It’s no surprise that Americans believe that America has a civility problem. What may surprise you is that this is not a new phenomenon. In Civility in America: An Annual Nationwide Survey, Weber Shandwick and Powell Tate conducted poll tracking since 2010 on the state of civility and found that 93 percent of Americans identify …
Category: Student Learning
Navigating Challenging Classroom Conversations
Recently the Teaching Center partnered with Belmont’s Faculty Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (FIDE) Committee to host the mini-workshop “Navigating Challenging Conversations: Growth Opportunities with Our Students and Ourselves.” Through this workshop FIDE committee members discussed the importance of facilitating diverse ideas, perspectives and experiences with our students. While important opportunities, these conversations can often create …
Resource of the Month
The hyflex and online teaching formats have altered our approach to teaching and engaging with students as well as raised questions on how to enhance student learning in the age of COVID. September’s resource of the month briefly addresses one of these concerns, how to sustain emotional connections with students. In the article “Cameras and …
Three Miles an Hour
Three miles an hour – it’s roughly the speed humans walk. Mind you, I haven’t timed it. I probably move a bit faster when walking from my 8 a.m. class in the sport science building to my 9 a.m. class in JAAC. If I’m being honest, I dash more than I walk – dash to …
Advice from Teaching and Learning Sources: Do Less
The move of classroom structure to an online format has pushed many of us from our comfort zone. As we navigate this new terrain, we wanted to share an article that offers advice to faculty in their pivot to online instruction. Anya Kamenetz in the article “Panic-gogy: Teaching Online Classes During the Coronavirus Pandemic” encourages …
Resource of the Month
Most of us would readily agree that professor-student rapport in the classroom affects student learning. What is more difficult is determining how to establish and sustain this rapport between teachers and students. March’s resource of the month offers some guidance in this area. In the article, Making Connections: Student-Teacher Rapport in Higher Education Classrooms, researcher …
Critical Thinking: Knowing It When You See It
In a recent Teaching Center workshop, participants discussed how to see and cultivate critical thinking in the classroom. As part of this workshop, Jeremy Lane, director of the School of Music, offered a 4×4 matrix of critical thinking focused on identifying critical thinking, discerning its unique characteristics, developing critical thinking in the classroom, and …
Resource of the Month
For students and professors alike, the end of a semester can feel heavy. Students are struggling to retain all they have learned throughout the semester; professors are deciding if they can squeeze in one last crucial lesson before finals. For educators, it is the age-old balance of quality over quantity, but finding that balance can …
Resource of the Month
This month’s resource highlights the Blackboard Support site created by Geoff Price, Director of Instructional Technology, and Chris Rains, Instructional Technology Specialist at Belmont. Blackboard Support offers Belmont faculty a comprehensive resource on “all things Blackboard,” from short instructional videos to self-paced courses. Faculty can access this resource in Blackboard by choosing “Organizations” from the …
Resource of the Month
This month’s resource Can We Motivate Students to Learn? is found in The Scholarly Teacher. The article, written by Spencer Benson, considers the impact of course content and class environment on student motivation. Dr. Benson has worked in international faculty development for more than 10 years and is the founder and director of Education Innovations …