Bibliography on College Teaching
These sources and other useful texts on college teaching are available in the education library.
Allen, R. R., & Rueter, T. (1990). Teaching assistant strategies. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt.
Allen and Rueter address the graduate teaching assistant directly. This sometimes-irreverent book encourages TAs to improve their effectiveness through self-reflection, information about teaching, and adjustments in teaching practices.
Bain, K. (2004). What the Best College Teachers Do. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
For both first-year and experienced teachers, this book focuses on what causes students to remember their professors long after graduation. Bain’s 15-year study concluded that it is what teachers understand—not what they do.
Bowen, J. (2014). Teaching Naked. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
The book focuses on why technology has had such a powerful impact on teaching, student learning, and the future of higher education. The focus is on how the brain learns.
Bowen, J. & Watson, C. W. (2017). Teaching Naked Techniques: A practical Guide to Designing Better Classes. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
TNT is a design guide and a sourcebook on practical and discipline-specific applications for faculty.
Brookfield, S. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Written for faculty of all disciplines, this book includes examples of critically reflective practice, most of which are from personal experience. The author includes many humorous and telling anecdotes.
Christensen, C. R., et al. (1991). Education for judgment: The artistry of discussion leadership. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
This collection of essays on teaching discussion describes the experiences of teachers from a wide variety of subject areas (including technical subjects) who use discussion in their classrooms to promote independent thinking.
Curzan, A., & Damour, L. (2000). First day to final grade: A graduate student’s guide to teaching. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
This guidebook breaks down the semester for new teaching assistants. By focusing on the “how to’s” of college teaching, this book helps TAs negotiate the daily challenges of teaching undergraduates.
Davis, J. R. (1993). Better teaching, more learning: Strategies for success in postsecondary settings. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press.
Davis explores the relationship of learning to teaching as it applies to specific strategies such as lecturing and explaining, inquiry and discovery, groups and teams.
Eble, K. E. (1985). The aims of college teaching. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
The focus of this book is not so much on what one does as a teacher as on what one is, what one becomes as a result of holding up high ideals for teaching and persistently working to realize those ideals. Teaching is related to scholarship.
Eble, K. E. (1994). The craft of teaching. (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
For both beginning and experienced teachers, this motivating book offers insight on issues ranging from developing critical thinking through how students learn to the nuts and bolts of assignments, tests, grades, and textbooks.
Erickson, B. L., & Stommer, D. W. (1991). Teaching college freshman. (1st ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
This book focuses on three concerns: to understand the students themselves, to present effective teaching practices, and to provide suggestions for dealing with some of the special challenges presented by freshman classes.
Fink, D. L. ( 2013). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses. (2nd ed.) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Fink poses the question, “How can I create courses that will provide significant learning experiences for my students?”
Hostetler, K. D., Sawyer, R. M., & Prichard, K. W. (Eds.). (2001). The art and politics of college teaching: A practical guide for the beginning professor. (2nd ed.). New York: P. Lang.
This book offers graduate students some practical advice about how to negotiate their way through academic institutions, the steps to be taken to prepare for an academic career, and the legal and ethical dimensions of college teaching. The book is written in essay style and presents the candid views of a number of new and experienced faculty members.
Lambert, L. M., Tice, S. L., & Featherstone, P. H., (Eds). (1996). University teaching: a guide for graduate students. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
Written in essay format by 29 professors, this practical book reviews the basics of university teaching while avoiding teaching theory.
Lovell-Troy, L., & Eickmann, P. (1992). Course design for college teachers. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
This basic guidebook covers everything from gathering information on students to planning a syllabus to implementing the course and evaluating learning.
Lowman, J. (1995). Mastering the techniques of teaching. (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Lowman provides an excellent introduction to university teaching. He stresses skills needed to both present material and establish rapport with students.
Markie, P. J. (1994). A professor’s duties: Ethical issues in college teaching. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
A two-part book. The first concentrates on the obligations of individual professors, primarily with regard to issues about what and how to teach. The second focuses on ethics in academia.
Nilson, L.B. (2016). Teaching at its best: a Research-based resource for college Iinstructors. (4th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
This is a research-based toolbox with practical guidance and proven techniques to help instructors improve student learning both face-to face and online.
Svinicki, M, & McKeachie, W. J. (2014). Teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers. (14th ed.). Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company.
McKeachie offers advice on a broad range of topics, suggests the best use of innovative teaching strategies, and provides overviews of theoretical work done on various teaching issues. A classic in the field.
Perry, R. P. and Smart, John C. (eds.) (1997). Effective teaching in higher education: Research and practice. New York: Agathon Press.
This book offers answers to why some university teachers are more effective than others.
Pintrich, P. R., Brown, D. R., & Weinstein, C. E. (1994). Student motivation, cognition, and learning: Essays in honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
This volume details learning strategies as they relate to psychology, and what collegiate teachers should know about psychology to instruct most effectively.
Popham, W. J. (2013). Classroom assessment: What teachers need to know. (7th ed.). Allyn and Bacon.
In a non-threatening style, this book explores the relationship between classroom assessment and the daily assessment decisions a teacher makes, including issues of reliability, validity, and alternative assessments.
Shor, I (1996). When students have power: Negotiating authority in a critical pedagogy. Chicago: University of Chicago.
This is the narrative of one class in which Shor tried to fully share with his students control of the curriculum and of the classroom. How he resolves the unexpected problems while remaining true to his commitment to power-sharing and radical pedagogy is the crux of the book.
Silberman, M. L. (1996). Active learning: 101 strategies to teach any subject. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
This book is a collection of teaching strategies to get students involved and interested in the learning process.
Timpson, W. M., et al. (2002). Teaching and performing: Ideas for energizing your classes. (2nd ed.). Madison, WI: Magna Publications, Inc..
Using performance theory, the authors show how an educator can transform ordinary classroom experiences into occasions that attract and engage students.
Webster, T. (2010). How to be successful in your first year of teaching college: Everything you need to know that they don’t teach you in school. Ocala, Fla: Atlanta Pub. Group.
Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-centered teaching: five key changes to practice. (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the topic of learner-centered teaching in the college and university classroom, including the most up-to-date examples of practice in action from a variety of disciplines.
Weimer, M. (1993). Improving your classroom teaching. Newberry Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Weimer dissects the characteristics of good teaching such as enthusiasm, organization, and knowledge, and suggests methods of improvement in the classroom. Weimer provides a list of teaching tools, examples, and an overall philosophy of good teaching.
Wiggins, Grant J. & McTighe, Jay (2006). Understanding by design – Expanded (2nd ed.). New York: Pearson.
The authors discuss how to design learning experiences that make it much more likely that student understand content and apply it in meaningful ways.
Williams, J. A. (1994). Classroom in conflict: Teaching controversial subjects in a diverse society. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
The author discusses underlying problems of teaching controversial subjects in the university history classroom and suggests ways of addressing them.
