Monthly Archives: April 2012

What In The World Is Critical Thinking?

Posted on April 30, 2012 by

The Likert item teaching evaluation instruments completed by our undergraduate college students usually contain something along the lines of “The course improved my critical thinking skills.” This 2011 Religion Dispatches column by Nathan Schneider, about why the world needs religious studies, … Continue reading →

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Asking a Good Question

Posted on April 24, 2012 by

My experiment in using modular architecture in course design is coming to a close. I don’t have the result of student evaluations yet, but a few students have commented that they’ve enjoyed the structure of the course. One part of the course … Continue reading →

Posted in Chad Raymond, Feedback & Reflection, Reading | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

ISA 2013 Active Learning Panels

Posted on April 24, 2012 by

Interesting tid-bit. As the new Program Chair for the Active Learning section of the International Studies Association, let me plug the 2013 Conference in San Francisco. Here is the call for papers http://www.isanet.org/annual_convention/call-for-papers.html/ and let me stress how we are looking … Continue reading →

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A (very) positive sum game

Posted on April 24, 2012 by

This is Maxine: Maxine David has just won the Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award here at Surrey. She’s also my colleague here in the School of Politics. Why am I telling you this?  Because I also put in for the Award … Continue reading →

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Crowdsourcing a resource

Posted on April 17, 2012 by

After an Easter hiatus, I’m back in the office, even if our students are still on break.  One of my activities was attending the annual conference of the Political Studies Association, whose kind funding allowed me to travel to APSA … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, and Simulations, Simon Usherwood, Social Networking/Media | Tagged , | Leave a comment

More on Project-Based Learning

Posted on April 14, 2012 by

I’m still gathering information on project-based learning. My colleagues have approved a redesign of an interdisciplinary major, and the “culminating experience” course for seniors is changing from the traditional thesis to a research-based project. The course requires that each student’s project … Continue reading →

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Pushing for Answers

Posted on April 13, 2012 by

This is one of those very basic teaching maneuvers that its easy to neglect as the semester wears on.  It is easy, when either asking a question during lecture or in the course of a discussion, to let students simply … Continue reading →

Posted in Amanda Rosen, Exercises, Group Collaboration | 1 Comment

Best Teaching Practices

Posted on April 8, 2012 by

Happy Easter holiday to all. The Easter Bunny in the form of our provost recently informed faculty about an an online guide to best teaching practices, published by the Office of Academic Affairs at the City University of New York. The … Continue reading →

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