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| The energy of our September classrooms is part of what keeps us all in this education game. How do you keep that high-level of energy and student focus as the semester builds and everyone’s busy-ness and distraction sets in? Your November self will thank your September self for thinking ahead about strategies for cultivating student attention throughout the semester. |
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: What Students are Saying
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| “I am so excited to be back at Denison and to be using my brain muscles in this way again!”
I heard this last week from a senior who has just returned from an outstanding semester abroad experience but couldn’t stop smiling about being back in our liberal arts setting and digging into her Denison classes. |
Helping students make better AI decisions
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| An important aspect of addressing AI in writing instruction is helping students make better decisions about when and how they use AI to offload cognitive labor. Lori Kumler in ETS created a slide deck with a classroom activity for getting students to think critically about how AI use affects their learning and cognitive abilities. This activity would be appropriate for a class period early in the semester. |
AI Symposium Handbook
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| Did you miss the Fall Faculty Symposium? One of our resources was this Faculty Handbook for AI in Teaching and Learning. It includes information from the different interactive sessions. Please keep in mind, this isn’t a rule book. It’s meant to spark ideas and open conversations about how AI might fit into your teaching. Inside, you’ll find examples and considerations to help you reflect, adapt, and experiment as you see fit. |
On the First Day of Class, Begin with Intrigue
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| Planning the first day of class can be both exciting and overwhelming–so much possibility! Amidst all of our first-day goals, Paul Hanstedt’s article, On the First Day of Class, Begin with Intrigue, encourages us to focus on connecting with our students by setting a tone of curiosity and intrigue that will set you and your students up to work together as a community of thinkers and learners for the semester. |
AI Literacy
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| In the spirit of continuing conversations from today’s (August 18, 2025) Fall Faculty Symposium, here’s some food for thought from Michael G. Wagner: “AI literacy isn’t a new subject to be squeezed into our curriculum; it is a modern expression of our timeless goal as educators: to empower students to think for themselves, question the world around them, and make discerning choices about the powerful tools they encounter.” |
How Can Your Courses be AI Aware?
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| As we enter year three of generative AI, where do you fall on the AI spectrum? Do you want to refuse AI? Adopt it minimally? Or Embrace it? This article, “How Can Your Courses be AI Aware,” links out to resources for making writing classes “AI aware” along each category on the spectrum. For example, if you want to resist AI in your writing classes, do so more intentionally. |
Reaching (Not Just Teaching) Today’s Students: A Communication Cheatsheet
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| As we all gear up for the semester and work on conveying our visions and expectations for our classes in our syllabi, here’s a helpful quick read on how a couple of basic concepts from communication theory can help us to think more intentionally about communicating and connecting effectively with the students we’re teaching in 2025. |
Tech: LockDown Browser
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A new tool to ensure secure assessments in CanvasDenison has a new Canvas tool that will enable students to type their assessments on their own computer without access to electronic sources, websites, or AI: LockDown Browser. Instructors can create a LockDown assessment within Canvas quizzes, choosing whether students will have no access to websites or whether they have access to specific websites. |
Teaching: Rethinking Assessment- Paper Conferences
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| In my March 25 TTT contribution, I promised some suggestions for rethinking assessment to ensure students are meeting learning goals even if they (mis)use gen-AI to create their high-stakes writing assignments. And in my April 22 TTT contribution, I discussed an example of how I am re-weighting low-risk assessments. As promised, in this edition, I share a new type of assessment I am adding to my writing classes: paper conferences. |