Tidbit: Students mental health and emotional contagion

Faculty members have shared that they are feeling the strain of their students’ mental health issues. Whether it’s a request for an extension or an e-mail apologizing for missing class because they’ve got “stuff going on.” In Professors Struggle With Demands to Tend to Students’ Mental Health, Kelly Field gives a realistic assessment of what faculty are facing, particularly this time of year.

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Tech: Faculty Showcase- Teaching with Technology (10/24/23)

Tech: If you missed the October 24 event, Faculty Showcase- Teaching with Technology, here it is on video for you. 
Presentations are in the following order:
  • Seeing Wilderness Anew- Jeff Kurtz
  • Storytelling to Enhance the Classroom- Doug Swift
  • Inky, A Choose Your Own (Romance) Adventure- Rebecca Kennedy
  • That Textbook Costs How Much?! Considering OER- May Mei & Nestor Matthews
  • Collaborative for Digital Engagement and Experience at the Ohio 5 (CODEX)- Hoda Yousef & Weston Wharton ’26
  • Chat-bots and Non-linear Narratives: POE, Botpress, and SillyTavern AI- Francisco Lopez-Martin

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Teaching: Interleaving Improves Learning for All Learners

As we approach finals, how can we help our students keep track of all the learning that occurred this semester? You might be familiar with the learning practice known as interleaving. Interleaving is a learning technique where mixing different topics is more beneficial than studying them separately (blocking). Research has proven its effectiveness in both controlled studies and real-world classrooms across various subjects.

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Tidbit: But I studied really hard

Have you ever had that difficult conversation with a student after a poor performance on a test or assignment? Often, the student will state in exasperation that they “studied really hard.” Nevertheless, their performance does not reflect this effort.

In the article From Deficit to Empowerment: A Neuroscience Approach to Unveiling the Learning Brain, Mays Imad points out that learning is a very complex process and many things must properly align to succeed.

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Tech: Open Educational Resources- Internet Archive

Are you (or your students) interested in free books, movies, and more? Internet Archive is a non-profit library that hosts 38 million books, 11 million videos, and over 2 million TV shows in addition to concert recordings, audio files, and other media. From textbooks to novels to children’s books, the collection has something for everyone. Some items are available indefinitely, while others can be checked out for a few hours or a couple weeks.

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Teaching: How are classroom discussions going?

How are class discussions going? As we enter the second half of the semester, there is a chance discussions have fallen into a routine. Both you and your students are feeling the pressures of the semester, and it is hard to keep that spark alive. This article by Joe Bookman offers some advice for making your classroom discussions more inclusive.

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Tidbit: Revitalizing the Later Years in Academe

I recently had a birthday. Maybe I am getting wistful, but this Inside Higher Ed article by Kenneth McNay had some solid advice for those of us who have been here a while. In particular, it made me think about how I can explore innovation and risk-taking, that I should try to facilitate knowledge sharing, and finally, to redefine my research productivity metrics to encourage me to explore those high-risk, innovative areas.

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Teaching and AI: Why Professors are Polarized on AI

It is safe to say I have tumbled way down the AI rabbit hole. Since January, I have developed and led 15 workshops locally, regionally, and nationally. However, I still don’t know where our faculty at Denison stands concerning AI.

To be clear, the CfLT and ETS have run a series of workshops around AI. The attendees were very engaged but few in number.

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Teaching: From the teaching archive- Midterm Course Evaluations

As we near the halfway mark, consider getting mid-semester feedback from your students. Mid-semester evaluations:

  1. If necessary, provide a chance to correct student misconceptions or make changes to the course schedule, activities, etc.
  2. Allow students to reflect on their expectations, efforts, and learning.
  3. 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 and some open-ended questions.

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