Derek Bruff

A tougher read from the usual pedagogy stuff I have posted here. Derek Bruff organizes his book alongside strategies and principles derived from the scholarship of teaching and learning: (1) times for telling, (2) practice and feedback, (3) thin slices of learning, (4) knowledge organizations, (5) multimodal assignments, (6) learning communities, and (7) authentic audiences. For each, he provides a principle and a series of example from a variety of disciplines, although there is an overrepresentation of Vanderbilt, where he works.
I like some of these ideas. Nothing was really knew to anyone familiar with the SOTL. The big drawback was that (1) Vanderbilt students are not just any students, and (2) the ideas were often part of small seminars or advanced classes with lower enrollments (however, there are examples based on large-size classes). I think a lot of CC faculty like me, with 5/5 loads, might find some of these ideas difficult to adapt as they sometimes seem the opposite of small teaching, and do require time, resources, and well, more time.
Nevertheless, I recommend the book because it might be a source of ideas and tech tools for anyone in the field.… (meer)

It's really hard to give books about teaching, pedagogy, and technology five starts because they're usually drier than an old door nail. This one isn't. Bruff focuses on the use of Classroom Response Systems (commonly called clickers) in this volume. The book is organized well, allowing for a read-through from cover to cover or a perusal of the chapters a reader finds interesting. Plenty of examples are given, both of actual clicker questions and of the different ways professors have structurally integrated them into their classrooms, and the examples cross a variety of different disciplines (which is often one of the major shortcomings of books like this). Their are also chapters on how to choose a clicker system (e.g. determining what features are available vs. needed) and on how to get students to engage with material. Highly recommended for anyone interested in using clickers in college/university teaching, and should be in every college library and/or instructional center.… (meer)