P. Sven Arvidson 
Teaching Nonmajors [PDF ebook] 
Advice for Liberal Arts Professors

Preface

1. Give Better Lectures
Do What You Naturally Do Best—Passion Wins
Do the Unexpected
Know Your Stuff
Care for Question and Answer
Avoid Lecture Traps
Exploit Analogies and Diagrams
Give Students the Notes
The Challenge of Power Point
Briefly Debrief Yourself
2. Break Up Lectures
Use Relevant Class Discussion
Props
Songs
In-Class Reading and Writing
Visual Artwork
Films (Not Movies!)
Personal Experience
Comfort Breaks
3. The Best Discussions and Student Presentations
Arranging a Discussion
Discussion Goals
Discussion Structures
Debriefing
Student Presentations
4. The Art of Assignments
Assign Readings Smartly
Get Students to Read
Exams
Papers
Grading
Distinction and Continuity in Assignments
5. Sensible Policies
Think Deeply about a Good Syllabus
Attendance and Lateness
Communication
Plagiarism
6. Professor and Student Problems
Teaching Disinterested Students
The Aggressive Passive-Aggressive Student
The Interrupter
The Hijacker
The Painfully Shy Student
Special Needs Students Are Not Problem Students
7. Understand and Improve Student Ratings
Read and Understand the Form
Each Student Is a Voter
Interact with Student Ratings Criteria in Mind
Administer Student Ratings Appropriately
Use a Secondary Form
Ego Fluctuation, Knowing the Standard, and Online Ratings
8. Conclusion

Index

P. Sven Arvidson is Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy and Senior Faculty Fellow in the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Seattle University. He is the author of The Sphere of Attention: Context and Margin and the coeditor (with Robbie Davis-Floyd) of Intuition: The Inside Story: Interdisciplinary Perspectives.