Teaching Resources
How Students Learn
The scholarship on teaching has shifted from how and what we teach to how students learn. By understanding the learning process, faculty gain insight into strategies to better engage students in learning. The links below provide insight into this scholarship, as well as a general overview of "active learning," a means to engage students in learning. Resources…
Effective Teaching Strategies
Teaching effectively involves not only the use of tools, techniques, and strategies to optimize student learning but an understanding of context, in particular how your students learn, how they process information, what motivates them to learn more, and what impedes the learning process. Click on the links below for helpful tips and resources. For additional resources, look through the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning or add your name to the Tomorrow's Professor listserv, both excellent sources of information on effective teaching. Resources…
Syllabus and Course Design
The starting point for effective teaching is a clear understanding of course objectives and student learning outcomes, as well as having a roadmap for how those objectives and learning outcomes will be met. Syllabi should not only include information on course content, readings, assignments and activities, exams, and the grade weighting of course components but also should state what students are expected to learn or being able to do as a result of taking the course. Expectations should be clear, especially in terms of assignments and due dates. You should state your policy regarding class attendance and missed assignments and exams. Include, as well, a statement emphasizing the severe consequences of cheating and plagiarism, with a link to FAU's Code of Academic Integrity . Keep in mind that syllabi serve as a contract between instructor and student. Minor deviations may be made but students must be given fair warning. In extraordinary circumstances, the Office of the Provost will issue instructions on how to handle missed classes. Resources…
Using Technology Effectively
Technology can be a very effective tool both to assist faculty in teaching and to promote student learning and engagement. By varying the traditional lecture format, technology not only exposes students to different kinds of material in new formats but can lead to deeper engagement in learning. Technology takes many forms, from PowerPoint presentations to the more recent video streams and clickers. Outside of class, faculty can engage students through the use of Blackboard discussion groups and online quizzes. To learn more about instructional resources available at Florida Atlantic University, visit http://www.fau.edu/oit/instructional/. Resources…
Academic Integrity
Students at Florida Atlantic University are expected to maintain the highest ethical standards. Dishonesty is considered a serious breach of these ethical standards, because it interferes with the University mission to provide a high quality education in which no student enjoys an unfair advantage over any other. Dishonesty is also destructive of the University community, which is grounded in a system of mutual trust and places high value on personal integrity and individual responsibility.
The FAU Code of Academic Integrity prohibits dishonesty and requires a faculty member, student, or staff member to notify an instructor when there is reason to believe dishonesty has occurred in a course/program requirement. The instructor must pursue any reasonable allegation, taking action where appropriate. More…
Service Learning
Service learning is not simply volunteer activity but integrates in intentional ways community service with instruction and reflection. It is designed to enrich the learning experience through hands-on activity and to teach civic responsibility. Service learning requires students to apply what they learned in the classroom and to reflect on their experiences by thinking, discussing, and writing about them. It also teaches students not only how to apply academic knowledge to real-life civic issues but promotes teamwork and collaborative problem-solving, develops life skills, exposes students to the complexity of the human experience and challenges simplistic solutions, and makes learning more personally meaningful.
The Center for Teaching and Learning partners with the Center for Civic Engagement and Service in promoting service learning at FAU. The following criteria for service learning were developed by Professor Lorraine Cross of the College of Education.
Criteria for Academic Service-Learning
Relevant and Meaningful Service with the Community