This blog is authored by staff from the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) at Rice University. Inaugurated in 2015, there are posts of three general types: reports of CTE activities, reflection pieces, and extensive, well-researched essays. An example of an activity is the website CTE Studio where exemplary pedagogy practices by Rice faculty are reported. This is a new virtual initiative that parallels their Faculty OWL Days when certain classes are open for observation. An example of a reflection piece is "What is the Error Climate of Your Course?" There are several well-researched essays including student course evaluations, stereotype threat, and estimating student class workload.
Type of Material:
Reference
Collection
Recommended Uses:
Independent study, subject of discussion in a faculty development session.
Technical Requirements:
None
Identify Major Learning Goals:
This blog is meant to share Rice University's Center for Teaching Excellence activities and research-based knowledge with their faculty and others who find the site. The commenting function fosters discussion as well.
The subject matter of posts is substantial. Indeed, some of the posts are similar to white papers demonstrating substantial research and thought.
Concerns:
There are a few references that are only identified by links to the Rice Library databases, which require login. Thus, there is no way for non-Rice viewers to identify the resource and search it on their own.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
All the posts are interesting. There are some posts that are immediately useful; for example, “How much should we assign? Estimating out of class workload” and “What is the error climate of your course?.” There are others, such as the extensive research-based posts and comments on student ratings of instruction. These cite and summarize a huge literature and merit close and thoughtful attention.
Concerns:
The CTE site overall is meant for the Rice teaching community and for those people, it is a substantive resource. Given the sporadic nature of the posts, the blog site by itself is harder to keep track of for outsiders. If one uses Twitter however, follow @RiceCTE and you will be notified of new posts.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The blog is well organized. Posts, with brief annotations, are listed in reverse chronological order on the blog homepage. They are also keyword searchable and can be accessed by Date as well as by Category.
Comments are easily accessed and worth reading.
Everything is easy to read.
Concerns:
Only seven of the posts are found under the categories, so that is not a helpful way to find posts.
There does not seem to be a way to subscribe just to the blog site. One must follow the CTE handle on Twitter.
Other Issues and Comments:
None.
Creative Commons:
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