How often have you heard a student say, “I studied really hard, and I knew the material. I don’t understand why I scored so low” when discussing an exam they did not perform well on? Part of this may be because students today are taught to focus on what to learn but not how to...

One of the things I have noticed over the decades of teaching is the rising stress, anxiety, and perfectionism in students. Learning, which takes effort, should be at the very least enjoyable, if not joyful, especially if you are learning something you have chosen to spend your life doing. So, I...

We all learned quickly to convert our class lectures to live streaming or pre-recorded during the pandemic.  Although referred to as taking our curriculum online, this was actually incorrect.  What we did was convert to virtual teaching, not online education.  However, our online...

There is an abundance of research about cheating. We all know it happens. However, the cold, sobering fact is that cheating continues to be a serious problem in higher education, and yes, students are cheating more than they did in the past (Balbuena & Lamela, 2017; Marshall & Varnon,...

In my experience, there has been one question that has commonly frustrated faculty, including me. It happens when a hand goes up after an hour of lecture, and the question is, "Is this going to be on the test?" It is hard not to feel defeated when all students seem interested in knowing what is...

As PA educators, I believe it is important to have a finger of the pulse of what is happening in higher education because it directly or indirectly affects us. I also appreciate that trying to keep up with everything education as a faculty member is challenging, in addition to keeping up with...

A few years back, I wrote a piece on the effectiveness of lectures as a teaching tool.  I decided to revisit this topic to see what is in the educational literature now. Previously, there were a lot of negative judgments about lectures, fueled by a study that defined a "learning pyramid"...

Student course evaluations are a reality we cannot avoid, although some of us would like to.  The reality is that while these evaluations are necessary, they are not without their challenges.  For most of us, they trigger emotional reactions.  When we get negative comments about...

I recently read an interesting article that prompted me to address what the author wrote about.  Dr. Donald A. Saucier, a professor at Kansas University, put a voice to something I know I experience, and I am sure many of you do as well.  We are all hitting that challenging time...

Two high school teachers introduced the flipped classroom approach in 2007.  They started recording and posting their lectures online to accommodate students who missed class.  This evolved into the flipped classroom approach, where what is usually done in class is now done outside of...