Like newspapers, which may be read one day over morning coffee and may be used, as my grandmother did, to wrap vegetables the next day, student evaluations have second, subsequent, and multiple lives. In the classroom, student evaluations are usually resurrected at the mid and endpoints of the semester, but discussing prior course evaluations with your current students at the beginning of the semester can also help in telling the course’s story and the argument it’s trying to make through the act of re-seeing course readings and assignments.
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 – a Syllabus Deep Dive
You spent tons of time on it, now how to get your students to read your syllabus? In this video I share five easy-to-enact tips that I use for my syllabi. The five step are based on this short Chronicle piece. These tips are based on the more detailed article, How to create a syllabus.
Tidbit – Some Publishing Resources from our Friends at The Lisska Center
The below list of helpful publishing tips was compiled by the Faculty Development Center at Hollins College.
- 25 Ways to Increase Your Chances at Publication, from Inside Higher Ed,
- How to get published in an academic journal: top tips from editors, from The Guardian,
- Publishing Journal Articles: Tips for Early-Career Scholars, from Inside Higher Ed,
- From Tufts, https://researchguides.library.tufts.edu/c.php?g=685277&p=484246
Tidbit – From the Archive – Midterm Course Evaluations
As we near the half-way mark, consider getting mid-semester feedback from your students. Mid-semester evaluations:
- provide a chance to correct student misconceptions or make changes to the course schedule, activities, etc. if necessary.
- give students an opportunity to reflect on their own expectations, efforts, and learning.
- let students know you care about their input.
Here are some sample mid-semester evaluations you can use or adapt for your course:
- This check-off format from Seattle University makes it easy for your students to provide specific feedback, as well as some open-ended questions.
Tidbit – Plagiarism Education by Rachel Mitton-Fry
As Process Advisor for Academic Integrity, I often see cases involving misuse of source material. Instances include inadequate paraphrasing, quotations missing references, and direct use of entire passages without attribution. Speaking with students, it becomes clear that many of them have a poor understanding of what constitutes plagiarism, despite the integrity statements they see in their syllabi. This short article from Faculty Focus highlights the value of plagiarism education. It
Teaching – Giving Students a Why
Showing compassion for our students but maintaining expectations is a tricky balancing act. This short Chronicle article, The Power of Telling Students Why, argues that we should explain to students why we have specific policies, rules, or deadlines. If we can’t, then maybe those things should be reconsidered. As noted in the article by one respondent:
“I think it’s a form of respect for our students,” she continued, “to be able to have a why, and where we don’t have a good one, really then thinking about whether that’s a policy we can do without.”
Teaching – Want to Bolster Creative Confidence, Improve Team Performance, or Try Something New?
The Red Frame Lab is here to amplify your learning outcomes with tools from design thinking and professional development modules used by RED Corps, Red Frame Consulting, and several of your fellow faculty. Last semester we teamed with Global Commerce, Psychology, Anthropology/Sociology, Data Analytics, and Environmental Studies classes as well as 18 Advising Circles. Ask your colleagues about their experiences.
Tidbit – Preparing Students for Beyond Denison
Denison students will spend their spring semester diving into important topics in their classes and figuring out how to answer one of two questions:
“What will you be doing this summer?” or
“What are your plans after graduation?”
For most students, the answers are directly related to internships and jobs – the work experience they need to launch from their Denison education.
Tech – Freeing Yourself From Cables in the Classroom
Tired of being chained to the instructor podium while presenting from your laptop or tablet? Want to give students an opportunity to easily share their work with the class? Give the Kramer VIA a try. The VIA device will allow you to securely connect wirelessly from anywhere in the room. Check out this post “Connecting to a Classroom VIA Display Device” on our EdTech Blog for more details.
Teaching – Six Steps for a Successful Group Project
While there is a wealth of evidence to support collaborative learning, I often shy away from assigning group projects. As a student, when given a group project, I often felt like I was carrying more than my weight. If goals and expectations are not well laid out, students can find group work frustrating.
To make your group projects more successful, consider the six tips in this short Focus article.