Rod Hetzel wrote: > I came across a new book yesterday on the APA website that is relevant to this conversation. The book is entitled The Professor's Guide to > Teaching : Psychological Principles and Practices and was written by Donelson R. Forsyth, PhD, a psychologist at Virginia Commonwealth > University. The text was published by APA Press in November 2002. Anyone on this list have a review for us? I’ve ordered it but have yet to > receive it.
This from the Chronicle, 12/31: ======================= A Psychology Professor Gets Into the Heads of Students and Their Instructors By DANA SOBYRA The Professor's Guide to Teaching: Psychological Principles and Practices (American Psychological Association, 2003), by Donelson R. Forsyth. $39.95. What insights does psychology have to offer the instructor in the classroom? Some thought-provoking answers show up in the process of breaking down college-level teaching into its behavioral components. Psychological theory and research, it turns out, can enhance a variety of classroom tasks, including course preparation, lecturing, testing, and evaluating and improving teaching itself. While this book is a pedagogical resource for almost any discipline, Mr. Forsyth, a psychology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, directs it mainly at teaching psychologists -- "professors who promote the field's stock of knowledge, skills, and outlook to other professionals, students, and the lay community." In each chapter, a key aspect of the teaching process is identified and elaborated upon with current psychological thinking. For example, in the chapter on lecturing, he writes that research on persuasion methods can show professors how to help their students get as much as possible out of lectures. Similarly, in the chapter devoted to testing, the author encourages an approach much the same as that for psychological assessment. Teaching psychologists have "far more expertise in testing" than professors in other subjects do, he argues. "The skills and methods needed to construct a good classroom test are the same skills and methods needed to develop a measure of personality or a survey of opinions." "Because teaching psychologists command a profound understanding of the causes of human thought, emotion, and action, their instructional methods, their examinations, their one-on-one tutorials, and even the support they give their students should be the envy of professors in other academic disciplines," writes Mr. Forsyth. Yet "in too many cases, psychologists do not exploit their discipline's resources when they teach." A useful response, he suggests, is to remember to look at students not only through the eyes of a teacher, but through the eyes of a psychologist. ======================= Paul Smith Alverno College Milwaukee --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
