by Karen Nichols<\/p>\n
Happy New Year! During this time we are bombarded with lists of the best (and worse) from 2015 as we attempt to summarize what last year was all about. Well, I'm adding to this assortment a list from Faculty Focus<\/strong>' Top 15 Teaching and Learning Articles of 2015<\/a>*, in order to see what topics interest the faculty.<\/p>\n If two of the articles focused on \"flipped<\/a>\" classrooms, then we can gauge the continuing interest in this technique.\u00a0 Two of the top articles pertain to effective discussions, in the classroom and online.\u00a0 The Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development has posted several blogs on discussions (such as The Ultimate Guide to Discussion Boards<\/a>! and\u00a0 Improve Online Discussions using ABCs<\/a>) plus hosted a workshop, but it may be a good idea to keep in mind the need to continuously improve in this area.<\/p>\n And what is Faculty Focus'<\/strong> number one article of last year?\u00a0 More Evidence That Active Learning Trumps Lecturing<\/a><\/p>\n This is actually reflected on our campus as well as we have given presentations and workshops on metacognition and active learning for several individual departments in addition to a general offering to all faculty.<\/p>\n Here's a four minute YouTube video, \"What is Active Learning?\"<\/p>\n