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.
As Daniel Cole notes – You can’t avoid it anymore: students have submitted their papers, and now you have to read, comment on and grade them. How can you give good feedback yet, at the same time, avoid overworking yourself?
Take a look at his two-page article from Inside Higher Ed, Tackling the Stack, for tips on end-of-semester grading.
The only way to really understand mathematics is to learn and discover it on one’s own. Thus students will select a mathematical topic, read and teach themselves any necessary background to understand it and then investigate the topic. Various interim reports will be collected throughout the term. Projects are graded based on the following:
Mathematical content 1/3
Creativity 1/3
Quality 1/3
This was an actual assignment I gave students in a non-majors course in the early stages of my career.
From Matt Kretchmar and your Selections and Elections Committee: This timely Chronicle article reminds us of the importance of giving ourselves to the broader mission of the college through our service work. The article reminds us that the best and most rewarding work is that which speaks to our hearts and connects with our talents. This is a good article to review before engaging with the upcoming governance ballot.
We are at that time of the academic year when we feel pressed for time. Voice Typing may offer you a time saving solution. We generally speak faster than we type, even if we possess pretty good typing skills. The Voice Typing tool allows you to dictate and format in Google Docs and in the speaker notes section of Google Slides.
When colleagues want me to observe their class for formative feedback, I always ask them to share two or three things they are working on in which feedback would be helpful. For example, working to involve more students, trying to summarize class in the last five minutes, organizing my board work, etc. This helps me to focus the observation and provide more useful feedback.
I know there are only a few weeks left, and many eyes are on the exit, but this short article about improving class discussions caught my eye. There were several techniques new to me – warm calling, half-formed thoughts, and doubting-and-believing squares – and can fit in your last few classes to add some variety.
You’ve done your part. You have presented the material, laid the groundwork, and given the possible arguments while your students listened with rapt attention. The air is ripe with anticipation. Your teaching senses tingle. It is time to ask a well-phrased question that will demonstrate that your students fully understand and are ready to take their learning to the next level.
While the pandemic changed the fabric of higher education and life in general, people had to find a way to keep going. Students kept learning. Teachers kept teaching. Parents kept parenting. It was not always pretty. Often it was (and is) downright exhausting. Many of us experienced lengthy periods of burnout. Many still struggle finding motivation. Human resilience shone through.
Dr. Bonnie Shaver-Troup, an educational therapist, began the Lexend Project in 2000 and teamed up with the typeface designer Thomas Jockin and Google to produce the free Lexend fonts. These fonts were designed initially to support struggling readers and those with dyslexia. However, along the way research has found that these fonts reduce visual stress for everyone and therefore, improve reading performance.
As we near the end of the semester, many of us have projects that students present. These can be high stressors for students and a huge time sink for your course schedule. In this short two-page article, Dr. Traci Levy of Adelphi University describes a presentation format she calls the Presentation Cafe. On Presentation Cafe days, she divides the class into presentation slots, scheduling three or four groups to present simultaneously depending on class size.
