This summer (2019) I am working with a wonderful undergraduate student (let’s call her L because I’ve not asked her if she wants to be named) on a collaborative research project. We applied for a summer undergraduate research project for funding, and we are working together for several months on the possible applications of virtual reality in the classroom. Neither… Read more →
Teaching in the face of trauma, part 2
(Trigger warnings: trauma, depression, PTSD) The spring semester has ended, and I’ve had some time to sit with my experience of it before writing this post. It seems fitting to write a follow up post to my earlier one that described some of my initial experiences with teaching after the traumas I’d endured in the fall semester, despite my reticence… Read more →
The Open-Note Final Exam in a Flipped Classroom
This past semester in my renaissance art class, students were allowed to bring their notes to the final exam. Because this class was largely flipped, I decided to run the final exam as I would for in-class activities. Students could look at their notes or refer back to readings to prepare their answers. My hope was that the quality of… Read more →
Retrieval Practice and the Flipped Classroom
“But how do you ensure that students will do the reading for a flipped classroom?” I have heard this question many, many times. The success of the flipped classroom often hinges on whether or not the students have prepared outside the classroom in their individual spaces. How else will they be able to do in-class activities or apply information without… Read more →
Outlining an Intro Essay for Smarthistory: A Flipped Classroom Activity
In my last post, I posed the question of where does one even start in flipping the classroom. I’ve read a number of blog posts about this very idea. I’ve been to workshops that address the flipped classroom. But I always want tangibles. I want people to give me specific examples so that I can see how they actually did… Read more →
Flipping the Art History Classroom: Where do you even begin? Part 1
[This is post 1 of several posts that I will write about flipping the classroom. Stay tuned!] I recently gave a presentation at our center for teaching excellence about some ways in which I’ve flipped my classes. As a long-time “user” of team-based learning (TBL), I’ve had lots of successes and failures when it comes to flipping the classroom. I… Read more →
Learning to Take Notes about Material Presented in Videos: An Activity Using Smarthistory
Note taking. We all have our own individual ways that we like to take notes. Whatever our system might be, our notes need to help us retrieve information, to organize it, to make it accessible. I often find that my students struggle with note-taking. Not all of them, but many of them. They just haven’t found their system yet. Or… Read more →
Low Tech Digital Art History: An Activity about Metadata
One of the most common things I hear from colleagues who seem terrified by DAH is that it requires too much technology, takes too much class time, or just seems too out there for them. This post is for them, or for anyone else that thinks teaching DAH always has to involve computers, the internet, coding, or complicated software. It… Read more →
Gamification, part 2: Jeopardy (over multiple class periods)
I’ve been using jeopardy as a method for exam review for many years. If you can believe it, I remember making a poster board in one of the first classes that I ever taught that students could use. (It involved a lot of tape and papers flaps, and glitter pens). It always is a fun way to review with students… Read more →
Gamification, part 1: Escape Room
It is news to no one who knows me well that I love games. Board games, sudoku, puzzles, jeopardy—you name it, I probably love it. It is not surprising to anyone, least of all me, to learn then that I create a lot of games to play in the classroom. Yes, they are often fun, but more than that they… Read more →
Teaching in the Face of Trauma
(Trigger warnings: mass shooting, death, fires, depression) I am not one for sharing very personal things, especially in public. This might be one of the only posts that I ever write that is so personal, but I felt compelled to write it. This past semester (fall 2018) was officially the most difficult of my career, and it was personally one… Read more →
Skills vs. Content: How best to teach a “Humanities” Class
In my current position, I teach a large-lecture humanities class every semester. I’ve blogged about it before, so it is no surprise (if you’ve been following the blog) to hear that I have continuously tinkered with this class. Recently, I received a grant (exciting!) to overhaul the class (exciting?). I’ve decided that I am going to redo the entire class… Read more →
