1st Edition
Engaging College and University Students Effective Instructional Strategies
Engaging College and University Students outlines creative and effective course organization and teaching-learning strategies for higher education courses. By describing specific instructional best practices, rather than addressing general questions about teaching in higher education, the author presents a valuable resource for educators to consult in the moment. The author explores the challenges of engaging students in online settings and draws comparisons with face-to-face strategies of engagement. By organizing the strategies according to course progress, and offering corresponding rubrics for assessment, this guide for instructors offers a solid foundation for an ever-changing teaching and learning landscape.
Section I: Framing the Book, 1. Why this Book?, 2. Framing the Strategies, 3. Threshold Concepts and Distinctions, 4. Fostering Classroom Community, Section II: Student Self-Efficacy and Assessment, 5. Building Students’ Self-Efficacy, 6. Assessment Strategies, Section III: The First Day and the Syllabus, 7. The First Day, 8. Syllabus Strategies, Section IV: Instructional Strategies, 9. Topic and Unit Start Strategies, 10. Reading Strategies, 11. Writing Strategies, 12. Reflection and Discussion Strategies, 13. Arts Strategies, 14. Semester Closing Strategies, Section V: Conclusion, 15. Assessing Our Teaching, 16. Learning-Centered Teaching, Appendix A – Instructions and Rubrics, Appendix B – Supporting Students’ Writing
Biography
Ken Badley is Research Professor of Education at Tyndale University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
If you are designing a new course or want to change one you have taught for years, this book is for you. I am recommending it to new and seasoned faculty who want to increase student engagement. Badley offers up a storehouse of ideas with sufficient details for immediate implementation. New ideas and reframed techniques categorized according to their best purpose provide the reader rationale for selecting a particular strategy. This book will stay open on my desk!
Pam Nordstrom, Provost, VP Academic, Ambrose University, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Ken Badley generously shares with us his tied and tested practical strategies for learning-centred instruction. More importantly, he shows us how engaging student learning can be fun for everyone involved, even when it is online. Ever the realist, Ken imagines the best, takes the edge off the worst of the stress, encourages us with humour, and gifts us his own experiences. This not a tirade against lecturing; this is a wonderful overview of strategies that enrich learning and teaching. Ken anticipates the criticisms of lethargic or anxious faculty and invites instructors and learners past the tyranny of ‘covering the content’. If you or your faculty want to move from good, to better, let Ken guide you through learning-centred instruction. Buy and share your copy of Engaging College and University Students widely.
Beth Green, Provost, Tyndale University, Toronto, Canada
What makes an engaging lesson? In this captivating book, Ken Badley provides professors with a vast toolkit of methods to engage their learners. Reading this book will help teachers in higher education as they work with curriculum, assessment, and instruction. Badley writes with wit, wisdom, and humor. This incredibly practical book is based on Ken’s extensive experiences in the world of teaching and learning. While the primary audience of this book is professors, anyone who engages students in the world of learning will benefit greatly from the lessons contained within.
Adam Paape, Professor of Education, Concordia University, Wisconsin, Mequon, Wisconsin, USA
How can I inspire each of my students to be actively involved in their own learning? This is obviously the most important question asked by the most memorable or the most influential teachers. That's the question that kept Ken Badley awake and led him to create a wonderfully enthusiastic, encouraging book for teachers in higher education. This book immediately resonated with my own professional questions energized me, even though I work half-way around the world.
The book provides readers with a balanced overview of the principles of learning-centered education while offering a rich bank of strategies. In concrete, clear and inspiring ways, Badley opens up space for colleagues to provide students with unforgettable study experiences, experiences that will bring them joy as they acquire new knowledge and skills. Engaging College and University Students offers readers ideas about how to approach all phases of the teaching process—from course design and detailed planning of the start of the course, to students’ learning experience through the semester, to assessment and feedback. Badley addresses the range of students' senses by offering strategies related to reading, writing, discussion, and even the arts.
Dana Hanesová, Faculty of Education, Matej Bel University, Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic
