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What a great turnout at last week’s (11/6/25) Teaching Matters morning coffee! Sixteen colleagues from across academic divisions and offices joined us to wrestle with the challenges–new and old–of designing and implementing effective in-class assessments. We talked through some of our reasons for using in-class assessments, including long-term pedagogical practices and more recent AI-related concerns. In the process, colleagues shared a variety of approaches that are working in their classrooms, including:
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Teaching Tips
Articles and resources to empower your teaching experience.
Mentoring Students
These resources address ways to connect with our students as mentors:
- The Wellbeing Enhances Learning (WEL) Model from University of Minnesota
- Mentoring Students Can Make a Difference by Camey Andersen and Kenneth Alford
- Mentoring Undergraduates by Maryellen Weimer
- Using Interviews to Assess and Mentor Students by Barbara Gardner & Kenneth Alford
- The Benefits of Student-Faculty Mentoring Relationships from Watermark
- How to Get the Most Out of College from The New York Times
- Students Think Faculty Should be Mentors.
Engaging Students in Classroom Learning
These articles give ideas on student engagement during class time:
- Overcoming Student Fears Surrounding Class Discussions by Brent Saccucci
- How to Make Your Teaching More Engaging Advice Guide by Sarah Rose Cavanagh
- How to Hold a Better Class Discussion Advice Guide by Jay Howard
- Want to Engage Students and Strengthen Your Teaching in the Age of AI?
Helping Students do Hard Things
We can help students engage in the hard sustained work of learning; these articles have some useful insights:
- ‘I Did Feel Seen’ How creating ways to meet students individually can help them buy into a course by Beckie Supiano
- More Than a Name: How Assignment Labels Influence Student Learning and Performance by Salina Randall and Julie Ann Stuart Williams
- Beyond Behaviorism: Why Motivation Matters by Katie Muenks and Carlton Fong
- Learning Lessons How professors are encouraging students to buy into the project of learning by Beckie Supiano
- How One College Aims to Help Students Fail Better by Ashley Mowreader
- Unpacking Complexity from CfLT Archives
Supporting Student Reading
These articles give some good ideas for supporting our students with reading:
- Searching for Wonder: Teaching Literature with Student-Selected Texts by Mary Isbell
- To get students reading, let them pick the texts by Beckie Supiano
- How to Move from the ‘Main Idea’ to ‘Background Knowledge’ by Youki Terada (written about young readers but relevant for college students)
- Assigned Readings: Questions to Ask Yourself by Nicole Donawho
- How to Use a Course Workload Estimator with Betsy Barre
- Reading Assignments, Activities, and Approaches to Promote Learning by Maryellen Weimer
Managing Student and Faculty Anxiety
Both students and faculty feel anxious sometimes; here’s some articles exploring ways to manage or relieve anxiety:
- How I manage my anxiety as an educator by Lauren Jewett
- Instructor Strategies to Alleviate Stress and Anxiety among College and University STEM Students by Jeremy Hsu and Gregory Goldsmith
- The Wrong Way to Motivate Your Kid by Russell Shaw
- Helping Students Overcome Presentation Anxiety by Traci Levy
- Implementing Meditation in the Higher Education Classroom by Steven Haberlin
- Building a Learning Sanctuary: Fostering Resilience in Our Students by Mays Imad
Navigating Change and Avoiding Burnout
These articles include ideas for teaching success and avoiding burnout:
- After a Tough Year for Classroom Innovation, It’s Time for a Reset by Sarah Rose Cavanagh
- When disruption is perpetual, it’s time to think differently about work by Beth McMurtrie
- The Self and Syllabus with Christopher Richmann Do Students Meet “You” in Your Syllabus?
- Burnout-mitigation strategies by Beth McMurtrie
- Got You Time?
Running an Effective Classroom
Explore the following resources that offer general classroom advice:
- Teaching Newsletter Archive from the Chronicle of Higher Education
- The Little Orange Book: Short Lessons in Excellent Teaching (downloadable PDF) from The University of Texas
- How to Make Your Teaching More Inclusive Advice Guide by Viji Sathy and Kelly Hogan
- How to Teach a Good First Day of Class Advice Guide by James Lang
- 6 Research-Backed Ways to Break Up Your Lectures by Youki Terada
- Unlocking Learning Potential with Concept Maps by Michele Poulos
Getting Students Invested in Thinking in our Classes
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| In our Denison classes across campus, we often face the challenge of connecting with students across experience and interest levels all in a single classroom in ways that generate thinking and discussion. J. Muthoni Mwangi shares the concept of the “parking lot” (the low-tech version involves sticky notes and a manila folder) as a way to invite questions, create student investment in class, and break down barriers across knowledge and experience levels. |
Identifying Unsupported Claims
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In my W101, I am using AI-generated writing to teach students two things: (1) the pitfalls of submitting unrefined AI output in their assignments and (2) how to evaluate and revise writing. For example, I developed this group activity to help students learn how to identify unsupported claims.
When prompted to write a college-level essay, AI tends to generate a lot of unsupported claims.