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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. |
Teaching Tips
Articles and resources to empower your teaching experience.
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. |
Clarity: An Important Pedagogical Tool
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| Do you ever catch yourself thinking, “I don’t have time to explain, they’ll just figure it out”? As we dive into the “now it’s getting real” part of the semester, Regan A.R. Gurung offers a concise reflection on why clearly explained expectations and assignments (with or without the editing assistance of AI) are a crucial foundation to student learning and to faculty success in the classroom. |
AI and Cognitive Deficits: An Activity
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| Part of our job now is to help students make better decisions about how and when to use AI in their learning. I use this slide deck in week 2 of my W101 to talk with students about how AI use affects their ability to learn. It works best if you use it in the context of a specific writing assignment you have already introduced to students. |
Breaking Things Down
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| I would venture to guess that many of us find ourselves uttering the word “breakdown”—in a variety of negative senses—regularly these days.
But when we’re talking about teaching, breaking things down is a fundamental and positive practice. Breaking down learning goals, reading analyses, word problems, research processes—all of these forms of academic work require working through a set of steps that we have learned over time but that may not be obvious to our students. |
I’m an AI Power User. It Has No Place in the Classroom.
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| As we travel the current phase of this new AI journey with our students, we are facing an old and ongoing problem: How do we preserve our classrooms and liberal arts education as spaces for deep thinking at the same time that we are helping our students to prepare for their post-college professional lives?
Working toward an answer (or answers) requires considering a wide variety of perspectives and possibilities. |
Word of the Day: Expectations
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| A week later, my head is still abuzz (does anyone use that word anymore?) with all the ideas, questions, challenges, and connections that emerged from the CfLT gatherings and RAISE (Readiness and Inclusion in Science Education) workshop led by guest speaker Leonard Geddes. I’m going to use my next few columns to highlight some ideas that stood out across these discussions, in the interest of promoting further reflection and conversation and, I hope, providing food for your teaching thought as the semester begins. |
If You Care About It, Do It in Class
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Ensuring that our students feel competent in the skills required to succeed in our classes is more important than ever if we want them to understand the value of their own learning and make intentional decisions about AI usage. James Lang offers some clear and concise advice as you finish crafting your spring syllabi:
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