Professional and Organizational Development Packets

The POD reading packets are composed of past Essays on Teaching Excellence, a POD Network publication series begun in 1989. Written by expert scholar-practitioners, these thoughtful and succinct essays consist of two pages each.

Packet #1: Alternatives to Traditional Teaching Methods and Learning Strategies

Academic Service-Learning: Myths, Challenges, and Recommendations, Jeffrey Howard
Learning Outside the Box: Making Connections Between Co-curricular Activities and the Curriculum, Myra Wilhite and Liz Banset
Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning, Deborah Dezure
Writing to Learn, Judith and Calvin Kalman
Team Teaching: The Learning Side of the Teaching -Learning Equation, Mary Jean Eisen and Elizabeth Tisdell
Creating a Culture of Co-Learners with Problem Based Learning, Kristi Arndt
Mentorship in the Classroom: Making the Implicit Explicit, Deanna Martin, Robert Blanc, and David Arendale
Spectators and Gladiators: Reconnecting the Students with the Problem, John Boehrer
Active Learning Beyond the Classroom, Ed Neal

Packet #2: Cooperative/Collaborative Learning, Small Groups

Cooperative Learning: It's Here to Stay, Barbara J. Millis
Foundations of Collaboration, Gail Goodyear Muir and Sally Blake
Problem-based Learning: Preparing Students to Succeed in the 21st Century, Barbara Duch, Deborah Allen, and Hal White
Three Keys to Using Learning Groups Effectively, Larry Michaelson
Collaborative Learning: Reframing the Classroom, Jean MacGregor

Packet #3: Critical Thinking

Higher Level Learning: A Taxonomy for Identifying Different Kinds of Significant Learning, L. Dee Fink
Leading the Seminar: Graduate and Undergraduate, Edward Neal
But how do we get them to think?, Carol A. Weiss
Building Confidence and Community in the Classroom, J. Dennis Houston
Critical Thinking by Design, Joanne Kurfiss

Packet #4: Defining and Characterizing Teaching

The Nature of Expertise: Implications for Teachers and Teaching, Ronald A. Smith and Richard G. Tiberius
Developing a Philosophy of Teaching Statement, Nancy Van Note Chism
Competence is What You Do When You Make a Mistake, Ronald A. Smith
Teaching with Style: The Integration of Teaching and Learning Styles in the Classroom, Anthony Grasha
The Teaching Portfolio, Peter Seldin
Good Teaching: A Matter of Living the Mystery, Parker J. Palmer
Forward to Aristotle: Teaching as the Highest Form of Understanding, Russell Edgerton
Teaching: Beliefs and Behaviors, Robert Menges

Packet #5: Diversity Issues

The Multicultural Teaching Portfolio, Matthew Kaplan
Diversity Begins at Home: One Gateway to Multiculturalism, Barbara Lounsberry
Class in the Classroom, Lee Warren
Teaching in Action: Multicultural Education as the Highest Form of Understanding, Christine Stanley
Deconstructing Bias and Reconstructing Equitable Classrooms, Laura L. B. Border
Leading Culturally Sensative Classroom Discussions Post September 11, Devorah Lieberman
Tales Told Out of School: Women's Reflections on Their Undergraduate Experience, Blythe Clinchy

Packet #6: Evaluation and Grading Issues

Helping Students help Each Other: Making Peer Feedback More Valuable, Linda Nelson
Students' Reactions to Performance-Based vs. Traditional Objective Assessment, Anthony L. Truog
I'd like to use essay tests, but . . . , Marilla Svinicki
In the Name of the Student. . .,Rita Rodabaugh
Course Tests: Integral Features of Instruction, Ohmer Milton

Packet #7: Improvement of Teaching and Assessment

Improving Teaching through Classroom Action Research, Gwynn Mettetal
Achieving Teaching and Learning Excellence through Faculty Learning Communities, Milton Cox
Teaching Circles: Making Inquiry Safe for Faculty, Mary Ann Cessna and Laurel Black
Teaching Goals, Assessment, Academic Freedom, and Higher Learning, Tom Angelo
Making Sense (and Use) of Written Student Comments, Karron G. Lewis
Classroom Assessment and Classroom Research: Guidelines for Success, Tom Angelo
Countering Common Misbeliefs about Student Evaluation of Teaching, Robert Boice

Packet #8: Introductory Courses / General Education

The Phenomenon of Large Classes and Practical Suggestions for Teaching Them, Frank Gillespie
What did I do right in one freshman seminar? What did I do wrong in another? What will I do next time?, Richard Schoenwald
Disciplinary Cultures and General Education: What Can We Learn from Our Learners?, Sheila Tobias
The Challenge of Teaching the Introductory Level Course, Delivee Wright
Helping First-Year Students Study, Part I, Bette LeSere Erickson
Helping First-Year Students Study, Part II, Bette LeSere Erickson

Packet #9: Motivating Students

From Cognitive Dissonance to Self-Motivated Learning, Edmund Hansen
Living up to Expectations, Steven M. Richardson
The Emotional Classroom, Eddie Vela
Exploring Student Expectations, Janet Gail Donald and James Wilkinson
Relating Student Experience to Courses and the Curriculum, Virginia S. Lee
Mistakes and Other Classroom Techniques, Harriet C. Edwards
Learning a Lot vs. Looking Good: A Source of Anxiety for Students, Anastasia Hagen
Changing Student Learning Behavior Outside of Class, Graham Gibbs

Packet #10: The Student/Teacher Relationship

Teaching as an Educational Helping Relationship, Douglas Reimondo Robertson
Teaching with Hospitality, John Bennett
Academic Civility Begins in the Classroom, Roger G. Baldwin
The Why of Teacher/Student Relationships, Richard G. Tiberius
Power in College Teaching, Linc. Fisch
Never in a Class by Themselves: An Examination of Behaviors
Affecting the Student-Professor Relationship, David J. Walsh and Mary Jo Maffei

Packet #11: Change, Renewal, and the Professoriate

Teachers are Diverse, too: Understanding Beliefs about Teaching and Learning, Richard Tiberius
Reflections on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Pat Hutchings
Rethinking What it Means to Be a Scholar, Gene Rice
Ten Qualities of Self-Renewing Faculty, Fred Hudson
Why Professors Don't Change, Loren Eckroth

Packet #14: The Learning Process

Unlearning: A Critical Element in the Learning Process, Virginia S. Lee
Teachers and Scholars as Designers, Charles M. Spuches
Integrating "Learning How to Learn" Strategies into Your Content Teaching, Terry Doyle
The Uses of Uncertainty in the College Classroom, Virginia S. Lee
What They Don?t Know Can?t Hurt Them: The Role of Prior Knowledge in Learning, Marilla Svinicki