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.
Whether you’ve had your first day of class or not, I always struggle with what to do with the syllabus this time of year. I want the students to use it, but I don’t want to spend valuable class time reading it to them. Find concrete ideas for how to engage students in your syllabus with the Higher Ed article, Starting off right with the syllabus.
If you accidentally delete an item from Canvas or change your mind about deleting it, all is not lost. Go to your course’s home page, and at the end of the URL, type “/undelete.” It will look like this:
https://courses.denison.edu/courses/5258/undelete
Each course has a unique number. In the example URL above, the course “Cheryl Johnson Sandbox” has the unique number “5258”.
Are you interested in incorporating inclusive teaching practices but unsure where to start? Want to see some examples of inclusive teaching practices in action? Please look at the Inclusive Teaching Visualization Project website, developed by Dr. Addy and her collaborators. View examples in a social science lecture course, STEM laboratory course, or a first-year seminar.
16 Denison faculty members participated in the Center’s TILT workshop in January. TILT stands for Transparency in Learning and Teaching, which provides a simple three-step structure: purpose, task, and criteria.
Maybe you were curious about the idea, but you were too busy, had a schedule conflict, or life got in the way. Dr. Anabel Stoeckle from the Office for Teaching & Learning at Wayne State University developed a TILT 2.0 version for all of us too busy to rework our assignments.
This week ETS shares a top 5 list of Gmail and Drive “must know” features that could make your digital life easier. Our top 5 are Gmail templates, confidential mode, delayed sending, blocking downloading, printing, and copying, named revisions, and a bonus tip. (Yes, this makes 6, but, hey, everyone needs a bonus.) Take a look at our blog post “Up Your Game with Google” for details.
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.
