College Teaching
EDEP 6644 @ Virginia Tech
Course Information Instructor Information
EDEP 6644: College Teaching Peter Doolittle
1750 Kraft Drive • Room 2102 (map) 220 Public Safety Building
Thursdays, 7:00 pm - 9:50 pm pdoo@vt.edu
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Instructor Information
Peter Doolittle
2201 Public Safety Building
pdoo@vt.edu
Course Information
EDEP 6644: College Teaching
1750 Kraft Drive • Room 2102
Thursdays 7:00-9:50 pm
Course Purpose
How do students learn?
How do we design for learning?
How do we teach for learning?
How do we ensure equity?
How do we embrace context?
How do we assess for learning?
Course Description
Learning
The vast majority of faculty in higher education have never been taught to teach. Yet, the domain of college teaching has been explored for more than 100 years (see Edward Thorndike's 1906 Principles of Teaching based on Psychology ). The results of this practical and empirical exploration is more effective and more equitable student learning.
Knowledge
The practice of college teaching should reach beyond one's experience and intuition. Indeed, college teaching practice should be guided by a century of research-based basic and applied knowledge related to human learning, instructional strategies, human relations, and instructional assessment.
Application
How do I plan a new class? Which instructional strategies foster the types of knowledge I want for my students? How do I engage my students in learning? What strategies lead to an equitable instructional environment? What options are there for assessment and grading? The answers await you in this course.
Learn to Teach
How to Plan a Course from Beginning to End
10 Strategies for Deep Learning
Avoid These Common Missteps in Class
What No One Tells You About Grading
Start Supporting All Students' Success
Teach Well

Be Happy
Course Goals
Goal 1

Students will understand the integrated and adaptive nature of human learning and will be able to apply, strategically and purposefully, fundamental learning principles to the creation of student-centered instructional environments. (LEARNING)

Goal 2

Students will purposefully engage in designing instructional environments that emphasize big ideas and focus on the development of deep and flexible learning. (PLANNING)

Goal 3

Students will view assessment primarily as a component of student learning, and only secondarily, as a component of what students have learned, and will purposefully integrate assessment into instruction. (ASSESSMENT)

Goal 4

Students will appreciate and purposefully take into account the institutional, cultural, and physical contexts within which college teaching occurs. (CONTEXT)

Goal 5

Students will purposefully implement instruction that focuses on and fosters deep and flexible student learning. (TEACHING)

Course Pedagogy
Course Readings

The course, in pursuit of its three primary questions, is structured in several parts:

  1. The course, students, & instructors
  2. What is teaching?
  3. How do students learn?
  4. How do we design courses/lessons?
  5. How do we ensure equity?
  6. What is course embedded assessment?
  7. What instructional strategies work?
  8. What are the mechanics of teaching?
Course Login
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
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