Excerpt from Tools for Teaching

By Barbara Gross Davis (1993)

Reprinted here with permission

In designing or revising a course, faculty are faced with at least three crucial decisions: what to teach, how to teach it, and how to ensure that students are learning what is being taught. Often, the most difficult step in preparing or revising a course is deciding which topics must be excluded if the whole is to be manageable. Many teachers, hoping to impart to students everything they know about a subject, attempt to include too much material by half. The suggestions are designed to help faculty limit the content of their courses, structure and sequence the activities and assignments, set policies, and handle administrative tasks.

Chapter: Motivating Students

Long awaited 2nd edition (Feb. 2009) is available from Jossey-Bass. This new edition contains up-to-date information on technology as well as expanding on the ideas and strategies presented in the first edition. It includes more than sixty-one chapters designed to improve the teaching of beginning, mid-career, or senior faculty members. The topics cover both traditional tasks of teaching as well as broader concerns, such as diversity and inclusion in the classroom and technology in educational settings.