 |
| As I was preparing to head back to class this week, I was thinking about Marie Kondo. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never read a single one of her books about “tidying up”–as anyone who lives in my house can attest. But I do know that her name is now synonymous with decluttering, with an emphasis on letting go of anything that no longer serves a clear purpose for you or “sparks joy.” |
CfLT Newsletter
The posts below are from the CfLT newsletter which includes curated, research-based digital resources to support ongoing faculty development and pedagogical engagement. As of August 2025, CfLT Director Karen Spierling oversees the content. Posts from July 2020-May 2025 were compiled by previous Director Lew Ludwig.
Teaching Toward Slow Hope
 |
| Looking for an inspiring read? Try this interview with Douglas Haynes about his new book, Teaching for Slow Hope: Place Based Learning in College and Beyond.
Haynes says, “So, when I discuss collaboration in this book, I’m not just talking about assigning students to do more group projects. This, too, is important work that builds students’ communication and listening skills, as well as empathy, organization and more. |
Dictation Tools To Use and Not to Use
 |
| Voice to text has been around for some time–before the current LLM era–and these tools can help us take meeting or interview notes, record ideas while driving or walking, and generally help us with all sorts of tasks.
However, as with any tool that interacts with our data, we need to ensure that data are protected. |
Teaching Across the Liberal Arts
 |
As usual for Teaching Matters sessions, the conversation last Thursday (3/5) was rich with idea-sharing. We were talking about what “moves” we make in our classroom to help our students see the connections between all of their courses and articulate how their liberal arts education has impacted them. Here’s a list of some of our ideas:
|
15 Tips to Align Your Teaching With Brain Science
 |
|
In the midst of everything we do, I encourage you to take a minute to support yourself by looking at our read of the week: 15 Tips to Align Your Teaching With Brain Science. Bookmark it, print it, or do whatever you need to do to make this easily accessible to your future self! 15 tips might sound like a lot, but this is a clear and concise overview of the brain science concepts behind many of the teaching strategies that Denison faculty practice across campus. If |
From Time-Saver to Teaching Transformer: Harnessing AI’s Pedagogical Power
 |
| It has become increasingly important to stay well-informed enough about the basic education-related capacities of genAI in order to be able to guide our students through challenging AI-related discussions and decisions. In this article, David E. Balch and Robert Blanck provide some clearly explained food for thought with their suggestions of ways that you might (or might not) consider using AI yourself and, just as importantly, leading thoughtful student conversations about ethical and intentional AI usage. |
Guest Column by Lucy Bryan, Visiting Assistant Professor in Journalism
 |
| When I began teaching at Denison in the fall of 2024, I designed an AI-policy that drew on my nine years as a faculty member in a university writing center. I told my students that they could use LLMs to do things they would feel comfortable asking a Writing Center consultant to do. What I found was that students had trouble limiting themselves to the parameters I’d set. |
Students, Research, and Information Literacy
 |
| A group of 20 colleagues came together to explore strategies for teaching our current students to embrace the methods and challenges of scholarly research. Amanda Folk (Director of the Library), in collaboration with Regina Martin (Director of the Writing Program), led us in a discussion of the Framework for Literacy for Higher Education. We began with some brainstorming about the steps in the research process that tend to cause “bottlenecking” for our students. |
Just One Thing
 |
| A long time ago now, in “City Slickers,” Jack Palance sat on a horse, balanced a droopy cigarette between his lips, and told Billy Crystal that the secret to life is “just one thing.”
We could build a whole course around the question of whether Jack Palance was right–is the secret to life focusing on one single, most important thing? (I’m |
AI-Resistant Assessments
 |
| “The assessment challenge AI has created is real. But in many ways, it’s also an overdue invitation to rethink how we measure learning.” Med Kharbach’s exceptionally clear and concise, 20-page “AI Resistant Assessments: A Practical Guide for Teachers” resonates with many of our campus conversations about course and assignment design in an AI era. He provides eight examples of types of assignments you might try, some brief reflection on issues to consider, and a focused set of practical tips on how to implement changes and why it matters. |