Green Guides

The STLHE Green Guides series is inspired by a similar publication series initiated in 1984 by our sister organization, the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA). The guides are intended to be relatively short, easy to read handbooks on different aspects of higher education, with a particular focus on teaching and learning issues.

Green Guides appeal to faculty across disciplines and offer pragmatic advice on a wide variety of the tasks and responsibilities of university teachers, with the aim of encouraging reflection on current practice and enhanced teaching and learning effectiveness.

Green Guides in print:

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  GG#13—Lecturing for Better Learning

  Robert Cannon and Christopher Knapper

  Despite the existence of more student-centred teaching approaches, lecturing remains the predominant instructional approach in universities world-wide. This guide is addressed to all faculty who wish to make their presentations more effective while recognising the many limitations of the lecture in promoting active learning. Topics covered include lecture preparation, presentation techniques, evaluating lecture effectiveness, and how to make the lecture a more engaging process that involves students in thinking and discussing instead of just listening. The guide is a revision of the very successful Australian Green Guide, and is the first jointly published guide by STLHE and our Australian counterpart, HERDSA. The authors have between them over 50 years’ experience as teachers and educational developers in both Australia and Canada.

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  GG#12—Global Citizenship in Teaching and Learning

  Yael Harlap and Margo Fryer

  The aim of this Guide is to provoke and inspire. After reading parts or the entire book, you will be able to use a simple model of global citizenship education to guide design (or re-design) of a course or program that fosters global citizenship learning in any discipline. But to go even further, we hope that after reading this book you will have a new lens for viewing how your own actions and practices as an educator can model the attributes of a global citizen to your students. We would argue that having a global citizenship ‘lens’ and a self-reflective stance will take you farther in your teaching practice than any given technique or tool—though we will also provide you with an array of approaches to aid in your teaching for global citizenship. Throughout the Guide we strive to flag how teaching practices which may not, on the surface, seem directly related to ‘global citizenship’ can foster and model global citizenship.

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  GG#11—Technology in Higher Education

  Gregory MacKinnon

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  GG#10—The Portfolio Process

  Eileen M. Herteis and Nicola Simmons

  Eileen and Nicola encourage teachers to look at portfolios in a new light: as more than binders, but rather as dynamic, creative and sometimes revelatory processes. The portfolio process enriches learning for students and for their teachers. When teachers do this–when you do this–you cannot escape engaging in scholarly teaching and its enduring quest for improvement.

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  GG#9—Leading Effective Discussions

  Erika D.H. Kustra and Michael K.Potter

  Erika and Michael provide a practical and adaptable teaching manual, brimming with informative insights into the many difficulties encountered when facilitating effective discussions, such as managing group dynamics, communicating through multiple channels, requesting constructive feedback, managing conflict as well as evaluating discussions. The many activities and inviting tone make this guide friendly and encouraging to teachers wishing to become more engaged in their teaching, while helping students become more engaged in their learning.

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  GG#8—Cultural Diversity and Inclusive Teaching

  Shibao Guo and Zenobia Jamal

  As universities and colleges become increasingly diverse, teaching practices must reflect this change. Drawing on their own experiences as learners, instructors, and researchers, Shibao Guo and Zenobia Jamal map the demographics of diversity in higher education, explore learning environments and pedagogy responsive to cultural diversity, and finally provide strategies for teaching in culturally and linguistically diverse environments.

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  GG#7—Creative Problem-Solving

  Daryl Caswell

  The stimulating Guide, written for college and university teachers, is first and foremost the work of Daryl Caswell of the University of Calgary. Professor Caswell recognizes, however, the vital support of several faculty at the University of Calgary in the development of the pedagogical approaches described in this Guide. In fact, the impetus for writing this Guide came in part from the recognition afforded the team by the STLHE: Professor Caswell and his group won the Society-sponsored Alan Blizzard Award for outstanding achievement in collaborative teaching. The Guide stems from many years of large class experience and reflection on the part of the author and his teaching colleagues.

  Creative Problem Solving does not refer unduly to the findings of the latest research. The goal of the Guide is to provide practical advice on implementing creative problem solving approaches across the curriculum, particularly in the challenging large class setting. The author takes a unique “narrative” approach to convey many of his ideas.

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  GG#6—Teaching for Critical Thinking

  Geraldine Van Gyn and Carole Ford

  This Guide was born of an extensive, cross-campus discussion of many aspects of introducing critical thinking to students in higher education at the University of Victoria. It is the fruit of a stimulating process of educational development as well as the result of many years of research, reflection and experience on the part of authors recognized for their lleadership in this field.

  The aim of this Guide is to provide practical advice on teaching for critical thinking across the curriculum. A significant number of tables in the Guide illustrate specifically how the various features of teaching for critical thinking can be introduced in a variety of disciplines. These tables provide useful references for professors in higher education who are at the various stages of implementing teaching for critical thinking strategies in the college classroom.

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  GG#5—Teaching with Cases

  David Dunne and Kim Brooks

  In this guide, David Dunne and Kim Brooks give readers an insightful, informative, and practical guide to a multi-faceted approach to engaging students in their learning. True to the essence of the STLHE Green Guides, the authors have succeeded in capturing the complexity and many nuances of teaching with cases while avoiding an overemphasis on theory.

  David teaches in a prominent business school and has incorporated case teaching in his classroom for many years. Kim teaches in a well-known law shool and draws on her background in this academic field. The authors were suppored by Rosamond Woodhouse, of the Queen’s University Faculty of Medicine, as she contributed two chapters and invaluable insights into the subject of teaching with cases. The guide strikes a balance by presenting generic uses of teaching with cases while illustrating applications to specific fields.

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  GG#4—Feedback: Key to Learning

  Sergio Piccinin

  In this guide, Serge Piccinin tackles a seminal issue for university teachers: how to give, receive, and act upon feedback to enhance learning and improve the quality of instruction. The guides describes a process that we often take for granted, yet can make or mar our effectiveness as teachers and learners. The author offers a wealth of insights and practical guidance for using feedback effectively, based on empirical research (much of it his own) and the accumulated wisdom of one of Canada’s most respected educational developers and university teachers.

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  GG#3—Teaching the Art of Inquiry

  Bob Hudspith and Herb Jenkins

  In this guide, Bob Hudspith and Herb Jenkins describe an approach to teaching that has been used successfully for many years at McMaster University, and which will be of wide interest to university teachers who wish to encourage critical thinking and self-directed research into their courses. The guide thoroughly documents the philosophy and rationale of inquiry-based learning, describes how the approach works in practice, and offers advice and numerous examples on adapting the technique for a wide range of situations and disciplines.

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  GG#2—Active Learning

  Beverly Cameron

  In this guide, Beverly Cameron deals with one of the most important and challenging issues in university teaching: how to make learning a more active process. Based on many years experience as a teacher and educational developer, Dr. Cameron offers a wealth of practical strategies for promoting active learning and shows such methods can promote critical thinking and reflection.

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  GG#1—Teaching Large Classes

  Alan Gedalof

  In the face of growing programs and shrinking funds, more of us are having to teach large classes. Part of the problem is that we are so ill-prepared for this task in every way. If you take on teaching large classes, that will become a huge part of your real work. In this Guide, Allan Gedalof tries to set out strategies, techniques, policies, and practices that will be as widely adoptable and adaptable as possible. It is written with the novice teacher of large classes in mind, but experienced teachers will find things of use to them also.

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