Any effort to fundamentally change a school’s approach to academic integrity requires an understanding of its current organizational response to cheating (Bertram Gallant, 2008).

At a recent workshop at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, I asked participants to identify the one thing about participation they would most like to change in their classrooms. From a variety of items mentioned, we decided to focus on three. They are listed below along with a range of solutions suggested by the group. Some of the solutions apply to more than one of the problems.

Online courses at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh – Online Division are facilitated in eCollege in an asynchronous format. Below are tips for being more efficient as an instructor and improving the student experience in an online forum.

Glenda Hernandez Baca, professor/coordinator of teacher education at Montgomery College, Takoma Park Campus, encourages the use of collaborative learning throughout online courses. In an interview with Online Classroom, she offered the following ideas for facilitating collaborative learning in group projects and in threaded discussions:

I love the fact that some pedagogical journals still publish first-person reflections on teaching experiences. Many of the disciplined-based pedagogical periodicals have moved away from these accounts in favor of more empirical investigations. I regularly highlight research both here in the blog and in The Teaching Professor newsletter because I strongly believe teaching and learning would be improved if our practice was more evidence-based. But I also believe personal accounts of teaching experiences can be first rate scholarship. They can be thoughtful, insightful, and intellectually rich journeys filled with important lessons for both the author and the readers.

While some college faculty bemoan the fact that their students are not critical thinkers, expressive writers, or otherwise scholarly inclined; those of us in professional schools, especially at the graduate level, may have the opposite problem. Our students may be so bright they scare our socks off.

The popularity of social media and its rapid ascension into our daily lives is nothing short of astounding. Sites that weren't even around 10 years ago are now visited every day. What’s more, 56 percent of the faculty surveyed said they expect their use of social media to increase this school year.

The growth of online enrollment during the past 10 years has far outpaced that of higher education enrollment overall, and college presidents expect that trend to continue.

Student ratings can provide helpful and legitimate feedback. Unfortunately, all too often, students give very little time or thought to end-of-course evaluations, or they use them as an opportunity to make mean-spirited comments about the instructor. And, all things being equal, an instructor who teaches a challenging course will score lower than an instructor whose course is less rigorous.