1. What this Site Contains

2. Teaching Goals
   1. Active learning
      • Active learning definition, examples, barriers (from Stanford newsletter)
      • First day of class (two essays from BYU site)
   2. Learning-centered classrooms
   3. Critical thinking
   4. Teaching of and barriers to problem-solving skills (from Univ. N. Carolina-Chapel Hill)

3. Course Development and Management
   1. Developing a syllabus
   2. Using instructional technology
   3. Texts and readings
   4. Assessing learning
      • Using Classroom Assessment Techniques (from U.Calif.-Santa Barbara)
      • Peer-grading in lieu of traditional tests (from Calif. State Univ-Fresno)
      • Definitions and assessing general education (from AAHE)
   5. Assessing teaching
      • Challenges of teaching evaluation (from U.Miss)
      • Teaching portfolios (from U. Wyoming)

4. Understanding Learners & Learning
   1. Learning/teaching styles
      • Summaries of four categories of learning styles models (from Indiana State U.)
      • Applying learning styles in teaching (from Indiana State U.)
   2. Teaching Styles
      • Tony Grasha's five teaching styles (from Indiana State U.)
   3. Multiple intelligences
   4. Bloom's Taxonomy
      • Bloom's six taxonomic levels of cognitive behavior (from NTLF)

5. Teaching Strategies & Techniques
   1. Cooperative learning
      • Definition and 12 classroom techniques (from Univ. of Tennessee)
   2. Problem-based learning
   3. Large-class instruction
   4. Case studies
      • Reasons and tips for using case studies (from Univ. of Tennessee)
   5. Discussions
      • Excerpt from book on using discussions in teaching (from NTLF Library)
   6. Student Presentations
   7. Peer instruction
   8. Lectures
   9. Questioning techniques

6. Issues and Ideas in Teaching and Learning
   1. Humor in the classroom
   2. Scholarship of teaching
   3. Addressing diversity

1. What This Site Contains

Have questions about teaching? Do you want ideas and teaching techniques that can help make your classes more lively and engaging? This online resource presents a compilation of short to medium-length articles on teaching and learning in higher education. Of value to new and veteran faculty, instructors, teaching assistants, and instructional development staff, these FAQs can help answer questions and suggest new ways to approach the challenges of teaching.

Expanding NTLF's role as a leading voice in improving postsecondary instruction, FAQ topics provide definitions, practical examples, issue-based discussions, summaries of important research, and references. Topics range from course planning and assessment to teaching strategies and instructional technology.

The material presented here has been drawn from a variety of online resources, in particular college and university instructional development sites. Selections were chosen from among the large and growing pool of sources, and readers are encouraged to continue their explorations of the web to find more on topics of interest. In the future, original essays by leading scholars will expand the range and depth of these holdings.

For some topics, a "Further Reading" section is provided having both online and print resources as well as citations to past The National Teaching and Learning Forum newsletter articles and hypertext links to materials found elsewhere in the "library" section of this Web site. This FAQ is designed to be a starting point for finding intelligent and useful information - please let us have your feedback on its utility and how you think the resource might be improved.