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Caught in the Act
At Denison, we are privileged to have an array of exceptional educators, each bringing creativity and passion into their classrooms. Yet, our faculty often downplay their innovative teaching methods, echoing sentiments like, “Oh, that’s not such a big deal,” or as one colleague humbly put it, “I’m as ordinary as dishwater.” To celebrate and share these creative endeavors, we’re introducing a new column this semester: “Caught in the Act.” This space is dedicated to showcasing the innovative teaching practices happening right under our noses. If you know a colleague who’s doing something extraordinary, let us know!
Teaching: Responsive Teaching in Action
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Teaching: Magic School AI
Despite Sydney Green’s proficiency with AI prompting, she often finds extracting specific tasks from advanced models like ChatGPT or Gemini to be time-consuming and sometimes unproductive. To address this, she turned to Magic School AI, a platform offering over 80 AI-powered tools designed to assist educators with lesson planning, assignment creation, and material generation. It’s user-friendly, click-based interface allows users to interact without the need for specialized prompts.
Teaching: Helping students use ChatGPT to aid, not undermine, their learning process
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| A significant issue with students’ use of ChatGPT is their inability to craft effective prompts. Simply copying and pasting assignments into ChatGPT often leads to the tool providing solutions with minimal effort from the students, which can undermine their learning process.
To address this problem and turn ChatGPT into a productive learning tool, David Reher of Modern Languages creates specific prompts for his students. |
Teaching: Transparency, Dynamic Lecturing, & Review
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| I (Julie Dalke) am auditing Hoda Yousef’s class titled “The Making of the Modern Middle East,” and I am excited to share three teaching methodologies for this week’s “Caught in the Act” column. Her commitment to transparent instruction, dynamic lecturing, and effective review strategies significantly enhances student engagement and learning outcomes.
Hoda consistently employs the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework, ensuring that students understand the purpose behind their learning activities. |
Teaching: How should AI be used for creating personal stories?
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During our recent Faculty Learning Community on AI, Laura Russell shared a novel way she engaged her 100-level personal storytelling class in considering writing in the age of AI. The exercise centered around two main questions:
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Teaching: Be Kind to Your Future Self
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| Lew Ludwig caught Susan Villarreal in the act of good teaching, he writes: Last Monday, as I scrambled to finish my notes for the first week of class, I was kicking myself. I’ve taught this course many times before, but it had been three semesters since the last round. I can barely remember what I had for lunch yesterday, much less the details of what worked- or didn’t- three semesters ago. |
Teaching: Library Scavenger Hunt
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| Rebecca Kennedy (Ancient Greek & Roman Studies/Environmental Studies/Women & Gender Studies) caught Megan Threlkeld (History/Women & Gender Studies) in the act of some great teaching. Megan writes:
I use a Library Scavenger Hunt with my advising circles and my W101 but you could adapt it for any class. I have refined it a lot over the years, and this version works well for me. |
Teaching: Small Group Discussions
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| This week, we’re highlighting an engaging teaching strategy used by Dr. Kelsi Morrison-Atkins in her Religion 108 class, Bible, Gender, Sexuality. Julie Dalke, who is auditing the course, writes:
Each day Kelsi’s class begins with a simple yet impactful check-in that sets the tone for the day’s learning. Students break into small groups of 3-4 for about 10 minutes to discuss their thoughts, questions, or insights from the reading. |
Teaching: A Three Question Approach to Feedback
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| Doug Swift (Visiting Assistant Professor in English/Journalism) caught Jack Shuler (Professor & Director of Journalism) in the act of some great teaching. Doug writes:
Jack and I have offices across the hall from each other. We often shout ideas back and forth, often loudly. Sometimes, an idea is so good, it’s worth a meander across the hall. |