Aug

19

Race/Class Interaction

August 19, 2009 | by Elisabeth Gareis | 5 Comments

The Princeton Review has once again named Baruch College as one of the best 371 colleges in America. The report also features 62 rankings lists on topics including “Professors Get High Marks,” “Class Discussions Encouraged,” and “Most Beautiful Campus.” Each rankings lists presents the top and the bottom 20 colleges. With Baruch’s status as most [...]

Jul

19

Blackboard Tips

July 19, 2009 | by Elisabeth Gareis | Leave a Comment

The following blog post on http://www.smartteaching.org/blog may be of interest. It features links to Blackboard tips and tutorials:
 http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/0…

Apr

13

Did You Teach to Each?

April 13, 2009 | by Elisabeth Gareis | 3 Comments

In a recent article in the International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Kolb and Joy (2009) investigated whether there are cultural differences in learning styles. Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI) was tested on participants from seven nations. The inventory provides scores for two dimensions: (1) from abstract conceptualization to concrete experience and (2) from active experimentation [...]

Mar

11

A+ . . . Despite Heavy Accent

March 11, 2009 | by Elisabeth Gareis | 10 Comments

Question: A student gives a presentation. He has a heavy foreign accent and is at times incomprehensible. Overall, the speech seems well researched and on target. What do you do?
a. Give him an A.
b. Subtract points for incomprehensibility and give him a B.
c. Tell him that the presentation was unacceptable and that he should improve [...]

Jan

29

Intellectual Challenge Survey

January 29, 2009 | by Elisabeth Gareis | 1 Comment

I conducted an informal, anonymous survey on “intellectual challenge” with students in my classes (n = 32). The respondents were mostly Communication minors and Zicklin majors; i.e., represent somewhat of a cross-section of Baruch students. (I checked with Hannah Rothstein, IRB director: Informal surveys with the purpose of program improvement can be conducted without IRB [...]

Dec

7

A for Content . . . F for Form

December 7, 2008 | by Elisabeth Gareis | 3 Comments

It’s term paper time. Actually, it was time last week for term paper drafts in two of my classes. Unfortunately, six students had draft grades below 50 (three below 40). The thing is: Their papers were actually quite good with respect to content. The students had clearly conducted their research and presented interesting information and [...]

Oct

20

Intellectual Challenge vs. Grade Inflation

October 20, 2008 | by Elisabeth Gareis | 8 Comments

What are your thoughts on course evaluations? I find them to be a great motivator for reflecting on course content and delivery. My latest project is to increase my ratings on the item: “The course challenged me intellectually.” I feel I have been too lenient at times, not challenging our students enough and falling victim [...]

Sep

18

Animated Graphs

September 18, 2008 | by Elisabeth Gareis | 6 Comments

It’s football season . . . which reminds me of an interesting study. In it, Guadagno, Sundie, Asher, and Cialdini (2006) presented football statistics to groups of students-some were fans with extensive knowledge of the sport, some were unfamiliar with its intricacies. The premise was for students to act as recruiters and judge which players [...]