CETLA :: Guest Lecture Series

Guest lecture Series

Welcome to CETLA's Guest Lecture Series. Designed for faculty, the series features speakers who can deepen your understanding of learning processes and broaden your repertoire of teaching strategies. Each lecture showcases a Howard University faculty member sharing insights with other Howard faculty gathered at CETLA. To attend future lectures, check your Howard FacNet account for notices. To view a lecture online, click a title or see the abstracts below.

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Flipping the classroom

Andre Farquharson, Ph.D.
March 26, 2014

COMING SOON

Problem-based learning

Oluwaranti Akiyode, Ph.D.
Februrary 10, 2014

COMING SOON

CYBERSECURITY: Protecting yourself and your students

Rajini Goel, Ph.D.
October 10, 2013

COMING SOON

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Digital gaming in higher education

Derek Llyod, Ph.D.
Februrary 19, 2013

COMING SOON

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Instilling Professionalism

Clive Callender, M.D. , F.A.C.S..
November 6, 2012

In 2010, Professor of Surgery Dr. Clive Callender was appointed chair of the College of Medicine’s Task Force on Professionalism (TFOP), a task force charged with fostering a culture of professionalism and developing a curriculum to promote professionalism among students, staff, and faculty. In this video, Dr. Callender shares what that committee learned and achieved. Although he focuses on professionalism in the Health Sciences, he presents the College of Medicine’s experience as an example of what other schools and colleges can do to instill professionalism. For instance, professionalism in patient care in the Health Sciences might translate into professionalism in customer care in Business or client care in Social Work and Law, or listener/viewer care in Communications. In other words, this video reveals how important it is for faculty to instill professionalism in their students, regardless of the career or field.

Leveraging Social Media to Enhance African American Students' Learning

Ingrid Sturgis M.A..
May 12, 2012

Student use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google Docs has skyrocketed in the last ten years. According to Dr. Ingrid Sturgis, Assistant Professor of Journalism, faculty cannot afford to ignore this phenomenon, especially among African American students, who use social media even more than white students. Therefore, in this video, Dr. Sturgis explains which social media African American students prefer and how they use these media. Then she documents the extent to which professors are teaching with social media, pointing out why more professors should incorporate social media in their teaching. To encourage more professors to adopt social media, she concludes with tips and resources for teaching with social media and avoiding the risks.

Mentoring African American Undergraduate Researchers

Guest Lecturer Abdul Karim Bangura Ph.D.
April 18, 2012

Studies suggest that African American undergraduates, in particular, benefit from involvement in research. ¹ So how can faculty engage African American students in original research? Having successfully mentored dozens of African American undergraduates, Political Science Professor Abdul Karim Bangura explains how other faculty can do the same. After explaining what "counts" as undergraduate research, Dr. Bangura describes the impressive learning outcomes for many of the African American undergraduate researchers he has mentored during his career. Then he explains how other faculty members can also motivate undergraduates to pursue original research and help those students follow through—from formulating a research question to producing a presentation or publication.

Assessing the impact of high-impact practices on african american students

Guest Lecturer Dana Williams, Ph.D.
February 15, 2012

According to the Association of American Colleges & Universities, ten active learning practices increase rates of student engagement and retention. These "High Impact Practices" (HIPs) include (1) First-year seminars and experiences, (2) Common intellectual experiences, (3) Learning communities, (4) Writing-intensive courses, (5) Collaborative assignments and projects, (6) Undergraduate research, (7) Diversity and global learning, (8) Service-learning and community-based learning, (9) Internships, and (10) Capstone projects. In this video, English professor Dana Williams, a practitioner of many of these practices, shares data from Howard University to document the impact of HIPs on the predominantly African American undergraduate population at Howard.

African American Student Learning and Engagement in STEM

Guest Lecturer Kimberley E. Freeman, Ph.D.
November 21, 2011

What individual, instructional, and institutional variables promote the achievement and retention of African American undergraduates who have declared a major in STEM? In this video, that is the research question explored by Dr. Kimberley Freeman, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Principal Investigator of the Excellence and Motivation in Education Research Group (EMERG). Analyzing survey responses from 1st-year Howard STEM majors, Dr. Freeman explains why students choose STEM majors at Howard and what motivates 1st-year STEM students to achieve.

increasing the retention and achievement of african-american college males

Guest Lecturer Ivory A. Toldson, Ph.D..
October 24, 2011

The media are constantly bombarding the American public with dismal statistics about young black men. In this video, Education Professor Ivory Toldson shows us how many of these statistics distort reality. At the same time, he highlights the statistics that deserve our attention, statistics such as the following: "If all 1,127,170 black males who are currently enrolled in undergraduate programs eventually graduated, the number of total black males with college degrees would increase by 71%, nearly achieving parity with white males." Therefore, Dr. Toldson's research explores not only the factors that motivate black males to enroll in colleges but also the factors that enable them to graduate. These factors, his research reveals, are personal, financial, familial, institutional, and societal. But, above all, his research shows us how secondary schools can better prepare and advise black males before they enroll in college and how college faculty and administrators can better support them once they arrive.

service learning

Guest Lecturer Jean Bailey, Ph.D.
May 3, 2011

What is service-learning, and how can you incorporate it in your curriculum? This video provides the answers. Dr. Ura Jean Oyemade Bailey draws upon her experience as Graduate Professor of Human Development in the School of Education, where she has designed and supervised multiple service-learning projects in District of Columbia communities. She explains what service-learning is, why it is important, and describes several curricular models of service-learning that faculty can select. Situating service-learning at the intersection of academic courses, experiential learning, and civic learning, she identifies the key components of successful service-learning projects: (1) preparation, (2) action, (3) reflection, and (4) assessment. She also recommends strategies to prompt reflection and cites additional service-learning resources.

stimulating quantitative reasoning

Guest Lecturer Adeniran Adeboye, Ph.D.
April 21, 2011

Taking viewers back to Ancient Africa, mathematics professor Adeniran Adeboye presents archaeological evidence that early humans engaged in mathematical reasoning. This evidence is just one more reason he contends that every healthy human being has the capacity to learn math. What learners need is an opportunity to discover the fundamentals and to reinforce their learning throughout their school years so that they develop the habit of quantitative reasoning. So what is quantitative reasoning? In this video, Dr. Adeboye demonstrates and defines it, explains why it is critical for success in today’s society, and reveals why schools—primary through college—must engage students in quantitative reasoning to solve real-world problems across the curriculum. “It takes a village” to teach a child to speak, he says, so the same applies to teaching mathematics. Through campus-wide quantitative literacy programs, he insists, America’s college graduates could finally achieve the standards for quantitative reasoning that the Mathematical Association of America recommends. Thus, he concludes his presentation by explaining how colleges can develop and assess quantitative literacy programs—in short, how colleges can turn a campus into a village.

Cultivating a Culture of Academic Integrity

Guest Lecturer Kortright Davis, Ph.D.
February 24, 2011

Nationwide more and more faculty are complaining about Internet-age cheating and plagiarizing. Many feel that the problem reflects a crisis in values. If so, how do we instill a sense of academic integrity in our students? How do we create an academic culture that makes cheating, plagiarism, falsification of research, and other unethical practices unthinkable? Professor of Theology Kortright Davis proposes a "re-formation and transformation" of character. After identifying the realities that promote cheating and the cultures that foster it, he reviews definitions of academic integrity. Then he discusses "the patterns of deficits and infelicities" that lead students to cheat and the institutional policies and practices that are designed to deter cheating. However, he explains that policies alone will not suffice. "Cheaters," he insists, "need to be educated away from cheating." So he concludes this video by suggesting ways that faculty as well as administrators can "enlighten, encourage, and energize maturity and honesty."

Teaching With Facebook

Guest Lecturer Miles, Reginald, M.A.
January 25, 2011

Facebook in the classroom? Some faculty may scoff at the notion of integrating the social networking website into the curriculum. However, in this video, Reginald Miles, Assistant Professor of Radio, TV, and Film, urges faculty to reconsider the instructional potential of Facebook. Then , step by step, through a series of screencasts, he guides faculty through the process of setting up a Facebook site for classes. He shows faculty how to set up a "teacher profile," establish a group for each class, foster a virtual classroom community, and create an event (such as an assignment). Citing student comments, he reveals how Facebook improved teaching and learning in his classes. For instance, since over 85% of U.S. college students used Facebook in 2010, teaching via Facebook made it easier for his students to access him and the assignments. As a result, he exulted, nearly all of his students submitted their homework on time!

Teaching With Humor

Guest Lecturer Unger, Darian, Ph.D..
November 17, 2010

Business School professor Darian Unger claims that he is not a funny guy. Yet he has earned a reputation for keeping his class laughing—and learning. In this video, he explains why and how. Humor, he states, engages students, and engagement strengthens learning. Moreover, it increases retention while decreasing tension. Citing his "Three R's" of learning—Relevance, Relationship, and Rigor—he demonstrates how humor can make course material relevant, build a positive student-teacher relationship, and maintain rigorous standards for student performance. Challenging misconceptions about humor, he shows faculty that they don't need to be comedians to infuse humor into lectures, slides, or exams. He also indicates how technology such as Blackboard or YouTube can help. Finally, he advises faculty about how to avoid common pitfalls related to teaching with humor.

case-based teaching

Guest Lecturer Crooms, Lisa, J. D.
October 13, 2010

Cases are narratives that students explore interactively in order to draw a conclusion, determine a course of action, or to debate issues in a realistic context. Since Case-Based Teaching (CBT) originated in law schools, this video features a professor of law, Lisa Crooms, explaining how to set up a case, how to brief a case, and how to use cases to stimulate and assess student learning. However, CBT has been widely adopted by professors in other professional schools such as medicine and business, and has proved to be a powerful tool for stimulating active learning in the liberal arts and sciences. Therefore, from this video, faculty can learn strategies that can enhance their courses, regardless of the discipline.

Green teaching

Guest Lecturer Tharakan, John, Ph.D.
May 4, 2010

In this age of dwindling natural resources, being a "green" teacher has assumed a new and positive meaning. As Engineering Professor John Tharakan explains in this video, universities need more green teachers in order to protect the environment and sustain life on this planet. Citing American University's "Green Teaching" Program, Dr. Tharakan explains how green teaching practices reduce paper use, save energy, and reduce emissions. He, then, describes other green measures faculty can take, including applying for CETLA's Green Teaching Certificate, which is modeled after American University's.

Internationalizing the Curriculum

Guest Lecturer Scott, Jr. Harold, Ph.D
April 14, 2010

Most faculty would agree that they need to equip students for a “flat world,” a world where people everywhere are increasingly connected. However, despite their agreement, some can’t imagine how they could internationalize their courses without straying from the purpose and content. That is why International Affairs scholar Harold Scott, Jr. explains in this video how to internationalize courses across the curriculum. Quoting the learning objectives from diverse syllabi, he demonstrates how faculty can fulfill those objectives by infusing their courses with an international perspective. As a result, he reveals, “students begin to think about where they fit in the global context” and they can more clearly see how to achieve their career goals and intellectual interests in an international arena.

Avoiding faculty burnout

Guest Lecturer Livingston, Ivor, Ph.D.
March 29, 2010

Sociologist, psychologist, and public health educator, Dr. Ivor Livingston explores faculty burnout from an interdisciplinary perspective. He begins his presentation by defining burnout, identifying its symptoms, and documenting its incidence among faculty. Then, highlighting the role of stress and perception, he explains burnout’s causes and outcomes. Finally, he proposes five stress management strategies that faculty can adopt to avoid burnout: cognitive restructuring, psychosocial adjustments, lifestyle adjustments, situational adjustments, and relaxation experiences.

Using protfolios to assess student learning

Guest Lecturer Bond, Helen, Ph.D.
February 17, 2010

What is an electronic portfolio? According to Dr. Helen Bond, an Assistant Professor of Education, a portfolio is an “organized and purposeful” collection of information and artifacts, “supported by reflections that document a candidate’s progress.” The portfolio becomes “electronic,” when it is posted online via a website such as a wiki, where students can integrate documents, photos, slide shows, audio, video, and other multimedia. As a result, Dr. Bond argues, an electronic portfolio can provide both faculty and students with a powerful tool for assessing students’ learning. To prove her point, Dr. Bond guides viewers through an array of portfolios, including portfolios in the fields of education, art, law, and medicine. Then she explains how to use standards to develop and assess them. In addition, she cites resources for mastering the wiki technology she and her students use to build them.

teaching entrepreneurship in any discipline

Guest Lecturer Lafond, Anestine, Ph.D.
November 24, 2009

In this video, Dr. Anestine LaFond explains why entrepreneurship education should not be confined to schools of business. After defining “entrepreneurship,” she argues that entrepreneurial thinking is a key to success across the disciplines and in public and nonprofit organizations as well as in corporations, small businesses, and private practices. Citing examples from Howard University and beyond, she shows how faculty have incorporated entrepreneurship in courses in the liberal arts and sciences as well as the health sciences and fine arts. Then she shares resources for learning more about entrepreneurship and challenges faculty to follow a four-step plan for getting started.

understanding the role of african american english at the university

Guest Lecturer Taylor, Orlando, Ph.D.
October 6, 2009

In this video, Professor of Communication Dr. Orlando Taylor defines African American English (AAE) and dispels common misconceptions about it. After providing examples of AAE’s vocabulary and syntax, he concludes that AAE is a legitimate tongue, but AAE-speakers still need to master Standard English. However, he insists, Standard English does not mean "white English.” In fact, he advocates the use of what he calls "African American Standard English" and calls on educators to abandon the traditional “Correction Model” of pedagogy for a “Bidialectal Model” that promotes “code-switching” between AAE and Standard English. He also urges university researchers to develop an evidence-based pedagogy for empowering AAE-speakers to master the standard.

effective listening

Guest Lecturer Lyndrey Niles, Ph.D.
April 22, 2009

According to Dr. Lyndrey Niles, Professor Emeritus of Communication, when we communicate, we spend nearly 45% of our time listening rather than speaking, reading, or writing. Yet, he observes, “we spend the most time learning how to write,” and “we spend the least amount of time learning to listen.” Dr. Niles attributes this irony to the assumption that we automatically listen when we hear. But since listening requires concentration, he warns, “Because you are hearing, you’re not necessarily listening.” Therefore, in this video, Dr. Niles identifies common barriers to effective listening, strategies faculty and students can adopt to listen better, and strategies that faculty can use during their lectures to help students listen more effectively.

developing critical readers

Guest Lecturer Richard Wright, Ph.D.
March 25, 2009

According to Dr. Richard Wright, Professor of Linguistics, “you must become a reader of the world before you can become a reader of the word.” In other words, to read texts critically, students must think about the world critically. How can teachers help students develop such a “critical consciousness”? In this video Dr. Wright, explains how faculty can adopt a “critical pedagogy” that will help students approach the word and the world with a sense of personal agency and a questioning mind. Noting that “every text is biased,” he presents strategies that faculty can share with students so that their students can recognize an author’s purpose, tone, and perspective. In short, he shows us how to teach students to “read between the lines.”

improving students' study skills

Guest Lecturer Sharon Fletcher, M.A.
February 18, 2009

According to Professor Sharon Fletcher from the Center for Academic Reinforcement, study skills encompass a wide variety of techniques that help students succeed in school. These techniques include global strategies such as goal-setting and time management as well as discrete skills such as note-taking and textbook reading. In this video, Professor Fletcher identifies useful study skills, providing concrete examples that faculty can easily incorporate in their pedagogy. She concludes the video with a set of exercises to help students think critically—one of the most important study skills of all.

"READING" AND "WRITING" VISUAL MESSAGES

Guest Lecturer Alfred Smith, MFA.
November 19, 2008

Many commentators say that we are living in a visual world—a world where analyzing and creating images is as important as reading and writing text. If that is the case, how do we prepare our students to think critically about visual communication? How can we help them “read” visual messages and incorporate them effectively in assignments? And how can we incorporate visuals effectively in our teaching? In this video, Art Professor Alfred Smith attempts to answer these questions by, first, explaining the physiology of perceiving images and, then, illustrating how “picture-writers” use line, light, perspective, and space to communicate through images. Then, he challenges the audience to use their understanding of these tools to “read” the positive and negative messages in a series of photos from the 2008 presidential campaign. At the end of the video, he discusses with his audience how selecting appropriate images can enhance their teaching.

using drama as a teaching tool

Guest Lecturer Kim Bey, Ph.D.
October 28, 2008

In this video, Assistant Professor of Acting and Voice, Dr. Kim Bey, argues that drama is not just for the stage and screen. It can play an important role in the classroom—regardless of the level or discipline. Citing the value of integrating all arts in education, Dr. Bey explains how drama, in particular, helps students learn in multiple ways—visual, aural, tactile, and kinesthetic. Through a group exercise and classroom examples, she demonstrates how faculty can use dramatic tools such as point of view, diction, monologue, role-playing, and body language to engage students in learning a subject. Likewise, she points out how faculty can use performance-based assessments to evaluate that learning.

increasing student retention

Guest Lecturer Anette Davis, Ph.D.
September 28, 2008

Nearly half of American college freshmen never graduate, especially African Americans, Dr. Annette Davis announces in this video. Yet faculty members can reverse this trend, she maintains. Drawing upon her experience in teaching and counseling, she explains why so many students drop out and how faculty can identify these at-risk students before they disappear. Best of all, she suggests concrete steps that faculty advisors and classroom teachers can take to help students succeed.

Engaging Students: Stimulating Participation in and out of Class

Guest Lecturer Gregory Carr, Ph.D.
April 9, 2008

Recognizing how much engagement contributes to learning, Dr. Gregory Carr shares his strategies for engaging students. After posing several questions that define “engagement,” he explains how the Teacher and Student can come together around a Text to create an engaging space for students. Then he points out barriers to student engagement as well as facilitators. As he speaks, he discusses ways to motivate students, to hold their attention, to stimulate discussion in and out of class, and to foster teamwork or out-of-class research. Featured among his strategies is his unique “Mbongi” form for stimulating class participation.

guiding students through the thesis / dissertation process

Guest Lecturer Gomes Ralph, Ph.D
March 12, 2008

For decades, Howard University has produced more “on-campus” African American Ph.Ds. than any other U.S. institution. Yet, according to former Provost Richard English, nationwide, “no more than 50 percent of individuals across all groups complete the doctoral degree and two-thirds of all blacks pursuing doctoral programs do not complete the degree.” Some scholars have attributed this high rate of attrition to financial need, transfers from one Ph.D. program to another, and decisions to pursue a different career, but they have also cited ineffective advising. That is why this video is so timely. In the video, Sociology Professor Ralph Gomes explains how to help graduate students develop a topic, title, introduction, review of the literature, theoretical framework, and research methodology for a thesis or dissertation—and how to help students establish a timeline for completing the work.

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Interdisciplinary Teaching

Guest Lecturer George Middendorf, Ph.D
February 27, 2008

The challenges of team-teaching are many. So are the challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration. Combine these challenges, and you end up with perhaps the most challenging pedagogy of all: interdisciplinary team-teaching. Nevertheless, in this video, Dr. Middendorf takes much of the confusion out of the process. He distinguishes an interdisciplinary perspective from a disciplinary or multi-disciplinary one. He offers strategies for team-teaching, regardless of the discipline. He explores problems that arise and how he and his “teammates” solved them. Above all, through his examples and experience, he explains why faculty as well as students can benefit from interdisciplinary team-teaching: As this video reveals, team-teachers can learn as much as the students do.

Helping Students in Distress due to Mental Illness

Guest Lecturer William B. Lawson, MD, PhD, DFAPA
November 28, 2007

The tragic events at Virginia Tech University left many faculty wondering how they could help students who suffer from mental illness. In this video, award-winning psychiatrist Dr. William Lawson tells faculty how to distinguish mental illness from substance abuse and how to recognize symptoms of the mental disorders that are most common among college students. Giving special attention to the plight of African Americans, Dr. Lawson describes the symptoms of depression, bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders. Then, along with Dr. Ayana Watkins-Northern (Director of University Counseling Services), he explains how university administrators and faculty can help students with such symptoms receive treatment.

Developing a Distance-Learning Program

Guest Lecturer Marguerite Neita, Ph.D.
October 31, 2007

In this video, Allied Health professor Marguerite Neita explains how to set up a distance-learning program. Drawing upon her department’s experience, she explores the reasons for launching distance-learning programs. Then she describes the students and faculty who participate in such programs and the type of instruction faculty can deliver online. She also discusses ways to assess student learning in the online environment, including how to discourage cheating and ensure that students complete clinical work. Finally, showing examples from her own Blackboard course site, she explains how faculty can create learner-centered courses in a distance-learning program.

Teaching-as-Research: A Case Study

Guest Lecturer Folahan O. Ayorinde, Ph.D.
April 12, 2007

”Use your research skills to improve teaching and learning,” Dr. Folahan Ayorinde advises faculty in this video. Invoking the mission of CIRTL, the national Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning, Dr. Ayorinde explains how and why faculty should investigate teaching and learning in their classrooms. Then he presents an example from the research of Dr. Ayoni F. Akinyele, a study of peer-led team learning in chemistry lecture courses for nursing and allied health science majors. Both his presentation and the subsequent Q & A session reveal the advantages and challenges of measuring student learning in the classroom.

Stimulating Class Discussions

Guest Lecturer Samuel Paschall, J.D.
March 29, 2007

Leading successful class discussions is not a magical art. There are teachable strategies that can lead to success: strategies for introducing the topic, maximizing participation, keeping students “on topic,” handling disagreements, moving forward, distilling important points, and wrapping up. In this video, Professor Samuel Paschall demonstrates these strategies as he leads a lively group discussion at CETLA. To identify the strategies, CETLA’s online handout describes each of the 30 different strategies that he employs, while the video captions label each strategy as he uses it.

Teaching Speakers of English as a Second Language

Guest Lecturer Silvia Martinez, Ed.D.
February 15, 2007

While University courses challenge most students, such courses are a daunting challenge for international students who have not mastered English as a second language (ESL). Because standardized admissions tests measure a limited range of communication skills, these students often enter the university with limited proficiency in the communication skills that their courses will demand. As a result, they may struggle to understand lectures, hesitate to speak up in class, labor to keep up with the reading, or submit papers that are riddled with errors. How can faculty assist these students without sacrificing academic standards or devoting too much time to remediation? In this video, Dr. Silvia Martinez, explains how. First, she identifies what experiences ESL students bring to the classroom and what proficiencies the classroom demands. Then she offers strategies for facilitating ESL students’ learning and assessing their performance.

Stimulating Student Creativity

Guest Lecturer Ramesh Chawla , Ph.D.
January 31, 2007

In this video, Engineering Professor Ramesh Chawla explains that creativity is “’a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts.’” But how can teachers stimulate students’ creativity? Since creativity manifests itself in different ways in different disciplines, this guest lecture brings together professors from the applied sciences, natural sciences, fine arts, and humanities to show how they have used checklists, technology, photographs, and even fortune cookies to help students “think outside the box.”

Managing Student Groups

Guest Lecturer Laura A. Fleet, Ph.D.
December 7, 2006

Sometimes group projects challenge teachers as much as they challenge students. Many a teacher has struggled to resolve personality conflicts among group members, to ensure that all members do their share, to keep groups on schedule, and to evaluate members fairly. That is why this presentation examines common problems with group work and offers practical solutions.

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Learning and the Brain

Guest Lecturer Leslie Hicks , Ph.D.
October 30, 2006

Today we hear a lot about "brain-based education," that is, pedagogy that supposedly implements the findings of neuroscience. However, in this video, Leslie Hicks warns us, "You can't go from neuroscience to the classroom because we don't know enough about the brain." What we do know can dispel some myths and reinforce some of the findings of educational research. Therefore, this lecture addresses questions such as "Does brain laterality or gender affect learning?" It also clarifies how the brain learns and what conditions enhance or hinder learning.

Preparing Students for National Standardized Tests

Guest Lecturer Kay T. Payne, Ph.D.
April 5, 2006

Nationwide, African American students tend to score lower on standardized exams, such as the SAT, GRE, and professional licensure exams. Why do so many African American students perform poorly on these exams and what can teachers do to improve the students’ performance? To answer these questions, this video examines the difficulty levels, types of questions, and reasoning skills “built into” these tests. It concludes with specific steps that teachers can take to prepare students for the exams.

Assessing Student Learning

Guest Lecturer Veronica Thomas , Ph.D.
March 22, 2006

Too often teachers assume that their students are learning. When asked whether their students are learning, they point to the grades on final exams or papers as if those grades will suffice. Or they describe their pedagogy—their lessons, assignments, and tests. Instead, this video explains, teachers need to use baseline, formative, and summative assessments to find out what students are learning and how well they are learning. In other words, teachers should follow the four steps in the “Assessment Loop”: (1) establish what students should know and be able to do by the end of the course, (2) collect evidence, (3) analyze and interpret the evidence, and (4) use data to document, explain, and improve students’ performance.

Culturally Appropriate Teaching

Guest Lecturer A. Wade Boykin , Ph.D.
February 28 , 2006

How can teachers close the academic achievement gap between Black and White students? Research based on a “Talent Development Model” suggests that teachers reassess the culture of American schooling, which seeks to sort students by ability instead of developing the abilities of all students. In contrast, the “Talent Development Model” seeks to build upon the assets that all students bring to school, including their cultural values and traditions. Following such a model, teachers will adopt “integrity-based strategies” that stimulate (1) critical engagement, (2) meaningful learning, (3) participation in a learning community, (4) constructive social interaction, and (5) cultural modeling.

How College Students Learn

Guest Lecturer Gerunda Hughes , Ph.D.
October 12 , 2005

To teach well, teachers need to understand how their students learn. They need to keep abreast of recent developments in the science of learning so that they will understand the key principles of learning. In particular, they need to know how to address students’ preconceptions, how to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to new situations, and how to develop their students’ metacognitive skills. Once they understand these principles, they can design learning environments that facilitate learning.

Recognizing and Accommodating Learning Disabilities

Guest Lecturer Wilfred Johnson, Ph.D.
September 29, 2005

Many students come to college campuses with learning disabilities. Whether students suffer from attention-deficit disorder (ADHD/ADD), dyslexia, or dyscalcula, federal law requires that educational institutions do whatever possible to accommodate them. To do so, faculty need to understand common learning disabilities, locate campus support services, and adopt appropriate policies and procedures for addressing disabled students’ needs.

Copyright & Intellectual Property: What Faculty Need to Know

Guest Lecturer Steve Jamar, J.D.
May 5, 2005

More than ever, teachers need to understand copyright law. Whether they are teaching on site or online, they should understand what they should and should not do in this Digital Age, when it is so easy to copy and download someone else’s work. How can teachers make multiple copies of copyrighted texts, images, or software for classroom use? How can teachers deliver copyrighted texts, movies, music, and artwork online? And how can teachers protect course materials that they have designed? In this video, law professor Steve Jamar answers such questions as he explains what copyright is, how to use copyrighted materials legally, and where to find additional information.

Multiculturalism in the Classroom

Guest Lecturer Anita Nahal, Ph.D.
March 8, 2005

How can teachers and students negotiate cultural differences when they are of different races or nationalities? For instance, what happens (1) when faculty who are not African American teach at historically black universities, (2) when African American faculty teach multicultural classes, or (3) when faculty teach abroad? Coming from different countries and ethnic backgrounds, four Howard University professors present their perspectives on such issues during this guest panel on teaching in a multicultural classroom.

Motivating Students “Keeping the Light On”

Guest Lecturer Debyii L. Sababu Thomas, Ph.D.
January 27, 2005

To motivate students, teachers must first be motivated. Then, they must understand what motivates them as well as their students. Theories by Hull, Maslow, McClelland, and others have shed light on the types of needs that motivate people as well as the factors in a learning environment that affect motivation. Surveys also reveal what students say motivates them—everything from enthusiastic teachers to reasonable exams. However, to “turn the lights on” for their students, teachers should not only consult the literature on motivation but also re-examine who they are (character), what they teach (content), how they teach (communication), where they teach (climate), and why they teach (concern).

Speaking Well: A Few Do's and Don'ts for Lecturers

Guest Lecturer David G. Fitzpatrick, MBA
November 16, 2004

Before giving a lecture, teachers should bear in mind actor Ben Vereen’s telling words: “Every performance is Opening Night.” A lecturer’s performance matters because it can affect students’ attention, comprehension, and retention. Therefore, teachers should prepare their visual aids with care, they should be mindful of their stage presence, and they should “read” their students’ reactions as the lecture progresses. In short, the key to effective lecturing is to become “audience-centric”—to consider what is heard and what is seen from the students’ perspective.

Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles

Guest Lecturer Constance Ellison, Ph.D.
May 24, 2004

Instead of asking, “How smart are you?” teachers should ask, “How are you smart?” The second question is important because students possess different types of intelligences and, thus, different ways of learning. Schools have traditionally cultivated and rewarded Verbal/Linguistic and Logical/Mathematical intelligences. But according to Psychologist Howard Gardner, there are at least six other types of intelligences: Visual/Spatial, Musical/Rhythmic, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Naturalist, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal. To empower all students to learn, teachers should develop lessons that allow students to put to use these intelligences as well as the more traditional ones

Developing Critical Thinkers

Guest Lecturer Richard Jones, Ph.D.
April 27, 2004

Critical thinking embraces questioning and reasoning. It is an art as well as a science, so it demands both practice and skill. Therefore, to develop critical thinkers in the classroom, teachers should demonstrate and engage their students in critical thinking as much as possible. Although teachers may apply a variety of strategies, they should seek, above all, to lead their students to aporia—a state of confusion about what to believe. Through aporia, teachers can encourage students to explore what they do NOT know instead of focusing on what they THINK they know. Socratic questioning is a particularly effective way to accomplish this task.

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