This book shows college instructors how to communicate their course organization to students in a graphic syllabus―a one-page diagram, flowchart, or concept map of the topical organization―and an outcomes map―a one-page flowchart of the sequence of student learning objectives and outcomes from the foundational through the mediating to the ultimate. It also documents the positive impact that graphics have on student learning and cautions readers about common errors in designing graphic syllabi.

The Graphic Syllabus and the Outcomes Map: Communicating Your Course

Education & Teaching

Nilson, Linda B.

Higher & Continuing Education

Jossey-Bass

An annual publication of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD), To Improve the Academy offers a resource for improvement in higher education to faculty and instructional development staff, department chairs, faculty, deans, student services staff, chief academic officers, and educational consultants.

To Improve the Academy: Resources for Faculty, Instructional, and Organizational Development

Teaching at Its Best This third edition of the best-selling handbook offers faculty at all levels an essential toolbox of hundreds of practical teaching techniques, formats, classroom activities, and exercises, all of which can be implemented immediately. This thoroughly revised edition includes the newest portrait of the Millennial student; current research from cognitive psychology; a focus on outcomes maps; the latest legal options on copyright issues; and how to best use new technology including wikis, blogs, podcasts, vodcasts, and clickers. Entirely new chapters include subjects such as matching teaching methods with learning outcomes, inquiry-guided learning, and using visuals to teach, and new sections address Felder and Silverman's Index of Learning Styles, SCALE-UP classrooms, multiple true-false test items, and much more. Praise for the Third Edition of Teaching at Its BestEveryone—veterans as well as novices—will profit from reading Teaching at Its Best, for it provides both theory and practical suggestions for handling all of the problems one encounters in teaching classes varying in size, ability, and motivation."—Wilbert McKeachie, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, and coauthor, McKeachie's Teaching TipsThis new edition of Dr. Nilson's book, with its completely updated material and several new topics, is an even more powerful collection of ideas and tools than the last. What a great resource, especially for beginning teachers but also for us veterans!"—L. Dee Fink, author, Creating Significant Learning ExperiencesThis third edition of Teaching at Its Best is successful at weaving the latest research on teaching and learning into what was already a thorough exploration of each topic. New information on how we learn, how students develop, and innovations in instructional strategies complement the solid foundation established in the first two editions."—Marilla D. Svinicki, Department of Psychology, The University of Texas, Austin, and coauthor, McKeachie's Teaching Tips

Teaching at Its Best, Third Edition: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors

The classic teaching toolbox, updated with new research and ideas Teaching at Its Best is the bestselling, research-based toolbox for college instructors at any level, in any higher education setting. Packed with practical guidance, proven techniques, and expert perspectives, this book helps instructors improve student learning both face-to-face and online. This new fourth edition features five new chapters on building critical thinking into course design, creating a welcoming classroom environment, helping students learn how to learn, giving and receiving feedback, and teaching in multiple modes, along with the latest research and new questions to facilitate faculty discussion. Topics include new coverage of the flipped classroom, cutting-edge technologies, self-regulated learning, the mental processes involved in learning and memory, and more, in the accessible format and easy-to-understand style that has made this book a much-valued resource among college faculty. 
Good instructors are always looking for ways to improve student learning. With college classrooms becoming increasingly varied by age, ability, and experience, the need for fresh ideas and techniques has never been greater. This book provides a wealth of research-backed practices that apply across the board. 
<ul>
<li>Teach students practical, real-world problem solving</li> <li>Interpret student ratings accurately</li> <li>Boost motivation and help students understand how they learn</li> <li>Explore alternative techniques, formats, activities, and exercises</li> </ul>
Given the ever-growing body of research on student learning, faculty now have many more choices of effective teaching strategies than they used to have, along with many more ways to achieve excellence in the classroom. Teaching at Its Best is an invaluable toolbox for refreshing your approach, and providing the exceptional education your students deserve.

Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors, 4th Edition

John Wiley&Sons

Bring pedagogy and cognitive science to online learning environments Online Teaching at Its Best: Merging Instructional Design with Teaching and Learning Research, 2nd Edition, is the scholarly resource for online learning that faculty, instructional designers, and administrators have raved about. This book addresses course design, teaching, and student motivation across the continuum of online teaching modes--remote, hybrid, hyflex, and fully online--integrating these with pedagogical and cognitive science, and grounding its recommendations in the latest research. The book will help you design or redesign your courses to ensure strong course alignment and effective student learning in any of these teaching modes. Its emphasis on evidence-based practices makes this one of the most scholarly books of its kind on the market today. This new edition features significant new content including more active learning formats for small groups across the online teaching continuum, strategies and tools for scripting and recording effective micro-lectures, ways to integrate quiz items within micro-lectures, more conferencing software and techniques to add interactivity, and a guide for rapid transition from face-to-face to online teaching. You'll also find updated examples, references, and quotes to reflect more evolved technology. <ul> <li>Adopt new pedagogical techniques designed specifically for remote, hybrid, hyflex, and fully online learning environments</li> <li>Ensure strong course alignment and effective student learning for all these modes of instruction</li> <li>Increase student retention, build necessary support structures, and train faculty more effectively</li> <li>Integrate research-based course design and cognitive psychology into graduate or undergraduate programs</li> </ul> Distance is no barrier to a great education. Online Teaching at Its Best provides practical, real-world advice grounded in educational and psychological science to help online instructors, instructional designers, and administrators deliver an exceptional learning experience even under emergency conditions.

Online Teaching at Its Best: Merging Instructional Design with Teaching and Learning Research

Computers & Technology

Goodson, Ludwika A.

Software

A complete, accessible, evidence-based guide to better teaching in higher education 
This higher education playbook provides a wealth of research-backed practices for nearly every aspect of effective teaching throughout higher education. It is filled with practical guidance and proven techniques designed to help you improve student learning, both face-to-face and online. Already a bestselling research-based toolbox written for college instructors of any experience level, Teaching at Its Best just got even better. 
What is new? A lot. For this updated 5th edition, Todd Zakrajsek joins Linda Nilson to create a powerful collaboration, drawing on nearly 90 combined years as internationally recognized faculty developers and faculty members. One of the most comprehensive books on effective teaching and learning, the 5th edition of Teaching at its Best brings new concepts, new research, and additional perspectives to teaching in higher education. In this book, you will find helpful advice on active learning, interactive lecturing, self-regulated learning, the science of learning, giving and receiving feedback, and so much more. Each chapter has been revised where necessary to reflect current higher education pedagogy and now includes two reflection questions and one application prompt to reflect on your teaching and stimulate peer discussions. Discover the value of course design and how to write effective learning outcomes Learn which educational technology is worthwhile and which is a waste of time Create a welcoming classroom environment that boosts motivation Explore detailed explanations of techniques, formats, activities, and exercises―both in person and online Enjoy reading about teaching strategies and educational concepts 
Whether used as a resource for new and seasoned faculty, a guide for teaching assistants, or a tool to facilitate faculty development, this research-based book is highly regarded across all institutional types.

Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors

Zakrajsek, Todd D.

Creating Self-Regulated Learners

Most of our students neither know how learning works nor what they have to do to ensure it, to the detriment both of their studies and their development as lifelong learners. The point of departure for this book is the literature on self-regulated learning that tells us that deep, lasting, independent learning requires learners to bring into play a range of cognitive skills, affective attitudes, and even physical activities – about which most students are wholly unaware; and that self-regulation, which has little to do with measured intelligence, can be developed by just about anyone and is a fundamental prerequisite of academic success. Linda Nilson provides the theoretical background to student self-regulation,the evidence that it enhances achievement, and the strategies to help students develop it. She presents an array of tested activities and assignments through which students can progressively reflect on, monitor and improve their learning skills; describes how they can be integrated with different course components and on various schedules; and elucidates how to intentionally and seamlessly incorporate them into course design to effectively meet disciplinary and student development objectives. Recognizing that most faculty are unfamiliar with these strategies, she also recommends how to prepare for introducing them into the classroom and adding more as instructors become more confident using them. The book concludes with descriptions of courses from different fields to offer models and ideas for implementation. At a time of so much concern about what our students are learning in college and how well prepared they are for the challenges of tomorrow’s economy and society, self-regulated learning provides a reassuring solution, particularly as studies indicate that struggling students benefit the most from practicing it.

Business & Money

Education & Reference

Routledge

Specifications Grading

In her latest book Linda Nilson puts forward an innovative but practical and tested approach to grading that can demonstrably raise academic standards, motivate students, tie their achievement of learning outcomes to their course grades, save faculty time and stress, and provide the reliable gauge of student learning that the public and employers are looking for. She argues that the grading system most commonly in use now is unwieldy, imprecise and unnecessarily complex, involving too many rating levels for too many individual assignments and tests, and based on a hairsplitting point structure that obscures the underlying criteria and encourages students to challenge their grades.This new specifications grading paradigm restructures assessments to streamline the grading process and greatly reduce grading time, empower students to choose the level of attainment they want to achieve, reduce antagonism between the evaluator and the evaluated, and increase student receptivity to meaningful feedback, thus facilitating the learning process – all while upholding rigor. In addition, specs grading increases students’ motivation to do well by making expectations clear, lowering their stress and giving them agency in determining their course goals. Among the unique characteristics of the schema, all of which simplify faculty decision making, are the elimination of partial credit, the reliance on a one-level grading rubric and the “bundling” of assignments and tests around learning outcomes. Successfully completing more challenging bundles (or modules) earns a student a higher course grade. Specs grading works equally well in small and large class settings and encourages “authentic assessment.” Used consistently over time, it can restore credibility to grades by demonstrating and making transparent to all stakeholders the learning outcomes that students achieve.This book features many examples of courses that faculty have adapted to spec grading and lays out the surprisingly simple transition process. It is intended for all members of higher education who teach, whatever the discipline and regardless of rank, as well as those who oversee, train, and advise those who teach.Specification grading promotes the following values and outcomes. It:1. Upholds High Academic Standards2. Reflects Student Attainment of Skills and Knowledge 3. Motivates Students to Learn and to Excel4. Fosters Higher-Order Cognitive Development and Creativity5. Discourages Cheating6. Reduces Student Stress7. Makes Students Feel Responsible for Their Grades8. Minimizes Conflict Between Faculty and Students9. Saves Faculty Time and Is Simple to Administer10. Makes Expectations Clear and Simplifies Feedback for Improvement11. Assesses Authentically12. Achieves High Inter-Rater Agreement

In her latest book Linda Nilson puts forward an innovative but practical and tested approach to grading that can demonstrably raise academic standards, motivate students, tie their achievement of learning outcomes to their course grades, save faculty time and stress, and provide the reliable gauge of student learning that the public and employers are looking for. She argues that the grading system most commonly in use now is unwieldy, imprecise and unnecessarily complex, involving too many rating levels for too many individual assignments and tests, and based on a hairsplitting point structure that obscures the underlying criteria and encourages students to challenge their grades. This new specifications grading paradigm restructures assessments to streamline the grading process and greatly reduce grading time, empower students to choose the level of attainment they want to achieve, reduce antagonism between the evaluator and the evaluated, and increase student receptivity to meaningful feedback, thus facilitating the learning process – all while upholding rigor. In addition, specs grading increases students’ motivation to do well by making expectations clear, lowering their stress and giving them agency in determining their course goals. Among the unique characteristics of the schema, all of which simplify faculty decision making, are the elimination of partial credit, the reliance on a one-level grading rubric and the “bundling” of assignments and tests around learning outcomes. Successfully completing more challenging bundles (or modules) earns a student a higher course grade. Specs grading works equally well in small and large class settings and encourages “authentic assessment.” Used consistently over time, it can restore credibility to grades by demonstrating and making transparent to all stakeholders the learning outcomes that students achieve. This book features many examples of courses that faculty have adapted to spec grading and lays out the surprisingly simple transition process. It is intended for all members of higher education who teach, whatever the discipline and regardless of rank, as well as those who oversee, train, and advise those who teach. Specification grading promotes the following values and outcomes. It: 1. Upholds High Academic Standards 2. Reflects Student Attainment of Skills and Knowledge 3. Motivates Students to Learn and to Excel 4. Fosters Higher-Order Cognitive Development and Creativity 5. Discourages Cheating 6. Reduces Student Stress 7. Makes Students Feel Responsible for Their Grades 8. Minimizes Conflict Between Faculty and Students 9. Saves Faculty Time and Is Simple to Administer 10. Makes Expectations Clear and Simplifies Feedback for Improvement 11. Assesses Authentically 12. Achieves High Inter-Rater Agreement

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Nilson, Linda B.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Nilson, Linda B.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Nilson, Linda B.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Graphic Syllabus and the Outcomes Map: Communicating Your Course

To Improve the Academy: Resources for Faculty, Instructional, and Organizational Development

Teaching at Its Best, Third Edition: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors

Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors, 4th Edition

Online Teaching at Its Best: Merging Instructional Design with Teaching and Learning Research

Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors

Creating Self-Regulated Learners

Creating Self-Regulated Learners

Specifications Grading

Specifications Grading