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| Last Thursday’s Teaching Matters attendees left with lots of food for thought about what AI-related teaching practices look like in some of our Denison classrooms.
Francisco Lopez-Martin started with the idea that GenAI is a force shaping our world (not merely a tool) and that our students need to learn to understand it so that people are in control of GenAI, not merely fact-checkers in the “AI loop.” One |
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.
True or False: ‘Kids These Days Are So Sensitive’
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| Are you feeling the challenge of the post-fall break season, when you hoped students would come back reenergized but instead, some of them seem to be falling apart? This interview in the “Everything is Fine” series from IHE offers some helpful reminders about the challenges our students can face in recognizing that they are not alone in navigating college challenges–and some good suggestions that we can use to help them gain perspective. |
Generative AI hasn’t changed learning: It’s still hard to become an expert
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| In July 2026, Sarah Supp (DA) participated in the Generative AI and Data Analysis: implications for data science curriculum and pedagogy workshop sponsored by the Alliance to Advance Liberal Arts Colleges (AALAC) and held at Wesleyan University from June 19-22, 2026. The group (26 participants) has produced this excellent read, now making its way to publication. |
Rethinking Precision in College Grading
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| This week, when grading is top of mind for both students and faculty, Christopher Morales’s “When an 89.4 Becomes a Crisis: Rethinking Precision in College Grading” is worth a read. We can’t snap our fingers and remove all the external pressures that cause student anxiety around grades, but Morales poses some thoughtful questions and suggestions for our ongoing discussions about how we might adjust our grading practices to communicate more effectively with our students about their learning process and accomplishments. |
Lockdown Browser and Revision History: Two tools for assessment validity
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| As midterms approach, we’ve heard from many faculty thinking about how to ensure the validity of exams and assessments. Beyond laying the groundwork through shared trust and clear expectations, we support two tools that help keep students focused on producing work without using web searches or AI:
Lockdown Browser keeps students “locked in” to your assessment (essay, quiz) in Canvas and does not allow internet access. |
Only Connect
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| In this week after fall break, I have two words on my mind: Only Connect.
Many of you may recognize this as the title of Bill Cronon’s classic (1998) essay, “‘Only Connect…’ The Goals of a Liberal Education,” which may have reached a point of overexposure a few years ago. But now, if you find yourself in need of recentering after submitting midterm grades and before diving into the next round of assignments, I’d recommend revisiting his reflections. In |
Pedagogy of Kindness & The Score
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| Last, but not least, we finish our summer book group takeaways with two interesting reads.
Pedagogy of Kindness by Catherine Denial
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Why and How to Teach Teamwork
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| Check out this 2021 essay from the Chronicle on setting up your students to navigate the challenge of team communication. Our favorite tip:
Have students practice how not to cooperate in a group. …Internal conflict derails many a group project and students don’t always know how to manage a troublemaker. So give them practice. Have groups meet in class to do a short task related to their project. |
Teaching Hacks That Save Time
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From Gatekeeper to Waymaker: Reframing Rigor Through Empathy
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| As we wade into midterm season, it can be helpful to remind ourselves of the importance of structuring our classes and assignments in ways that clearly communicate our expectations rather than creating obstacles to students’ full engagement with the intellectual work we want them to be doing.
Crystal Donlan writes: “Rigor is about cognitive demand, not obscurity. |