In this essay, we offer two personal narratives of how we innovated in our approaches to teaching and learning--our pedagogical epiphanies. The first narrative, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, focuses on innovating and moving from the use of a single learning process to the use of a portfolio of learning approaches that align with the learning…

Content analysis of course syllabi can answer a variety of questions about the structure of courses and the campus culture of teaching and learning. The authors report a review of the full population of undergraduate syllabi at one institution during one academic term (n = 1153), including rubric design and training procedures for reviewers. The…

Most postsecondary faculty in the United States include course goals or objectives as key components of their syllabi. In addition to individual course objectives, many institutions have identified institution-wide student learning outcomes (SLOs). This paper describes one faculty member's attempts to elicit feedback from students regarding their…

The College of Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology has placed more emphasis on the topic of business ethics in the past few years. Business ethics has always been a required component of the legal environment of business course whether taught at the undergraduate or graduate levels. More recently, the college has introduced an…

The Introduction to Sociology course is usually the first contact that students have with the discipline of sociology. This course can determine whether students take other sociology courses or learn to use sociology in their lives as adults and citizens. "First Contact" identifies important issues facing instructors in introducing students to the…

This paper is a user-friendly manual designed to minimize the growing pains associated with college-level teaching. Specific topics include syllabus development, classroom teaching methods, proper use of the initial class session, and advice related to answering student questions. Many new and adjunct instructors are met with unexpected challenges…

I have taught Plato's "Republic" for several years although seminars on this text can be difficult and pose certain challenges, most especially with first year students new to university: the ancient Greeks seem a long way from the technocratic society we live in today. More importantly, the complexity of our relationship to each other…

Recent research has touted the benefits of learner-centered instruction, problem-based learning, and a focus on complex learning. Instructors often struggle to put these goals into practice as well as to measure the effectiveness of these new teaching strategies in terms of mastery of course objectives. Enter the course evaluation, often a…

Some of the major changes in curriculum and techniques in collegiate business education include: shifts in the goals of the business curriculum, with decision-making emerging as dominant; domination of vocationalism over academia in college business curricula; use of case method, business games, internships, student businesses, and individualized…

COMPOSITION TEACHERS TOO OFTEN TEACH AS IF MOST OF THE STUDENTS WILL BECOME ENGLISH MAJORS. MANY TEACHERS ALSO GIVE POOR, UNDIRECTED WRITING ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSUME, AFTER CORRECTING THE PAPERS, THAT THEIR JOB IS ACCOMPLISHED. BECAUSE STUDENTS DO NOT LEARN TO WRITE BY THIS METHOD, THE COMPOSITION COURSE SHOULD BE CUT DOWN TO A FEW BASIC ESSENTIALS.…

Seven short reports of successful practices in freshman composition courses at various universities and colleges. (TO)

The author discusses the problem of making philosophy courses relevant to the needs of college students and relevance with modern problems compatable with traditional philosophy. He suggests various approaches including the application of logic to contemporary social arguments and ways of combining the study of traditional philosophers with…

Explores the techniques used by the author in developing and teaching a course in Interpretation of Black Drama. Suggestions for syllabus composition, critique sessions and reading materials are included. (MH)

This is a workbook that assists college faculty to design their own courses. The process is organized in a series of stages each of which is given a chapter: gathering, planning, implementing, teaching and evaluating. The first chapter on gathering describes the process for collecting as much information about the course as possible by describing…