Best Teaching Practices

"Structured Silence" (post) suggests ways to "help people become comfortable with silence as an integral part of any discussion session" rather than having "lulls in a discussion ... experienced as awkward and interpreted to mean that nothing is happening."

1. Purposes of Structured Silence

"Why Should I Memorize This Stuff When I Have Google and a Calculator?" (post) briefly examines why field-specific vocabulary ("jargon") is worth memorizing, "some possible ways of facilitating rapid acquisition of the jargon in your course," and some "cautions against memorizing."

• “[M]emorization of details has a short shelf life."

• "Better to go for a deeper understanding of the materials, because those memories will last longer."

1. Why Memorize Jargon

A. "What Happens Between Assessments?" (post) outlines "seven principles for performance-based instruction to implement" between assessments.

• Often, "performance assessments are better suited than traditional tests to measure what really counts: whether students can apply their knowledge, skills, and understanding in important, real-world contexts."

• "If we expect students to improve their performance on these new, more authentic measures, we need to engage in 'performance-based instruction' on a regular basis."

B. The 7 Principles

"5 Ways to Create Relevant Cultures of Learning" (post) outlines why relevance is necessary to learning, how relevance can be established, and questions to ask to assess the relevance of one's content.

• See also "Relevance Is The Fuel of Learning."

1. Why Relevance Matters