The Teaching Professor includes summarized articles from various educational publications, as well as original articles from university and college instructors. If you are interested in reviewing articles in this and/or other publications, please stop by the CTE, TLC 324, where you can read in a comfortable setting and enjoy a complimentary cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate.
Inside the June/July 2015 issue of The Teaching Professor, you will find the following articles:
Flipped Exam Boosts Student Learning
Flipping the exam is the focus of “Flipped Exam Boosts Student Learning,” a summary piece based on research done by H.L. Lujanm and S.E. DiCarlo at Wayne State University. The researchers decided to grade students based on their collaborative efforts in answering exam questions. They asked students to answer 45 exam questions of which “30-35% of the material had not been talked about in class.” Students were given a set amount of time to collectively arrive at the answer for each exam question. In the next class period, instructors walked through the exam with students, asking them to explain their answers and challenging them to find the correct answer when one was incorrect. “In this way, students explored why answers were correct as well as incorrect while understanding principles and concepts.” Overall, the researchers feel that this method of testing promotes greater learning and more importantly, understanding of complex answers beyond the typical surface response.
Teaching Students the Importance of Professionalism
In the article “Teaching Students the Importance of Professionalism”, author Angela Keaton, an instructor at Tusculum College, observes that the majority of her students lack any sense of professionalism as they prepare to enter the professional workforce. She lists eight professional values that students are held to during the term: honesty, integrity, respect, humility, compassion, an awareness of interpersonal boundaries, expertise, and a commitment to excellence. She provides students with a list of poor behaviors associated with each of these values, such as turning in work late, arriving late, interrupting others, texting during class. She grades students on their class professionalism, which she explains to them on the first day of class. At the beginning of the term, each student is given 100 points. Students lose points for each unprofessional behavior they exhibit throughout the term. She reserves 10-15% of the final grade for their professionalism in her class.
References:
“Flipped Exam Boosts Student Learning.” The Teaching Professor 6 July 2015: 6. Print.
Keaton, Angela F. “Teaching Students the Importance of Professionalism.” The Teaching Professor 29.6 (2015): 5. Print.
