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Drop that Chalk bookcover

Marie Iding, an educational psychology professor with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s College of Education, co-authored a new book, Drop that Chalk! A Guide to Better Teaching at Universities and Colleges. The book is designed for those planning to teach—or already teaching and hoping to improve instruction—in colleges, universities, or other institutions of higher education.

Drop that Chalk! delineates the process of planning a course from designing course objectives to creating a syllabus, selecting course materials and technologies, determining which teaching strategies to employ and how to best implement them, to creating assessments, course evaluations and assigning grades.

Advantages and disadvantages of teaching and assessment techniques are shared along with research-based guidance for effective implementations. Guidelines for creating effective online courses are presented.

Drop that Chalk! explains 13 aspects of student diversity to help teachers understand their students, more effectively plan instruction for them, and shares a range of other suggestions to help maintain positive and effective learning environments that ensure students’ success.

More on the authors

Marie Iding

Iding has been at the College of Education since 1991. She has taught and presented research and workshops in diverse locations around the world, including American Samoa, Chuuk (Federated States of Micronesia), Vietnam, Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, Kenya, Spain, Portugal, Fiji, Australia, Jamaica, Ecuador, Poland and Scotland.

R. Murray Thomas is professor emeritus of educational psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he also directed the program in international education and served as dean of the Gevirtz School of Education. His list of professional publications exceeds 400, including 60 books for which he served as author, coauthor or editor.

—By Jennifer Parks

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