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| It has become increasingly important to stay well-informed enough about the basic education-related capacities of genAI in order to be able to guide our students through challenging AI-related discussions and decisions. In this article, David E. Balch and Robert Blanck provide some clearly explained food for thought with their suggestions of ways that you might (or might not) consider using AI yourself and, just as importantly, leading thoughtful student conversations about ethical and intentional AI usage. |
Teaching Tips
Articles and resources to empower your teaching experience.
Guest Column by Lucy Bryan, Visiting Assistant Professor in Journalism
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| When I began teaching at Denison in the fall of 2024, I designed an AI-policy that drew on my nine years as a faculty member in a university writing center. I told my students that they could use LLMs to do things they would feel comfortable asking a Writing Center consultant to do. What I found was that students had trouble limiting themselves to the parameters I’d set. |
Students, Research, and Information Literacy
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| A group of 20 colleagues came together to explore strategies for teaching our current students to embrace the methods and challenges of scholarly research. Amanda Folk (Director of the Library), in collaboration with Regina Martin (Director of the Writing Program), led us in a discussion of the Framework for Literacy for Higher Education. We began with some brainstorming about the steps in the research process that tend to cause “bottlenecking” for our students. |
Just One Thing
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| A long time ago now, in “City Slickers,” Jack Palance sat on a horse, balanced a droopy cigarette between his lips, and told Billy Crystal that the secret to life is “just one thing.”
We could build a whole course around the question of whether Jack Palance was right–is the secret to life focusing on one single, most important thing? (I’m |
AI-Resistant Assessments
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| “The assessment challenge AI has created is real. But in many ways, it’s also an overdue invitation to rethink how we measure learning.” Med Kharbach’s exceptionally clear and concise, 20-page “AI Resistant Assessments: A Practical Guide for Teachers” resonates with many of our campus conversations about course and assignment design in an AI era. He provides eight examples of types of assignments you might try, some brief reflection on issues to consider, and a focused set of practical tips on how to implement changes and why it matters. |
Advising Students Through Challenges
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Our first set of advising conversations for the semester provided time to share, reflect, and brainstorm with colleagues about useful strategies and goals in challenging advising conversations, ranging from getting students to make time for considering options in their class decisions to responding in the moment to trauma-informed revelations. A few key takeaways:
- Stopping to ask students about the outcome they want from a meeting helps you in terms of decision-making and time management.
Bringing the Energy to Our Student’ Reading
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| In this age of information overload, teaching can sometimes feel like a perpetual struggle to adapt to trends and changes without letting go of our own core pedagogical commitments and the value of our own experiences. A great example of this is the challenge of engaging students in reading when all the headlines and sound bytes tell us this is a losing battle. |
Cultivating Curiosity in the Classroom
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| We had a lively discussion last week for our Teaching Matters on “Cultivating Curiosity in the Classroom” as one of the foundations of our teaching practice. Four big themes that emerged were: getting to know your students, providing opportunities for student choice, encouraging risk-taking, and following through consistently. Strategies for engaging students included surveying them early in the semester to gauge their specific interests and allowing students to choose a “hot” or “cool” topic, concept, or person for one week of instruction or to present on. |
Back to Basics
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| Last week, during Tea with Techs time, I had a great conversation with Trent Edmunds and Robert Butts about podcasts–podcasts as student projects, and podcasts more generally in the world. I didn’t go into the conversation with any particular question in mind–I didn’t have a podcast problem to fix this semester, and I wasn’t requesting immediate ETS support. |
Being Authentic Learners with our Students (and Each Other)
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| In this brief essay, Donald A. Saucier and Tareque Nasser provide a useful framework for creating a welcoming and effective learning environment by intentionally sharing our own learning processes and human fallibility with our students. For these authors, the authenticity that we need to bring to the classroom as teachers involves four steps: 1. Creating a Space for Vulnerability, 2. |