Ask-Dr-Kirk

Quote Of The Day

Got this from Mike Johansson on Twitter. 

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. Albert Einstein

Do Your Students Know Their Preferred Learning Style?

 

One of my goals for my students is to get them to take more responsibility for their learning. I find the following a great homework assignment to give the first day of class.

 

Go to this free website and complete the 44 item Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire. Print out your results. Follow the links to interpret these and to find successful learning strategies that match your preferred learning style.  Then write a 1-2 page (double spaced) summary of your results from the survey along with a list of things you plan to do in order to be more successful in this class. 

 

 

 

 

How To Get That Article Written And Published

 

Dr. Billie Hara (Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi) recently reviewed a book that would be useful for new faculty or graduate students on how to write an article for possible publication.

 

 

Road Trip To Boston

I'm off to Boston to teach a faculty development workshop for dental health educators. This Summer Boot Camp provides professional education emphasizing clinical competence as well as classroom management in order to help educators become more effective instructors. Here's more info in their April 2010 newsletter.

I'm looking forward to it.

How To Make Sure Your Teaching Sticks

The Curse of Knowledge is the fact that because we know something, it makes it difficult for us to teach it to someone else who doesn't know it.

Chip Heath and Dan Heath discuss this in their article, Teaching That Sticks.

As they note, "When you open your mouth and communicate, without thinking about what's coming out of your mouth, you're speaking your native language: Expertese. But students don't speak Expertese." 

In other words, being an expert in a discipline makes it hard for us to relate to others who are not experts.  Read their article below to better understand how we can teach our students what we know: 

Download TeachingthatSticks 

Tips On Designing Good Lectures (And Tips For Students On Learning From These)

I came across this resource from Harvard University on how to make lectures more interactive.

Also, here's some tips for your students on taking good lecture notes (I'm going to post these on my class website this fall).

 

Free Ebook For Teachers On Using Technology In Your Course Design

If you're thinking of incorporating technology into your classes this fall, here's a free ebook with lots of "how to" info. I have used Twitter, weblogs, Skype, and Wikis so far in order to get more active participation from my students.

 

Laugh Of The Day

 

Saw this on Twitter: 

America believes in education. The average professor earns more in a year than some professional athletes do in a whole week.

Books By Writers For Writers

I came across this list of 75 books that writers should read. I've read the following three books (all were great!) and am looking forward to reading some of the others on the list.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

Bird by Bird: Some instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

Happy Birthday To Me. Again.

Seems like just yesterday I was celebrating a birthday. Anyway I'm taking the day off to eat cake.

Make Sure Feedback To Students Is Based On Actual Performance

 

I'm reading an article by Alfie Kohn that talks about the current trend towards praising children for everything they do. We even give awards (and trophies!) for last place so children will have "self esteem." However, this doesn't work and we see the results of this misplaced feedback now in colleges and universities.

As Kohn notes, "Does praise motivate kids? Sure. It motivates kids to get praise. Alas, that's often at the expense of commitment to whatever they were doing that prompted the praise."

You can read the rest of the article here.

How To Use Wikipedia As A Class Assignment?

If you've wondered how you might use Wikipedia as a resource in the classroom, here are two ways suggested by Dr. John Orlando (Norwich University). As he notes,"Wikipedia’s motto is 'no original thought,' meaning that everything must be cited, and uncited material is quickly removed. In fact, studies have shown the Wikipedia is about as accurate as Britannica."

One interesting idea is to have your students create their own articles for Wikipedia. Dr. Martha Groom (University of Washington) shares her tips on how to do this here.

Jon Udell walks us through how Wikipedia works by following a page and how it changes over time.