Teaching on Solid Ground

An excellent book for faculty who regard teaching as more than a set of techniques. Menges and Weimer focus on connecting teaching with student learning, and they help faculty develop a systematic inquiry into teaching strategies, as well as showing them how to better utilize students assessment in the classroom.
?Larry Braskamp, dean of the College of Education, University of Illinois, Chicago 1. Using Scholarship to Improve Practice(Maryellen Weimer).

Part One: Students and Learning.

2. Teaching and Today's College Students(M. Lee Upcraft).

3. Making the Transition to College(Patrick T. Terenzini, Laura I. Randoan, Susan B. Millar, M. Lee Upcraft, Patricia Gregg, Romero Jalomo, Kevin W. Allison).

4. Student Motivation from a Teaching Perspective(Raymond P. Perry, Verena H. Menec, C. Ward Struthers).

5. Collaborative Learning: Creating Knowledge with Students(Roberta S. Matthews).

6. Assessing Student Involvement in Learning(Robert Froh, Mark Hawkes).

Part Two: Teachers and Teaching.

7. Teaching Today's Students Requires a New Role for Faculty(Susan B. Millar).

8. Research on Learning: A Means to Enhance Instruction(Marilla D. Svinivki, Anastasia S. Hagen, Debra K. Meyer).

9. Planning and Developing Effective Courses(George L. Geis).

10. Assignments That Promote and Integrate Learning(Joe Lowman).

11. Feedback That Enhances Teaching and Learning(Robert J. Menges, William C. Rando).

Part Three: Issues and Contexts: Higher Education Today.

12. What College Teachers Need to Know(Sarah M. Dinham).

13. Instructor Vitality: Some Provocative Implications of Theory and Research on Human Motivation(Charles James Walker, Jennifer Woods Quinn).

14. Diversity in Academe: Cultural Strategies for Change(William G. Tierney, Estala M. Bensimon).

15. Improving Programs Through Assessing Student Outcomes(Trudy Banta). "This book will be particularly useful to graduate students preparing for teaching careers in higher education, to anyone seeking examples of writing that explicitly links research and practice, and to faculty development leaders interested in offering useful reading to busy colleagues committed to improving their teaching practice." (Ann E. Austin, associate professor, Program in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at Michigan State University, J. Staff, Program, & Organization Development) ROBERT J. MENGES is professor of education and social policy at Northwestern University, where he also heads the Center for the Teaching Professions.

MARYELLEN WEIMER is senior lecturer in speech and Facilitator of Learning Initiatives at the Pennsylvania State University, Berks Campus. She is also editor-in-chief of The Teaching Professor newsletter. The landscape of higher education is changing drastically: students are changing in terms of who they are and how they learn, institutions are being called to greater accountability, and teachers are under pressure to adapt the practices of teaching and learning to these new conditions. This book brings together the foremost authorities in the field to illustrate the new notion of a "scholarship of teaching"--a scholarly orientation to improving instruction.Teaching on Solid Ground connects recent educational research with the real classroom practice of teaching and learning. Diverse authors illustrate key research findings on topics including collaborative learning, creating effective assignments, giving feedback, and dealing with diversity. They explain how teachers can put this knowledge to use to strengthen both their own skills and the learning that takes place in their classrooms.The book reveals the importance of a more complete understanding of students and learning, for example, in chapters on the transition to college and motivation. It presents new ways of thinking about instruction, such as by giving students more of a voice in the classroom. And it explores the issues that demand faculty attention at the institutional and professional level, including faculty motivation and quality of teaching. Underlying this entire book is the critical premise that educational researchers and teachers must become partners in the ongoing task of teaching improvement.(Better Teaching and Learning in College was in place of Teaching on Solid Ground is now) "An excellent book for faculty who regard teaching as more than a set of techniques. Menges and Weimer focus on connecting teaching with student learning, and they help faculty develop a systematic inquiry into teaching strategies, as well as showing them how to better utilize students assessment in the classroom." --Larry Braskamp, dean of the College of Education, University of Illinois, Chicago