Toward a Start-to-Finish Cross-Disciplinary Instructional Model for National and International Higher Education

Abstract

Using their cross-disciplinary review of Ideas that Work in College Teaching, the authors explore the pedagogical commonalities of fifteen higher education instructors from SUNY Potsdam (State University of New York at Potsdam) in an attempt to reveal the secrets of teaching success across thirteen academic disciplines—math, computer science, geology, modern languages, political science, philosophy, history, biology, psychology, sociology, physics, and art. While the specific instructional disciplines varied considerably in the content that was both studied and presented, the authors found that the principles of effective teaching were quite similar across each of these disciplines. The insights shared by these fifteen accomplished instructors provide pedagogical wisdom that all teachers can learn from regardless of context or developmental age and stage of student capability and competence. Common goals and principles associated with effective teaching in higher education are highlighted using specific examples from individual authors where appropriate. A new model of instruction is then introduced: Attention, Interact, Apply, Invite – Fact, Think, Feel, Do (AIAI-FTFD), as a potential start-to-finish approach to effective teaching in higher education. Implications for use of the model in both national and international higher education contexts are discussed.