time management

Achieving Higher Efficiency in Chemistry Labs Using Electronic Scheduling

by Rong “Rocky” Ye, Chemistry
Chemistry 112A had a five-hour lab section every week. [I]n the first few weeks of the semester, students had difficulties in finishing all the work on time… I saw the need to improve [their] efficiency without causing too much intervention in their independent thinking.

Attending to Attendance

by Tobias Smith, Jurisprudence and Social Policy
In my sections I reimagine attendance as a weekly opportunity for a brief exchange with my students. In the last few minutes of class I give each student a blank index card to fill out and immediately hand back to me. On the front the student writes the date and her or his name. On the back the student reflects briefly on a prompt.

A ‘Tradeoffs’ Method for Soliciting Student Feedback

by Sean Tanner, Public Policy
I experimented with a method of collecting student feedback that would force the students to make tradeoffs in my time and effort. I gave them a list of the potentially alterable activities I perform as a teacher…All told, I had eighteen hours per week to distribute across nine teaching activities. Each student reapportioned my time to suit his needs.

Designing a Better Laboratory Course

by Richard Keith Slotkin, Plant and Microbial Biology
I set up what I called “cooking show” exercises. For example, when a student finished assembling a reaction, instead of waiting for a week to see the results, I had pre-run reactions ready. This enabled us to bypass time intensive waiting steps and allowed the students to complete long protocols within the three-hour class time.