McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers (College Teaching)
by Marilla Svinicki, Wilbert McKeachie
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Book Summary Information
Author: Marilla Svinicki, Wilbert McKeachieEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-06-27
ISBN: 0618515569
Number of pages: 407
Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing
Book Reviews of McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers (College Teaching)
Book Review: Wheat And Chaff
Summary: 3 Stars
I was given this book when I began teaching graduate students; the school gave it out to all new professors and instructors in an attempt to apprise the new faculty members of current teaching theory. I was the first of the staff (most of whom were technical professionals teaching higher level technical classes) to actually read the book cover to cover, and came away with decidedly mixed opinions.
McKeachie has spent his entire adult life in a social science classroom, and while his methods may be well suited to areas like psychology or schools of education, I don't believe that his tips are universally applicable, especially in courses that have more concrete content (e.g. math, science, engineering, etc.) Many of his tips are concrete, and in general I found these to be excellent. In particular the discussions about how to handle cheating, plagiarism, and academic dishonesty were very insightful, as were the discussions of problem students, and in particular "attention seekers and students who dominate discussions" (p.179,) a problem I encountered in my second term of teaching. His discussion of grading in Chapter 15 is also generally quite good, and while I disagree with some of his reasoning (p.198) on using criteria grids for grading, I was pleased to see his defense of allowing a single overwhelming failure in one part of the grid to reduce the overall project grade to unsatisfactory (p. 206.)
While the real-world aspects of this book are generally quite good, some of his theories are inappropriate for a college classroom. In particular he discusses the technique of telling a class at the start of a term that he will give everyone a B in the course to reduce their apprehension, but that to get an A will require individual merit. Needless to say this is an unsatisfactory technique. Everyone has apprehension and fears, including the fear of academic failure. This type of social promotion, rooted in promotion of student self esteem, has no place in a college classroom; these students are becoming adults, and with the freedoms that entails come responsibilities. This is a policy that harms the students in the long run, potentially promoting them into follow-on courses they are woefully unprepared for, and obviously encouraging inattention to the material in all but the genuinely self-motivated students. It is also unfair to students taking another professor's section of the course who don't have a guaranteed B, students who have to actually work for their C, the supposed average grade. McKeachie's technique is a recipe for grade inflation, which is of enormous concern to universities today.
Another issue with the book is the tendency to hide behind the trendy doubletalk so popular in social sciences and schools of education. McKeachie speaks of a "dyad" when he could just use the word "pair" or "two" depending on context. This kind of language permeates much of the book, and should be purged in the next edition. Quick: how many people can tell me what "armamentarium" means without looking it up? I thought so.
While I found parts of this book rewarding, much of it is questionable academic theory, and much of the book is not applicable to concrete scientifically based courses, especially hard sciences, mathematics, or engineering. When he discusses real-world classroom problems the text is generally good, but there are numerous places where I completely disagree with him (most students I know loathe group projects, for instance, his theories notwithstanding; I certainly did when I was a student.)
If you are in need of advice on how to run your classroom I recommend this book with a caveat: take heed of information on how to deal with specific issues; beware of some of the more esoteric theoretical information.
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Summary of McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers (College Teaching)
McKeachie's Teaching Tips is a handbook designed to provide helpful strategies for dealing with both the everyday problems of teaching at the university level, and those that pop up in trying to maximize learning for every student. The suggested strategies are supported by research and are grounded in enough theory to enable teachers to adapt them to their own situations. The author does not suggest a "set of recipes" to be followed mechanically, but gives teachers the tools they need to deal with the ever changing dynamics of teaching and learning.General Books
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