David Gooblar is a lecturer in the Rhetoric department at the University of Iowa. He writes a regular column for the Chronicle of Higher Education's Vitae website, also called "Pedagogy Unbound".
This best-selling book explains the concept of constructive alignment used in implementing outcomes-based education. Constructive alignment identifies the desired learning outcomes and helps teachers design the teaching and learning activities that will help students to achieve those outcomes, and to assess how well those outcomes have been achieved. Each chapter includes tasks that offer a 'how-to' manual to implement constructive alignment in your own teaching practices. This new edition draws on the authors' experience of consulting on the implementation of constructive alignment in Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland and Malaysia including a wider range of disciplines and teaching contexts. There is also a new section on the evaluation of constructive alignment, which is now used worldwide as a framework for good teaching and assessment, as it has been shown to: Assist university teachers who wish to improve the quality of their own teaching, their students' learning and their assessment of learning outcomes Aid staff developers in providing support for departments in line with institutional policies Provide a framework for administrators interested in quality assurance and enhancement of teaching across the whole universityThe authors have also included useful web links to further material. Teaching for Quality Learning at University will be of particular interest to teachers, staff developers and administrators.
Success in mathematics and science requires students to process and comprehend various forms of text; yet, many teachers feel ill-equipped to promote the development of literacy skills within the context of developing conceptual understanding of mathematics and science. Many content area literacy resources do not provide an adequate development of the complexities involved in dealing with mathematics and science texts. This work presents important background information on the reading and process and classroom tested strategies which include implementation information and ideas for modifying the strategy to diverse needs. These classroom examples support teachers and educational specialists as they design instructional experiences to facilitate both students' conceptualization of important subject area content and the tools necessary for students to develop the literacy skills necessary to be successful in today's text rich educational learning environments.
The article discusses the strategies to reverse the declining writing ability of students in the secondary and higher education. It cites several evidences to prove the downward trend in student writing skills from research and proficiency writing tests. It identifies the causes of poor writing abilities among college students and recommends strategies for educators to improve student writing skills.
Education professionals interested in understanding student writing will want to read this book. It describes "Generous Reading," a novel method of approaching the writing of culturally and linguistically diverse students. This book addresses the increasing diversity present throughout schools across the U.S. and in other countries. Drawing from current research and theory in linguistics and composition, Spence has developed a way for teachers to tap into the cultural worlds of students and draw upon their