Linda B. Nilson

Critical thinking—every scholar in the literature has defined it, but there is no clearly agreed upon definition. No wonder polls and surveys reveal that few college-level faculty can define critical thinking or know how to teach it. Still, critical thinking keeps appearing in accreditation standards and surveys of the skills employers seek in college graduates. The good news is that we do know that critical thinking can be taught. But the concept cries out for the simplification, translation into discipline-relevant course outcomes, tangible teaching strategies, and concrete assessment techniques that this book will provide. Like a course or a workshop, this book proposes learning outcomes for the reader—promises of what the reader will be able to do after reading it. These include: • explain what critical thinking is in simple terms; • convincingly explain to students why it is important for them to learn critical thinking, and, if they tune out, what they stand to lose; • overcome the challenges that teaching critical thinking presents; • identify the type of course content to which critical thinking can be applied and, therefore, that readers can use to teach critical thinking; • integrate critical thinking into the design of a new or existing course in any discipline; • write assessable critical thinking learning outcomes that are compatible with and make sense in any discipline; • select and adapt activities and assignments that will give students no- or low-stakes practice with feedback in critical thinking using a variety of questions, tasks, and teaching methods.

A Concrete, Practical Approach

Infusing Critical Thinking Into Your Course

Judith E. Miller

The development of students is a fundamental purpose of higher education and requires for its success effective advising, teaching, leadership, and management. Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD) fosters human development in higher education through faculty, instructional, and organizational development. A smart mix of big-picture themes, national developments, and examples of effective faculty development initiatives from a variety of schools, To Improve the Academy offers examples and resources for the enrichment of all educational developers. This annual volume incorporates all the latest need-to-know information for faculty developers and administrators.

Resources for Faculty, Instructional, and Organizational Development

To Improve the Academy

Ludwika A. Goodson

Bring pedagogy and cognitive science to online learning environments Online Teaching at Its Best: Merging Instructional Design with Teaching and Learning Research, 2nd Edition, is the scholarly resource for online learning that faculty, instructional designers, and administrators have raved about. This book addresses course design, teaching, and student motivation across the continuum of online teaching modes—remote, hybrid, hyflex, and fully online—integrating these with pedagogical and cognitive science, and grounding its recommendations in the latest research. The book will help you design or redesign your courses to ensure strong course alignment and effective student learning in any of these teaching modes. Its emphasis on evidence-based practices makes this one of the most scholarly books of its kind on the market today. This new edition features significant new content including more active learning formats for small groups across the online teaching continuum, strategies and tools for scripting and recording effective micro-lectures, ways to integrate quiz items within micro-lectures, more conferencing software and techniques to add interactivity, and a guide for rapid transition from face-to-face to online teaching. You’ll also find updated examples, references, and quotes to reflect more evolved technology. Adopt new pedagogical techniques designed specifically for remote, hybrid, hyflex, and fully online learning environments Ensure strong course alignment and effective student learning for all these modes of instruction Increase student retention, build necessary support structures, and train faculty more effectively Integrate research-based course design and cognitive psychology into graduate or undergraduate programs Distance is no barrier to a great education. Online Teaching at Its Best provides practical, real-world advice grounded in educational and psychological science to help online instructors, instructional designers, and administrators deliver an exceptional learning experience even under emergency conditions.

Merging Instructional Design with Teaching and Learning Research

Online Teaching at Its Best

Teaching at Its Best This third edition of the best-selling handbook offers faculty at all levels an essential toolbox of hundreds of practical teaching techniques, formats, classroom activities, and exercises, all of which can be implemented immediately. This thoroughly revised edition includes the newest portrait of the Millennial student; current research from cognitive psychology; a focus on outcomes maps; the latest legal options on copyright issues; and how to best use new technology including wikis, blogs, podcasts, vodcasts, and clickers. Entirely new chapters include subjects such as matching teaching methods with learning outcomes, inquiry-guided learning, and using visuals to teach, and new sections address Felder and Silverman's Index of Learning Styles, SCALE-UP classrooms, multiple true-false test items, and much more. Praise for the Third Edition of Teaching at Its BestEveryone—veterans as well as novices—will profit from reading Teaching at Its Best, for it provides both theory and practical suggestions for handling all of the problems one encounters in teaching classes varying in size, ability, and motivation."—Wilbert McKeachie, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, and coauthor, McKeachie's Teaching TipsThis new edition of Dr. Nilson's book, with its completely updated material and several new topics, is an even more powerful collection of ideas and tools than the last. What a great resource, especially for beginning teachers but also for us veterans!"—L. Dee Fink, author, Creating Significant Learning ExperiencesThis third edition of Teaching at Its Best is successful at weaving the latest research on teaching and learning into what was already a thorough exploration of each topic. New information on how we learn, how students develop, and innovations in instructional strategies complement the solid foundation established in the first two editions."—Marilla D. Svinicki, Department of Psychology, The University of Texas, Austin, and coauthor, McKeachie's Teaching Tips

Linda B. Nilson

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