
Jigsaw
Microteaching
Panel Presentation
Clustering
Speed Interviews

ch. 4 Academic Games
Crossword Puzzles
Scavenger Hunt
Who Am I?
Pictionary
Trivia
Hollywood Squares
Houston, We Have a Problem
Monopoly
Role Play
Taboo
Icebreakers
Top 10
Pic of the Day
Webquest

ch. 5 Reading
Anticipation Guide
Experience-Text-Relationship
Directed Reading and Thinking
SQ3R
What Counts as Fact?
Problematic Situation
Text Coding
Question-Answer Relationship
Three Level Reading Guide
What Would You Ask?
Research Paper Reviewer
Select a Sentence

ch. 6 Writing to Learn
Brainstorming
Freewriting
Speak-Write Pairs
Graffiti Board
Journaling
Reader Response Paper
Journals
Sentence Passage Springboard
Interviews
Wikipedia Article
Annotations
Yesterday’s News
Field Notes
Interview Protocols
Critical Book Review

ch. 7 Graphic Organizers
Hypothesis Proof Organizer
Venn Diagrams
Concept Maps
Main Idea-Detail Chart
Timeline
Visual Lists
3-2-1 Process
Matrix
Cause & Effect Chains
K-W-L Chart
Zone of Relevance
Force Field Analysis
Author Charts

ch. 8 Metacognitive Reflection
Today I Learned
Shadow a Professional
Wrappers
Visible Classroom Opinion Poll
Character Memoir
Self Assessment
Group Assessment
Elevator Pitch
Learning Log
Cultural Encounters
Post Hoc Analysis

Conclusion
DIY IDEA

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: on the last day of class, students write a a short response to what they'd written on the first day of class -- to help them reflect on their learning over the course of the semester.

Additional Info:
Engaging students in active learning is a predominant theme in today's classrooms. To promote active learning, teachers across the disciplines and in all kinds of colleges are incorporating collaborative learning into their teaching. Collaborative Learning Techniques is a scholarly and well-written handbook that guides teachers through all aspects of group work, providing solid information on what to do, how to do it, and why it is important to student learning. Synthesizing the relevant research and good practice literature, the authors present detailed procedures for thirty collaborative learning techniques (CoLTs) and offer practical suggestions on a wide range of topics, including how to form groups, assign roles, build team spirit, solve problems, and evaluate and grade student participation. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Part 1 Introduction
ch. 1 The case for collaborative learning

Part 2 Implementing collaborative learning
ch. 2 Orienting students
ch. 3 Forming groups
ch. 4 Structuring the learning task
ch. 5 Facilitating student collaboration
ch. 6 Grading and evaluating collaborative learning

Part 3 Collaborative learning techniques (CoLTS)
ch. 7 Techniques for discussion
ch. 8 Techniques for reciprocal teaching
ch. 9 Techniques for problem solving
ch. 10 Techniques using graphic information organizers
ch. 11 Techniques focusing on writing

App. A Key to professor names in CoLT examples
App. B Additional ideas for integrating the learning task into a curricular framework

Additional Info:
Teaching Tactic: overview and resources for creating concept maps to organize ideas.

Additional Info:
In this Chronicle of Higher Education (ProfHacker) piece, the author describes the discoveries arising from "Center for Teaching Excellence" workshop: specifically, regarding active learning (even with lectures), possibilities for in-class use of social media, Twitter as a means of extending collaborative learning beyond session hours, and issues of vocational training and assessment.

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: using graphic narratives to help students gain skills such as appreciating diverse worldviews, drawing inferences, and visual literacy.

Additional Info:
A 1000 word essay in response to a Call for Papers: “What do you have your students do during a class session when you cannot be present?"

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: begin each class session with learning objectives, to make the purpose explicit to students and help them remain aware of what will appear on summative assessments.

Additional Info:
How does one teach critical thinking, the procedures of an academic discipline, and the composition of plausible interpretations and arguments to students who are more facile with visual than with written modes of expression? How does one make real to students the construction of meaning in that unfamiliar epistemological space between brute fact and mere opinion? The "argument poster," a pedagogical strategy that helps students translate their skills for critical thinking from a visual frame to a written frame, results in better quality historical essays and research papers.

Additional Info:
A 1000 word essay in response to a Call for Papers: “What do you have your students do during a class session when you cannot be present?"

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: students are exposed to a reading of sacred text in the native language.

Additional Info:
A 1000 word essay in response to a Call for Papers: “What do you have your students do during a class session when you cannot be present?"

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: students discuss the nature of religion by comparing brief descriptions of founders.

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
Abstract: In this volume, the authors focus on the importance of inclusive teaching and the role faculty can play in helping students achieve, though not necessarily in the same way. To teach with a focus on inclusion means to believe that every person has the ability to learn. It means that most individuals want to learn, to improve their ability to better understand the world in which they live, and to be able to navigate their pathways of life.

This volume includes the following topics:

- best practices for teaching students with social, economic, gender, or ethnic differences
- adjustments to the teaching and learning process to focus on inclusion
- strategies for teaching that help learners connect what they know with the information presented
- environments that maximize learners’ academic and social growth.

The premise of inclusive teaching works to demonstrate that all people can and do learn. Educators and administrators can incorporate the techniques of inclusive learning and help learners retain more information.

This is the 141st volume of the quarterly Jossey-Bass higher education series New Directions for Teaching and Learning. It offers a comprehensive range of ideas and techniques for improving college teaching based on the experience of seasoned instructors and the latest findings of educational and psychological researchers. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Editor’s Notes (Deandra Little, Peter Felten, Chad Berry)

ch. 1 Teaching Visual Literacy in the Astronomy Classroom (Anthony Crider)
An astronomy professor describes how he teaches students to read and write images, diagrams, and plots to teach visual literacy skills along with a deeper understanding of how images are used to understand and explain in the field of astronomy.

ch. 2 Learning to See the Infinite: Teaching Visual Literacy in a First-Year Seminar Course (Michael S. Palmer)
This chapter describes an interdisciplinary first-year seminar course designed to develop students’ visual literacy skills and includes an overview of the course and a discussion of the efficacy of the instructional interventions, as well as a timeline and description of the specific learning activities used to help students learn to “see the infinite.”

ch. 3 Sociology through Photography (Katherine Hyde)
This chapter explores how photography can inspire and cultivate sociological mindfulness through two sets of assignments that highlight the complexity of visual representations of social identity and guide sociological inquiry.

ch. 4 Seeing Is the Hardest Thing to See: Using Illusions to Teach Visual Perception (Cedar Riener)
A cognitive science professor explains how he uses optical illusions to teach visual perception in ways that encourage students to change their perspectives about how vision works, and in the process begin to question their assumptions about how knowledge is constructed in a variety of disciplines.

ch. 5 How to Navigate an “Upside-Down” World: Using Images in the History Classroom (Steven S. Volk)
This chapter explores the challenges and benefits of working with images in a history classroom, including the complexity of helping students use images as historical evidence, ways in which close readings of images can help students develop deep attention, and how work with images can be done in a way that accommodates all students, including those with limited or no sight.

ch. 6 Teaching Film and Filmmaking in a Second Language (Alison J. Murray Levine)
This chapter describes a pedagogical approach that blends theory and practice in upper-level French film classes, and that has objectives, design, and assignments applicable to many contexts in which instructors might want to engage with visual material.

ch. 7 Learning—to and from—the Visual Critique Process (Phillip Motley)
A professor of visual communications examines the ways visual critique can benefit students in art, design, or visual communication fields, as well as those in a range of other courses where interpreting or creating visual images is a crucial part of course content.

ch. 8 Teaching Visual Literacy across the Curriculum: Suggestions and Strategies (Deandra Little)
This final chapter highlights seven general suggestions and strategies as a quick guide to effective practice for faculty (and others) working to develop visual literacy in classrooms and across the curriculum.

Index

Additional Info:
This note presents a method for teaching students to analyze and interpret images in the religious studies classroom. The technique uses two separate exercises: first analyzing images as works of art and then as conveyors of discipline-specific information. Drawing on the work of Edmund Feldman, our technique grounds interpretation in a methodical description of the basic components and characteristics of images. By helping students to conceptualize the formal qualities of an image as a first exercise, this technique allows them to more confidently address the challenging task of relating aspects of a given image with key concepts of religious studies. This simple first step toward interpreting religious images can help students profit more from texts, videos, lectures, field trips, and further studies in the field.

Additional Info:

Additional Info:
One page Teaching Tactic: to introduce and discuss course content on the first day of class, students work in groups to list what they know about the topic.

Additional Info:
This book offers ideas that secondary teachers, university content faculty, and teacher educators can use to challenge traditional literacy practices and demonstrate creative, innovative ways of incorporating new literacies into the classroom, all within a strong theoretical framework. Teachers are trying to catch up to the new challenges of the twenty-first century. It is a superheroic feat that must be achieved if education is to stay relevant and viable. There is a lot of zip, bam, whap, and wow in the fast-paced, social networking, technological world, but not so much in the often laboriously slow-paced educational world. Where is the balance? How do teachers and students learn together, since one group has seasoned wisdom with limited technological know-how and the other uses all the cool new tools, but not in the service of learning? These are some important issues to consider in finding the balance in an unstable, fast-moving, ever-changing world.

This book is practical and useful to literacy teachers, teacher educators, and university faculty by bringing together the expertise of composition/rhetoric researchers and writers, literacy specialists, technology specialists, and teachers who are on the cutting edge of new literacies. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Foreword
Preface

Part I: Batman Begins, Simply
ch. 1 The Cold, Hard Cash of Truth about Literacy in the 21st Century (Sandra A. Vavra and Sharon L. Spencer)
ch. 2 “And Now... A Word From Our Students”: Creating Better Writers and Thinkers by Having Students Study, Write and Film TV Commercials (Tom Scheft)
ch. 3 Superheroic Resourcefulness: Expanding Literacy and Engagement through YouTube (Sarah Wynn)

PPart II: The Force Is With Reluctant New Media Adopters
ch. 4 Popular Culture as a Sponsor of Literacy: Confronting the CLASH! BOOM! POW! in the Basic Writing Classroom (Tabetha Adkins)
ch. 5 Making Messes and Meaning with Wikis and Blogs (Collie Fulford)
ch. 6 “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?”: Teaching “Writerly” Confidence, Media Literacy, and Historical, Civic, and Cultural Awareness with This I Believe (Rachelle S. Gold.)

PART III: BRINGING AN X-MENTALITY TO THE EVERYDAY CLASSROOM
ch. 7 Teaching Poetry in a Freestyle World: A Pedagogy for the Unimpressed (Lisa Carl)
ch. 8 Capitalizing on Digital Literacy: Visual Rhetoric, the Graphic Novel and Academic Identity (Sara Littlejohn and Hephzibah Roskelly)
ch. 9 Unraveling the Riddler: New Media, Technology, and Literacies in Exploring Heroes and Superheroes (Sarah M. Henchey and Sharon L. Spencer)
ch. 10 Changing the World–One Zip Code At a Time (Stefanie Frigo)
ch. 11 New Media as Instructional Supports in Inclusive Classrooms (Doris K. Tyler)

Part IV: From Indiana Jones To Buzz Lightyear: Moving Literacy From The Temple of Memory To Infinity and Beyond
ch. 12 Taking Risks and (Re)defining Expertise: Facilitating the Move from Consumption to Production in the Use of Digital Media (Colleen Reilly)
ch. 13 Composing Digitally and Learning Languages: Using Linguistic Models of Competency to Teach Multimedia Assignments (Mark Pepper)
ch. 14 Remembering: The Past and the Future, (George Pullman) Grappling with the Infonauts: Archival Literacy and the Fight for Memory (Tom Sura)

About the Authors

Additional Info:
This essay explores how one might use the "problem" of the hardening of Pharaoh's heart as a learning opportunity in the classroom. The author identifies two pedagogical aims: (1) cultivating more sophisticated, critical readers of the Bible; and (2) helping students reflect on the contextual nature of interpretation. The essay discusses in some detail various ways of teaching the text, including an exercise in close reading, examination of sources, and a selective study of the history of interpretation. It also explores various lessons to be learned from these exercises, and addresses applicability of the approaches to other teaching contexts. An earlier version of this paper was prepared for the "Problem Texts" group of the consultation "Teaching the Bible in the 21st Century," held at the Wabash Center in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

Additional Info:
Written specifically for teaching assistants responsible for WAC or WID courses, A TA's Guide to Teaching Writing in All Disciplines provides the practical advice that teaching assistants — no matter the discipline — need in order to teach and evaluate writing effectively. This informative text is perfectly suited to a teaching assistants' training course, or it can serve as a reference for teaching assistants to use on their own. (From the Publisher)

Table Of Content:
Preface for Faculty
Preface for TAs

Part I: What You Teach When You Teach Writing
ch. 1 Getting Started — How to Use This Book
About This Book
Writing Theory
Teaching Techniques
Book Features
Web Site Features
Conclusion

ch. 2 Why (and How) We Teach Writing
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)
Writing to Learn 10
Writing in the Disciplines (Learning to Write)
The Writing Process
Conclusion

ch. 3 Prewriting
Explaining Writing Assignments
Using Detailed Assignment Instructions and Grading Rubrics
Helping Students Find and Focus Their Topics
Listing
Freewriting
Clustering
Talking
Writing-to-Learn Assignments as Invention
Coaching Related Skills
Research
Reading
Conclusion

ch. 4 Drafting
Getting Ideas Down on Paper
Developing a Controlling Objective or Thesis Statement
Science Writing
Thesis Statements
Finding an Appropriate Structure
Paragraphing
Unity
Development
Coherence
Conclusion

ch. 5 Revising
Global Revision
Peer-Review Groups
Provide Guidelines
Plan and Manage the Process
Hold Students Accountable
Conclusion

ch. 6 Editing
Style
Voice
Specialized Language
Mechanics, Usage, Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation
Conclusion

ch. 7 Publishing
Classroom Publishing
Oral Presentations
Class Books
Posters
Institutional Publishing
Contests
Symposia
Journals
Conclusion

Part II: Ways to Teach Writing
ch. 8 One-on-One Writing Conferences (Office Hours)
Prepare Carefully
Begin the Conference
Use Questions to Draw the Student Out
Use Activities to Get the Student Involved in Revision
When Appropriate, Teach Skills and Concepts
Use Constructive Praise to Build Students’ Confidence
Conclusion

ch. 9 In-Class Help Sessions and Workshops
Planning a Workshop
Ideas for Workshop Activities
Conclusion

ch. 10 Commenting on Student Writing
Problems in Communicating through Written Commentary
Comments That Promote Improved Writing Skills
Responding as an Audience
Guiding Substantive Thought
Encouraging Skills Improvement
Providing a Positive Environment
Guidelines for Writing Effective Commentary
Read the Paper Once without Marking It
Comment on Substantive Issues
Pick Your Battles
Respond Respectfully as a Reader
Make It Clear That Surface Errors Matter, But Don’t Edit the Paper
Write a Substantive Endnote to Summarize Your Comments
Conclusion

Additional Info:
Click Here for Book Review
In Going Online, one of our most respected online learning leaders offers insights into virtual education―what it is, how it works, where it came from, and where it may be headed. Robert Ubell reaches back to the days when distance learning was practiced by mail in correspondence schools and then leads us on a tour behind the screen, touching on a wide array of topics along the way, including what it takes to teach online and the virtual student experience. You’ll learn about:

-how to build a sustainable online program;
-how to create an active learning online course;
-why so many faculty resist teaching online;
-how virtual teamwork enhances digital instruction;
-how to manage online course ownership;
-how learning analytics improves online instruction.

Ubell says that it is not technology alone, but rather unconventional pedagogies, supported by technological innovations, that truly activate today's classrooms. He argues that innovations introduced online―principally peer-to-peer and collaborative learning―offer significantly increased creative learning options across all age groups and educational sectors. This impressive collection, drawn from Ubell's decades of experience as a digital education pioneer, presents a powerful case for embracing online learning for its transformational potential.

Table Of Content:
Foreword by Katepalli R. Sreenivasan

Acknowledgements

Part I. Virtual Classes

Ch 1. Dewey Goes Online
Ch 2. Virtual Team Learning
Ch 3. Active Learning: Interaction, Diversity and Evolution in Online Learning (John Vivolo)
Ch 4. What You Can Do Online, But Not on Campus
Ch 5. Why Faculty Don’t Want to Teach Online
Ch 6. Blind Scores in a Graduate Test: Conventional Compared with Online Outcomes With M. Hosein Fallah

Part II. Migrating Online
Ch 7. Migrating Online with A. Frank Mayadas
Ch 8. Who Owns What? Unbundling Online Course Property Rights
Ch 9. The Road Not Taken: Divergence of Corporate and Academic Online Instruction
Ch 10. Engineers Turn to Online Learning

Additional Info:
Special issue of “Syllabus,” an online journal that posts annotated syllabi and short-article course descriptions submitted by college and university professors. 

Table Of Content:
Editorial
Special Issue: Teaching with and about Games (Jennifer deWinter, Carly A. Kocurek)

Syllabi
Video Game Studies (Judd Ethan Ruggill)
How to Play Games of Truth: An Introduction to Video Studies (Bryan Geoffrey Behrenshausen)
Novel Interfaces for Interactive Environments (Robert W. Linderman)
Educational and Serious Game Design: Case Study in Collaboration (Jon A. Preston)
Introduction to Games Design (Nia Wearn)
Representing the Past: (Video Games Challenge to the Historical Narrative (Stephen Ortega)
Learning Through Making: Notes on Teaching Interactive Narrative (Anastasia Salter)
Video Games as a New Form of Interactive Literature (Anne Winchell)
Writing In and Around Games (Wendi Sierra)
Hints, Advice, and Maybe Cheat Codes: An English Topics Course About Computer Games (Kevin Moberly)

Tool Box
Teaching Network Game Programming with the Dragonfly Game Engine (Mark Claypool)
Root of play - Game design for digital humanists (Andy Keenan, Matt Bouchard)
Alternative Reality Games to Teach Game-Based Storytelling (Dean O’Donnell, Jennifer deWinter)
“Continue West and Ascent the Stairs”: Game Walkthroughs in Professional and Technical Communication (Stephanie Vie)
Annotated Bibliography for Game Studies: Modeling Scholarly Research in a Popular Culture Field (Cathlena Martin)