Practical teaching and classroom management tips

Read more about the article How To Prevent Online Cheating

How To Prevent Online Cheating

Student Cheating
CC Image Courtesy of RDNE Stock project

One of the issues that you may have to deal with when teaching an online class is attempting to prevent students from cheating on quizzes and exams. While complete prevention cannot be guaranteed, there are things you can do to mitigate students from cheating online.

A colleague of mine contacted me for advice because he suspected that his online students were cheating on his quizzes and exams. He noticed that a lot of the students were earning high grades on his online assessments. It was as though they had access to the answer key to his exams. My colleague wanted to know if there was an online tool that could help with the cheating problem.

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Read more about the article How To Get Students EXCITED About Volunteering!

How To Get Students EXCITED About Volunteering!

Photo of students wearing volunteer t-shirts
Volunteers build communities!

As a the head of the hospitality management program at my college, I get contacted by various community organizations, profit and non-profit, looking for students to volunteer for a number of things ranging for being ushers at a major international event like the Breeders Cup World Championships to being Food Safety Advisors at the International Festival at the Claremont Colleges.

As exciting as these opportunities are for me to share with my students, I need to bear in mind that many students are not immediately aware of the benefits of volunteering. Many of my students are commuter students, some have jobs, some are parents and all of them seem to have little to no time to serve the community and volunteer in anyway. Or do they? (more…)

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Read more about the article How To Prepare For A Teaching Demonstration At A Job Interview

How To Prepare For A Teaching Demonstration At A Job Interview

CC Image Courtesy of Vandy CFT
CC Image Courtesy of Vandy CFT

This is the third in a series of articles to help you prepare for the teaching job interview. In the last two articles, I discussed how you can prepare for the Writing Assignment At Teaching Job Interview and how to Prepare For A Teaching Interview.

In this article, I’ll share four things to help you prepare for the teaching demonstration.

Teaching Demonstration

Most applicants applying for a teaching position seem have some teaching experience either as a Teaching Assistant (TA) in graduate school, or as an adjunct faculty, or as a trainer in the industry they’ve specialized in.  If you happen to be one of those, you’re fortunate enough to have some classroom or instructional experience. (more…)

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Read more about the article Writing Assignment At A Teaching Job Interview

Writing Assignment At A Teaching Job Interview

keepcalmandwriteonIn a previous article titled Preparing For A Teaching Interview, I discussed six things you can do to prepare for an interview. However, the interview itself is only one aspect of the hiring process at many colleges and universities.

Hiring committees for a full-time teaching position often require candidates to also complete a written assignment and a teaching demonstration.  At my college, we require candidates to do the writing assignment, job interview, and teaching demonstration on the same day. In some disciplines, candidates may also be required to perform a skills demonstration. In this article, I will discuss the writing assignment.

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Read more about the article Preparing For A Teaching Interview
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Preparing For A Teaching Interview

teachinginterviewSo you’ve decided to teach! You’ve turned in your application, some secret group mulled over your application, CV, reference letters and decided to invite you for an interview.

Congratulations!

You are one step closer to becoming a professor, but don’t begin celebrating just yet. You still have some homework, lots of preparation, and a hiring committee to impress in person. In this article, I’ll share a few tips to help you better prepare for your teaching interview. (more…)

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Read more about the article How To Teach Outside of Traditional Academia

How To Teach Outside of Traditional Academia

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CC Image courtesy of BMW Guggenheim Lab

I’d like to dedicate this particular post to a former student of mine, Tracey Anderson, who left a comment with a question on episode 10 of the FacultyWorkshop Podcast. The title of that episode was “Setting The Bar: How High Should Your Expectations Be?”

Tracey is currently finishing up her masters degree in Leadership and Management, and is planning on continuing her education and earning a PhD in Organizational Leadership and Management.  Tracey has been through a lot of challenges thought-out her life, but she has always maintained high standards for herself and persisted in achieving her goals.  Over the years she’s learned a lot and gained some valuable experiences. She also has a passion for wanting to help others, which is why Tracey would like to teach a class on leadership and motivation to students, to help them discover their full potential. However, she’s not sure how to get to that point or where to start. (more…)

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Read more about the article Top 5 Higher Education Job Sites

Top 5 Higher Education Job Sites

Photo of PhD Graduate
CC Image courtesy of Bryan Frank on Flickr

Whether you are looking for your first faculty position or a different one, a job search is a full-time job in itself if done correctly. Opportunities within academia have to be actively pursued on a daily basis.

Why? The answer is simple. Supply and demand!

Universities are awarding more graduate degrees than the market can handle. In 1957, U.S. institutions awarded a total of 8,611 doctorate degrees. In 2012, they awarded a whopping 51,008. That’s a 492% increase within half a decade.

We have seen a 64% percent increase in doctoral degree program completers within the last thirty years alone. The competition in the job market is extremely tough, and you, as a job seeker, need to understand that a college degree, even a PhD from a respected university, does not equal a guaranteed job offer any more.   There are simply more qualified job seekers within the academic market than full-time positions. (more…)

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Read more about the article Setting The Bar: How High Should Your Student Expectations Be?

Setting The Bar: How High Should Your Student Expectations Be?

I was blessed and fortunate enough to have attended an exclusive small private college in Switzerland on a full-academic scholarship. Most of the students who attended came from privileged backgrounds.  Many were high-performing students, which was probably a good thing because this college was no walk in the park. This was one of the top five Hotel Management schools in Switzerland at the time.  Academic standards and performance expectations were extremely high. This was a school that had rules and expectations for everything in and out of the classroom. It was more like an elite military academy than a college. (more…)

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Read more about the article 5 Time Management Tips

5 Time Management Tips

timemanagement
Tick tock: “You’re burning daylight!”

I have yet to come across a college or university that requires all students to take a course in time management before they graduate.  It’s mind boggling! We in the United States require our students to take a whole bunch of General Education (GE) courses that they’ll rarely, if ever, use after they graduate, but we won’t require them take courses on topics that they will need and benefit from every day of their life during and after college. Courses like: money management, personal financing, and time management.  Some of these students eventually become professors never having learned how to manage their time effectively.

I meet a lot of faculty who want to get a lot of things done. They want to accomplish great things in academia but find themselves working around the clock and barely accomplishing anything. They’re able to meet the basic obligations of their duties and nothing more. Why is it that some faculty seem to be involved in so many exciting activities and projects, in addition to teaching, while others are barely keeping their heads above water? (more…)

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Read more about the article How To Avoid Group Work Complaints: 4 Tips To Follow!

How To Avoid Group Work Complaints: 4 Tips To Follow!

Photo of students working in a group
CC Image courtesy of Matheson Learning Commons on Flickr

Ever wonder why so many students hate group work? If you were like most students in college, the thought of group work was something you did not look forward to either.  Why?  Well, there are a number of reasons.

Being in a group meant:

  1. making concessions and giving up control of a portion of a project or assignment
  2. having the performance of other students in the group affect your grade
  3. being possibly stuck with one or more losers who never do any work and still end up with the same grade as everyone else in the group
  4. having to rearrange your schedule to accommodate the availability of others in the group

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Read more about the article Managing Group Projects: 8 Things You Should Do!

Managing Group Projects: 8 Things You Should Do!

managinggroups
Show them the impossible and inspire them to get there. They deserve it!

So you’ve assigned your first group project and thoroughly explained the requirements to your students and you now want to make sure that your students are productive and efficient. Fortunately, there are a few things that you can do to facilitate the interaction and progress of each group.

1. Raise The Bar

Before assigning the groups, it’s important to set the tone for the quality of work you expect from students. Raise the bar high, and your students will meet it and possibly exceed it. Set the bar too low, and you’ll be disappointed with the quality of your students’ work, and they’ll never really know what they are truly capable of achieving. Never make the mistake of assuming that a student’s socio-economic background, age, or cultural background will prevent them from achieving spectacular results if they are properly trained and prepared by you.

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Read more about the article Disciplinary Action: Keeping It Professional!

Disciplinary Action: Keeping It Professional!

Disciplinary Action: Keep It Professional!
Disciplinary Action: Keep It Professional!

Every now and then you’ll find yourself in a position where you’ll need to address unacceptable behavior on the part of one of your students. Some of these behaviors include: cheating, plagiarism, sleeping in class, lying, being disrespectful, disruptive, or abusive. Whichever the case may be, it is always disappointing when students engage in these types of behaviors, and at times, you may feel frustrated, angry, or even helpless.  At times like these, it is important to remember that an improper behavior on the part of your student, does not warrant an in-kind retaliatory response on your part.

I’m not saying you should ignore the behavior, on the contrary. I’m a strong advocate for addressing unacceptable behavior immediately. What I am saying is that your personal feelings towards your student’s behavior should not be the basis for your response. It will be difficult in the beginning to try to be completely impartial and to remain emotionally detached from the situation, but it gets easier with time and practice.

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Read more about the article 10 Ways to Increase Student Engagement Online

10 Ways to Increase Student Engagement Online

Online classes can be remote. Reach out to your students.
Online classes can be remote. Reach out to your students.

One of the challenges that faculty teaching online (or hybrid) courses face is designing their courses so that there’s frequent and active engagement between the student and faculty and also between the students themselves. Why? Because as a faculty, you are required to be able to afford the same level of engagement online that you would in a traditional class where students meet with you and each other in person.

Some faculty are under the false assumption that teaching online is easy, and all you have to do is tell students what you want them to read or study and then have them complete assignments and quizzes to demonstrate their competency or mastery of the learning objectives. That is NOT teaching! Nor does it qualify as a distance learning course that would be eligible to pass the scrutiny of your regional accrediting body. That format may qualify as a correspondence course but not for a distance learning course. (more…)

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Read more about the article 3 Ways To Avoid College Student Problems Before They Occur

3 Ways To Avoid College Student Problems Before They Occur

CC Image courtesy of Nick Farnhill on Flickr

There are numerous articles on the internet that address this issue, and some are better than others. The tips I am about to share with you are strategies that have worked for me, and I hope they’ll work for you as well. I’ve found that most student-related-problems fall into two broad categories: 1) behavioral problems and 2) academic performance. Most of the behavioral problems can be mitigated before they even start in your classroom. How?

I’m glad you asked! In a nutshell, “Nip it in the bud!” Take action from the very beginning, and address potential areas of concern before they even occur.

Here are 3 ways to do just that! (more…)

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Read more about the article How To Plan Your First Course: 5 Tips For New Faculty

How To Plan Your First Course: 5 Tips For New Faculty

lessonplan
Write down what you want the students to learn and then how you’ll teach them.

Planning a course for a brand new faculty can be an overwhelming experience. It can be especially overwhelming if this is your first time going through the process. And even more so if you have not had the opportunity to participate in a TA program and be mentored by seasoned faculty. But, there’s no reason to fret.  This article will cover a few simple things you can do to help you plan your first course without stressing and getting overwhelmed. (more…)

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Read more about the article Why I Chose To Teach

Why I Chose To Teach

whyteach
Dr. Fawaz Al-Malood

I spent most of my earlier professional career in the hospitality industry, and I am often asked why I decided to switch careers and teach.  The short answer is passion for training! I began entertaining the thought of teaching when I first entered college.  I didn’t just wake up one day and decide to become a professor. As an undergrad, my goal was to work my way up to the position of a General Manager within a 5-star hotel and then retire early so that I can teach. I loved the hospitality industry and was passionate about working in operations. However, something happened during my tenure within the industry;  I was given the opportunity to train a young man, and for some reason, the hotel that I was working for at the time could not locate the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) manual for the department.  Without a formal SOP or task list, I had to develop my own SOP and training material for this young man.  It was like developing an entire course from scratch, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The training plan I was putting together was supposed to be a two-week plan, but the trainee was able to learn and master his new job in less than a week.  I realized at that point that I was good at developing training materials and teaching.  And more importantly,  I loved it!  I gained more satisfaction from training another person than from anything else I had done within the industry.  It was at that point that my professional career goal began to shift, and I decided to pursue a career in academia as soon as I was done with grad school. (more…)

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