Resources

These are websites and articles that clarify our role as teacher-scholars today. College teaching can be likened to the last point of contact with education for many young people before they step into the world of work and the rest of their lives. What can we do as educators to help them flourish in their futures? How is the landscape of higher education changing and why? How does this affect how we must approach learning and teaching?

The Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative by the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) was launched in 2005. It researches, advocates, and acts to support and promote educational values and outcomes critical for success in the 21st century. The initiative advocates for liberal education as a powerful source of the skills and capacities this nation needs to survive and flourish as a democracy in the creative, knowledge economy.

Teaching Techniques Video Library at the K. Patricia Cross Academy. Short videos explaining techniques to engage and assess your students.

ABLConnect: An online database of active learning efforts in post-secondary classrooms. ABLConnect is curated by the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University. 1. ABLConnect lets educators easily search the ideas of others in a structured way, reducing the costs of developing content and bringing active learning to their classrooms. 2. ABLConnect collects resources and information about specific activities, creating a common resource repository. 3. ABLConnect helps collect data on college-level teaching practices across academic disciplines.

Learning Theories Index: An index of learning theories. Each theory is described briefly, with key principles and terms explained. Good references for follow-up reading. The site also has short descriptions of the main paradigms of behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and humanism.

‘Learning Theory’, The Encyclopedia of Informal Education: Good overview and explanations of different learning theories. Smith keeps this pretty well updated. Part of Infed – the Encyclopedia of Informal Education.

Instructional Design: If you want to really get into different learning and motivation theories this website is great. It’s got all the main theories and then some – from Algo-Heuristic theory and adult learning theory to Modes of Learning, Multiple Intelligences, and Social Learning Theory and Transformational theory. Each theory is briefly presented, with applications, examples, principles, and further links and readings.

Learning Knowledge Index: This is a very useful site with good information on learning, learning theories, and links to other learning theories sites. I found this personal motivation for this site intriguing:

“When I was going to school I often asked myself; what is it all for? Now that I am 62 years old I ask myself again; what was it all for? It is not an easy question to answer, for most of what I had so called ‘learned’, I had no use for in my life, and have forgotten. At school I was one of the students who enjoyed learning school work. So now I can not help but wonder, if I who enjoyed school work, have lost and not retained so much, what of the experience of those who disliked school work? I seem to remember they were the vast majority, and us nerds were the minority. The answers I believe are determined by the answer to a single question. Did they retain it and was it useful and influential in their lives? For most of them, the answer is most assuredly no. So again what was it all for?”

Explore your own perspectives as a teacher. Take the Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI). If you have not done any teaching, respond to this inventory by keeping in mind the subject matter and level of students you hope to teach. There is an excellent guide to interpreting the results on the website.

What is the TPI? The Teaching Perspectives Inventory was developed by Daniel Pratt. The inventory builds a teaching profile based on 5 different perspectives on what teaching means. The 5 perspectives are Transmission, Apprenticeship, Developmental, Nurturing, and Social Reform. The inventory gives us an understanding of teaching as a pluralistic process – your profile ranges across these 5 perspectives – so that we see teaching as multi-faceted and dynamic rather than as one-dimensional. The instrument’s validity and reliability are based on 10 years of research with over 100,000 respondents spanning over 100 countries. Therefore, the instrument also considers cultural and social variations in perspectives on teaching. The TPI has undergone psychometric testing that was reported by Collins and Pratt (2011).

The University of Chicago has a lot of great resources on its page “Engaging All Students: Help improve student learning by removing barriers to inclusion“

Responding to Microaggressions and Unconscious Bias by the National Equity Project discusses some considerations and suggestions for responses to microaggressions and unconscious bias.

How to Respond to Racial Microaggressions When They Occur – Frank Harris III, J. Luke Wood, and cmaadmin (EDU) developed “the R.A.V.E.N – a framework that is particularly useful when responding to microaggressions that occur in public (physical and online) spaces. The R.A.V.E.N. is a five-step approach that entails 1) Redirecting the conversation or interaction, 2) Asking probing questions, 3) Values clarification, 4) Emphasizing your own thoughts, and 5) offering concrete Next steps. Each step of the R.A.V.E.N. is further explained…” in the link.

Examining and Mitigating Implicit Bias with Teresa Nance, Kevin Gannon, Marlo Goldstein Hode, and Darvelle Hutchins. Moderated by Association of College and University Educator Kevin Kelly. Panelists share practices they have found helpful to effectively set expectations for valuing diverse viewpoints, facilitating respectful conversations, and engaging students in inclusive active learning exercises. The teaching practices discussed in this webinar can be utilized in various disciplines and course sizes to promote equity and inclusion.

Recordings of SPARC’s Knowledge Equity Discussion Series: “…a discussion series to provide an introduction to broad concepts and considerations of epistemic injustice and knowledge equity in the areas of academic libraries and archives. These discussions will examine how universities, and thus academic libraries, are rooted in oppressive systems like white supremacy, racism, and settler colonialism, and how that is connected to our current work in libraries.”

Also, see our Anti-Racist Resources page.

Visit MyPronouns.org to learn why pronouns are important for inclusion and how to use them correctly. You can practice using different pronouns with PracticewithPronouns.com.

How To Write a Course Proposal for a Job/Postdoc App: an article from The Professor is In by Karen Kelsky. Gives tips on wording, focus, and more.

Empowering Students through Your Personal Narrative: an article from Faculty Focus. Written by Dr. Nathan Pritts, this article discusses how to keep your students not only engaged but also uplifted with actionable advice.

15 Ways to Engage Your Students In-person, Online, and in Zoom: an article on Faculty Focus by Dr. Marti Snyder.

Creating your Instructor Website and Getting Started with Content: This comprehensive guide will walk you through the content necessary to get your website started.

Pratt, D.D. (1998). Five perspectives of teaching in adult and higher education. Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing.

Collins, J., & Pratt, D. (2011). The teaching perspectives inventory at 10 years and 100,000 respondents: Reliability and validity of a teacher self-Report inventory. Adult Education Quarterly, 61(4), 358-375.

The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU): AAC&U was founded in 1915 and currently counts over 1300 institutions in its membership, including accredited public and private colleges, community colleges, research universities, and comprehensive universities. Its mission is to champion “the advantages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career.” AACU has 4 main goals:

LEAP: Liberal Education as a Global Necessity
Quality: 21st Century Markers for the Value of US Degrees
Equity: Innovation, Inclusive Excellence, and Student Success
Social Responsibility: Integrative Liberal Learning for the Global Commons

AACU, together with the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), developed and launched PFF programs around the country between 1993 and 2003.

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS): If you are involved in graduate education of any sort, you might be interested in looking at the work done at CGS, the “only national organization in the United States that is dedicated solely to the advancement of graduate education and research.” CGS, together with AAC&U, was a pivotal player in the development of PFF programs between 1993 and 2003.

The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Chronicle of Higher Education is a key source of news, articles, discussion forums, databases, and career information (online CV management, salary databases, etc.) for higher education. It is published every weekday online. It’s really worth your time checking our and bookmarking their different sections that interest you. Some key sections are relevant to teaching.

Profhacker: Teaching, technology, and productivity.

Teaching: News and articles on teaching and learning in higher education. They also have a Teaching Newsletter you can subscribe to for free that is delivered to your inbox weekly.

Inside Higher Ed: Blog U: A collection of different blogs such as Gradhacker, Conversations on Diversity, Teaching and Technology, Confessions of a Community College Dean… You get a good sense of current issues and trends in the world of higher education teaching and learning, and inspiration for possibly a blog of your own.

Educause: Educause is a higher education technology association, and the largest community of IT leaders, companies, and education professionals that focuses on advancing and transforming higher education through the integration of information technology. You will find research and reports, professional development opportunities, and useful information and articles on teaching and learning in connection with digital technology.

Teachers of Tomorrow Top 50 Teacher Websites List: Teachers of Tomorrow has compiled a list of 50 websites that work as resources or references for teachers and educators of all types. Some of these sites include teaching blogs, software resources, collections of classroom/ course management tips, news sites focused on pedagogy, and more.

Indigenous Pedagogy. An overview and Guide. University of British Columbia: This Curriculum Developers Guide was developed by the University of British Columbia as part of their Indigenization Project, a collaboration between the university, and the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training. and a steering committee of Indigenous education leaders in the universities,  colleges, and institutes in British Columbia, the First Nations Education Steering Committee, the Indigenous Adult and Higher Learning Association, and Métis Nation BC. These guides are intended to support the systemic change occurring across post-secondary institutions through Indigenization, decolonization, and reconciliation. A guiding principle from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada process states why this change is happening: “Reconciliation requires constructive action on addressing the ongoing legacies of colonialism that have had destructive impacts on Aboriginal peoples’ education, cultures and languages, health, child welfare, the administration of justice, and economic opportunities and prosperity. (2015, p. 3)” Please note that this guide is based on indigenous locations and knowledge of specific indigenous nations and is highly context-specific. In your own locations, understand who the indigenous people are and engage them in your practice. We offer this resource as a place to begin exploring the major principles that offer insights into inclusion, equity, and anti-racist thought and action.

California Community Colleges Accessible Content Guide: The California Community Colleges Virtual Online Network of Educators has a collection of resources that together make up a complete guide to creating accessible content. These resources include webinars on topics such as making content accessible on Canvas, rubric creation, and the use of Ally. Other resources include micro-lectures, articles on accessibility, and various guides.