In March 1987 Chickering and Gamson published The Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. CCV has long used these principles as inspiration in articulating our own guidelines.
These principles express our pedagogical values and provide the foundation for faculty evaluation. We recognize that teaching practice is best cultivated through opportunities for active application of effective methods, sharing and discourse with colleagues, and regular reflection.
Explore CCV’s 8 principles of good teaching and learning below.
The classroom climate is one of mutual respect among all participants.
It is a primary responsibility of CCV faculty to foster and exhibit respect for all students in the classroom, to hear every student’s voice, especially those who have been silenced in previous educational settings. Respect involves a recognition of different points of view, different values, different styles of learning, different talents, and different kinds of intelligence.
CCV faculty member Nina Kunimoto shares her thoughts below:
Students are motivated.
The stronger the desire to learn something, the more learning will occur. Faculty who display genuine passion for their subject matter and communicate high standards can generate a similar enthusiasm among students. Love of learning is the strongest motivation we can provide for our students.
The learning environment in the classroom (traditional or online) is treated as a holistic, dynamic system designed to accommodate different ways of learning and knowing.
Instructional methods should promote a cycle of learning that includes opportunities for direct hands-on experience; for reflection through reading, writing, and discussion; for students to derive personal meaning or make connections to their daily lives; and for discovering direct applications for the learning. The deepest learning states often occur when the whole brain is engaged, when analytical left-brain processes are accompanied by a range of right-brain understandings.
CCV faculty member Richard Doubleday shares his thoughts below:
I believe that in these current times, higher education must consider flexible curriculum delivery models (in-person, hybrid, synchronous, and asynchronous) to meet the needs of our Gen Z students. I think it is essential for academic institutions to be testing new ideas and looking for creative ways to help people learn more effectively. Teaching and learning across disciplines connect our students to a network of learning opportunities. Although I am a strong proponent of the value of face-to-face interaction in teaching my students, with the proper technical and institutional support there is an essential place for remote learning.
My classes are generally very heavy on discussions. Therefore, I weigh the discussion as 40-50 percent of the total grade. I also think it is a motivating incentive for students to do well and participate in them. I always like to ask my students what they are interested in learning in my class and the goals they would like to achieve in the course. Sometimes, I even have them rank their aspirations in importance as to the knowledge they would like to gain. This really helps me gauge what material to cover or emphasis on soft and/or hard skills as it relates to the subset of graphic design applications I am teaching. If they know little about the topics being covered in the syllabus, they might respond to some aspect of graphic design or software programs, and I am able to collect more information about what they might be thinking.
I am a first-generation college graduate: Associates., Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorate. I would attribute my academic success to determination, hard work, persistence, and parent support. As I made my transition to college my parents did not know the best way to support me but did demonstrate confidence that I could be successful. They also had the awareness to recognize and foster my interest in drawing in early childhood. These are values I carry into my teaching and have an effect on my expectations about my students.
To become more self-aware of diversity, equity & inclusion, I have had to rely on educating myself and training support to develop a clearer understanding on all sides of diversity, implicit bias, cultural competency, and preserving equal treatment. I try to make every effort to make certain that an inclusive environment that is open, well disposed, and supportive of individuals of all backgrounds, is maintained throughout the entirety of the semester. The key is to provide every student with the same access to learning. Our task and obligation is to do away with all modes of intolerance, unfair treatment, and eliminate obstacles generated by institutional prejudice through accountability and the importance of educating ourselves to build resolution. I am trying to develop strategies to facilitate and some of these procedures are as follows: Guarding against heuristics and unconscious/implicit bias: Avoiding stereotypical views of demographic groups; Developing bias mitigating strategies; evaluating the same achievements to be equally important; Circumvented topics when asking questions, for example, marital/partner status, child status, race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, and disability. I am coming to fully appreciate that a diverse and inclusive student body taking effect in an academic organization contributes to the institutional goal of all-embracing standing, where equity, inclusion, and diversification are first and foremost and core to our research, teaching, service to the community, and engagement with our students.
Content is presented with the “big picture” first as a context for the specific, differentiated information of the subject.
The most meaningful learning generally occurs when students have a context for the specific content they are trying to learn. Content information and activities should be connected to foundational concepts and/or students’ personal experiences. Learning that lacks a contextual framework tends to be superficial and of short duration.
The class encourages dialogue and collaboration among students as well as between students and the instructor.
Dialogue among classroom participants allows for the integration of new knowledge with what students already know, which in turn generates further understandings and fresh insights. Interactions among students and faculty can be the most effective triggers of meaningful learning.
The class provides opportunities for direct experience and active application of course content.
Students generally learn things best if they experience them first hand or apply them directly to solve a problem. Providing students with opportunities to teach others what they are learning is one of the most effective ways to accomplish this kind of applied learning in the classroom.
Let’s hear from CCV faculty member Rick Arend:
Student development and transformation becomes an intentional goal of the teaching and learning process.
Student development involves positive changes in students’ frames of reference and their ability to think critically and abstractly. This transformation is most likely to occur in an environment that includes safety and trust and provides occasional experiences of cognitive dissonance (i.e., experiences that lead students to question their own taken-for-granted beliefs and frames of reference).
Let’s hear more from CCV faculty member Fern Fryer:
Assessment is an ongoing process that provides prompt feedback to students about their learning.
Assessment is most effective when there is the least anxiety and the maximum potential to learn from the assessment procedure. Hence, students should perceive assessment as a natural and on-going part of the learning cycle.