Jose Medina

The role of an instructor is to impart knowledge in the classroom and not hold a student's hand. However, this is easier said than done. For example, I keep shifting my Late HW policy each quarter because I have yet to find a "sweet spot." There are times when a student does not complete the assigned homework and cannot provide a legitimate excuse. In such a case, I make sure to constantly remind them that the homework is worth a large portion of the final grade and that it needs to be turned in ASAP. This is me now playing… >>>

Hello, I teach a course in Biology for non-science majors and we often look at all types of life, from bacteria all the way up to humans. Students learn a great deal during lecture and will be exposed to various organisms with the help of a microscope and prepared slides. Towards the end of the semester, we conduct a frog dissection and students seem to love it. In order to reinforce proper lab techniques and safe handling of dissection tools, I require that each student complete a virtual lab dissection at home. This serves as a practice session before they… >>>

Do you find yourself creating new exams each time you teach a course? Well, there is one strategy that has proven successful for me over the years. Basically, you should develop two versions of an exam per block (i.e. every 3-4 chapters there should be an exam. Versions A and B can be rotated by term or year to keep things fresh). Here is the catch: Do not allow your students to keep their exams! You may still share the results with the student; however, they are not allowed to keep the test. By restricting access to the exam, you… >>>

Teaching a course for the first time involves a lot of work on the part of the instructor. Areas such as syllabus creation, lesson planning, quiz/exam making, homework grading, etc. can cause stress because the work must be done from scratch. Therefore, "to-do" lists and excellent time management will lead to effective teaching. Fortunately, as time passes and the class nears completion we are left with a valuable reward in the form of important documents. These documents can be reused over and over again for future iterations of the same course. Essentially, all instructors must experience periods of temporary stress… >>>

Competitive integrity is a necessary facet of higher education especially when it comes to sharing stories about a particular school. How should an instructor respond to an inquiry made by a student with regard to "which school is better?" There are some instructors who teach at two different schools in the same town or city. It is imperative that teachers remain neutral and not express a bias towards one school based on the benefits, salary or work environment. This conflict of interest is fascinating and does leave room for debate. Nevertheless, the instructor should never disparage either school he/she works… >>>