Dynamic Classes and Eager Students

Walking in to teach your first lecture as a newly minted assistant professor can be an intimidating experience. All eyes are on you, and the facial expressions of the students communicate emotions ranging from interest and excitement to boredom and sleepy disengagement. You know you want to hook your students on the class subject as soon as possible to encourage them to be more responsible for their own learning. One way to increase student engagement and motivation is to make use of a variety of techniques during the semester that encourage active learning. Elizabeth F. Barkley’s Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty is a book that professors at all levels of experience in the classroom will find useful. The techniques described in this book are appropriate for all disciplines, on any campus, and Dr. Barkley does an excellent job utilizing examples from a variety of different classes and student ability levels. Dr. Barkley’s intention is to encourage educators to move from the traditional mode (“lecturing” while “students listen,” followed by “testing”) to a more dynamic, learningcentered approach in the classroom. The goals of this handbook are to foster effective teaching in the college classroom by providing explanations of 50 effective learning activities. The book is organized into three accessible sections—“A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Student Engagement,” followed by “Tips and Strategies,” and then “Student Engagement Techniques (SETS).” In part 1, Dr. Barkley introduces the reader to the various techniques by first defining student engagement and how engagement relates to academic success. She provides a conceptual framework