College Teaching Practical Insights from the Science of Teaching and Learning

This book mines the science of teaching and learning for strategies to help college professors align every aspect of their teaching.

Everything matters when it comes to teaching and learning: student characteristics, the school itself, and cultural ideas about the value of higher education, to name a few. Most of these influences are outside the college instructor’s control. Other issues, however—such as a course’s intellectual demands, the type of feedback students receive, the instructional methods, and the relationship that connects professor to student—are controllable. This book examines the many choices professors make about their teaching, beginning with their initial planning of the course and its basic content through final decisions about grades and assessing effectiveness.

This book is for beginning instructors as well as those who have been teaching at the college level for many years. Author Donelson Forsyth calls readers’ attention to basics such as the cognitive, motivational, personal, and interpersonal processes flowing through even the most routine of educational experiences. He also addresses online teaching, instructional design, learning teams, and new technologies to help professors re-examine and refresh their existing practices.

Donelson R. Forsyth, PhD, completed his undergraduate work at Florida State University in 1974, in sociology and psychology with a minor in education. He completed his doctorate at the University of Florida in 1978. He has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Richmond. Dr. Forsyth holds the Colonel Leo K. and Gaylee Thorsness Chair in Ethical Leadership in the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond. He has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Richmond. A social and personality psychologist, Dr. Forsyth studies groups, leadership, ethical thought, and educational outcomes. In addition to his general interest in group processes and personality, he explores empirically the psychological and interpersonal consequences of success and failure at the group and individual level, individual differences in ethical ideology, and perceptions of leaders. He has authored more than 140 chapters and articles on ethics, groups, and related topics, and his books include Group Dynamics (1983, 1990, 1999, 2006, 2010, 2014); Social Psychology (1987); Psychotherapy and Behavior Change: Social, Cultural, and Methodological Perspectives (1988, with H. Nick Higgenbotham and Stephen G. West); Our Social World (1995); and The Professor's Guide to Teaching (2003). Dr. Forsyth also has edited, with C. R. Snyder, the Handbook of Social and Clinical Psychology: The Health Perspective (1991); The Social Psychology of Leadership (with Crystal Hoyt and George Goethals, 2008); and For the Greater Good of All: Perspectives on Individualism, Society, and Leadership (with Crystal Hoyt, 2011). Dr. Forsyth has taught thousands of graduate and undergraduate students during his 38 years as a professor in such courses as introductory psychology, educational psychology, environmental psychology, social psychology, group dynamics, research methods, internships, theories and models of leadership, and ethics. He was recognized as the Outstanding Group Psychologist by the Society of Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy in 1996. He received the State of Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award in 2002 and the Distinguished Educator Award from the University of Richmond in 2010. He is a fellow of APA.

Donelson R. Forsyth, PhD, completed his undergraduate work at Florida State University in 1974, in sociology and psychology with a minor in education. He completed his doctorate at the University of Florida in 1978.

He has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Richmond.

Dr. Forsyth holds the Colonel Leo K. and Gaylee Thorsness Chair in Ethical Leadership in the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond. He has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Richmond.

A social and personality psychologist, Dr. Forsyth studies groups, leadership, ethical thought, and educational outcomes. In addition to his general interest in group processes and personality, he explores empirically the psychological and interpersonal consequences of success and failure at the group and individual level, individual differences in ethical ideology, and perceptions of leaders.

He has authored more than 140 chapters and articles on ethics, groups, and related topics, and his books include Group Dynamics (1983, 1990, 1999, 2006, 2010, 2014); Social Psychology (1987); Psychotherapy and Behavior Change: Social, Cultural, and Methodological Perspectives (1988, with H. Nick Higgenbotham and Stephen G. West); Our Social World (1995); and The Professor's Guide to Teaching (2003).

Dr. Forsyth also has edited, with C. R. Snyder, the Handbook of Social and Clinical Psychology: The Health Perspective (1991); The Social Psychology of Leadership (with Crystal Hoyt and George Goethals, 2008); and For the Greater Good of All: Perspectives on Individualism, Society, and Leadership (with Crystal Hoyt, 2011).

Dr. Forsyth has taught thousands of graduate and undergraduate students during his 38 years as a professor in such courses as introductory psychology, educational psychology, environmental psychology, social psychology, group dynamics, research methods, internships, theories and models of leadership, and ethics.

He was recognized as the Outstanding Group Psychologist by the Society of Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy in 1996. He received the State of Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award in 2002 and the Distinguished Educator Award from the University of Richmond in 2010. He is a fellow of APA.