As another year comes to a close, it seems like a good time to revisit the concept that we hear about so much: work-life balance.  Many of you were likely drawn to your position in education because of the promise of or perceived notion that working in education would provide the work-life balance y...

One aspect I frequently encounter in PA programs is a divide between the didactic and clinical phases of the program.  This divide includes faculty members, as most programs designate faculty as either didactic or clinical phase based.  The reality is PA programs have only one curriculum and one fac...

When I am reviewing a program’s syllabi, I often notice that part of the grading for the course includes attendance and/or participation.  It is important to note that neither of these is truly an assessment.  Attendance does not evaluate a student’s knowledge or skills.  So, why would you want to g...

Many PA programs require the GRE as part of the admission requirements.  Recently, I entered into a conversation with a member of leadership that challenged the value of requiring a GRE.  So I went to the literature to better educate myself.  What I learned may be helpful to you.

According to the v...

I recently found an interesting article by Jeremy A. Rentz as part of The Best of 2021Teaching Professor Conference. He asked the simple question, who does more work during class time, you or the students? Think it about for a moment. Over a semester course, who is doing more work? I would bet you a...

With the pandemic and navigating student illness which may be related to COVID, it seemed like a good idea to revisit FERPA and to include its role in relation to COVID. FERPA or the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 is education’s version of the Health Insurance Portability and Acco...

A common issue I repeatedly see, especially at a heightened level these days, is anxiety in our students.  Even though we returned to the classroom, the anxiety does not seem to be abating for the most part.  Given the nature of our educational program and requirements coupled with a full curriculum...

With many of us returning to remote teaching, we are back to live and recorded lectures. So, I decided to reprise an article about recording videos.  In my travels, I have noticed that recorded lectures don’t take into account giving students breaks, as we do when we are in person. Many of us break ...

You don’t have to be teaching for very long to realize students don’t read. In particular, despite all the energy and effort you may put into your syllabus for your course, we know students don’t read those either.

A colleague recently sent me a link to an article that really drove this point home....

One of the more challenging tasks for faculty, especially new faculty, is how to help a student who is struggling academically. Most of our students come to us having navigated 16 plus years of schooling successfully. They figured out ways to study and be successful. However, in my experience, when ...