In asynchronous discussion forums, participants usually come from diverse backgrounds, including gender and culture, and the textual cues they post online are usually reflections of their own diversity. How you handle equity and diversity issues can be a key to online course retention.

Effective classroom management is much more than simply administering corrective measures when a student misbehaves; it's about developing proactive ways to prevent problems from occurring in the first place while creating a positive learning environment.

Social loafing is the research jargon for group members who don’t carry their weight—the free riders, the ones that hard-working group members hate and the ones that make faculty wonder if it’s ethically responsible to use group work.

Teaching first-semester students has its own special challenges. The students all start out optimistic, but soon, many start making poor decisions such as skipping class, not doing the reading, not participating or even paying attention, and missing small and not-so-small assignments.

It’s not a new finding — in general, more exams lead to better grades—but it’s always nice when research confirms some of our best practices in teaching.

Cramming—now there’s a timely topic given the fast approaching end of fall courses. Do students cram for your exams? For the exams of your colleagues? In those bygone days, did you ever resort to cramming?

If you’re among the thousands of professors being thrust into student success or retention duties, it can be a challenge getting up to speed on some of the vocabulary, theories and concepts thrown about. This 25-question quiz was part of the materials I created for the Nov. 20th online seminar, “What Faculty Members Need to Know about Retention.” Although presented in a light-hearted manner, the quiz helps with some of the basic definitions and serves as a simple tool for jumpstarting campus discussions.

Sleeping during class. Spotty attendance. Cell phone misuse. Provocative clothing. Combative behavior. These are just some of the classroom management challenges faculty may see on a regular basis. What’s the best way to respond?

I recently conducted a survey of more than 300 online students to learn of their most vexing issues with online courses. One item—of the 40+ mentioned—was cited by 68 percent of the students: poor feedback from their instructors.