If you’ve worked in higher education long enough, you’ve already had this experience. A supervisor or member of your institution’s governing board calls an administrative retreat, and there, following the inevitable icebreakers, brainstorming, and team-building exercises, you are presented with the “bold new paradigm” that is to determine how you are to reorganize your unit, “reconceptualize” your leadership style, or modify every policy and procedure that is already in place. Someone, it seems, has been reading a management book and has bought into a new approach to how you should do your job.

In their review of literature section, the researchers listed below summarize findings from a number of studies regarding student questions. “It is well documented that student questions in the classroom are very infrequent and unsophisticated.” Averages reported in six different studies range from 1.3 questions per hour to 4.0. According to this research, teachers ask many more questions than students do—perhaps that’s to be expected, but should 96 percent of the questions asked in the classroom be teacher questions?

One of the biggest changes in recent years has been the adoption of student-centered instruction. Here are a few tips for taking this approach to teaching in your online courses:

A survey of senior campus officials responsible for managing online and distance education programs revealed some interesting findings, including almost half of the participants not knowing whether their program is profitable.

Of the many lessons learned from the early years of distance education one of the most persistent to remain, and thankfully so, is the fact that you cannot simply pluck an instructor out of the classroom, plug him into an online course, and expect him to be effective in this new and challenging medium. Some learned this lesson the hard way, while others took a proactive approach to faculty training from the start.

Teaching large classes, whether face-to-face or in the online learning environment, is never easy. But there are things you can do to ensure a good experience for you and your students.

More than half way through a course you don’t really you have time or the inclination to consider your teaching manifesto—that is, what you believe about teaching and how you realize those beliefs in your practice. But as the demands of the semester start to mount, it can be energizing to read what others believe, especially when their beliefs about the importance and value of teaching are strong and positive. Here are several excerpts from a “this I believe” statement written by C. Roland Christensen:

Tuesday’s post discussed the goals and core practices of effective learning communities. Today we outline elements of sustainable learning communities as well as some of the challenges of learning community development.

There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned all-day orientation program to get new academic leaders acclimated and ready to tackle the challenges of their new positions, right? Wrong.