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| While reading is a mainstay in most college classes, it has gotten increasingly challenging to engage students with their assigned reading. In the insightful piece “Why Students Won’t Read—and What to Do about It,” our friend Chirs Hakala offers practical advice on how to foster deeper engagement with reading materials.
Although this piece first appeared in the summer of 2022, pre-ChatGPT, it still has legs. |
Teaching, Tech, and Tidbits Digest
The posts below are from a bi-weekly digest that encapsulates a range of evidence-based best practices and cutting-edge insights on innovative teaching strategies, effective use of technology, student engagement techniques, and effective assessment, to name a few. The content, diligently curated or crafted by the director Dr. Lew Ludwig, is grounded in robust research and drawn from a wide array of innovative articles, books, and online resources. The goal is to support timely, ongoing faculty development with the most current and impactful knowledge in the field.
Teaching: Marc Watkins Beyond ChatGPT
Marc Watkins, Assistant Director of Academic Innovation & Lecturer of Writing and Rhetoric at Ole Miss University presented to Denison Faculty online on January 13th, 2025. Here is a link to a recording of his presentation:
Beyond ChatGPT- Developing a Framework for AI Literacy in Writing Courses
Click here to see the additional resources he provided including the slides for the presentation as well as activities for faculty to practice with Lex, Gamma, and Notebook LM as well as activities for students on prompt engineering, Chatbot Arena, and Quick, Draw!
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: Artificial Intelligence Disclosure (AID) Framework
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| The Association of College & Research Libraries published an “Artificial Intelligence Disclosure” (AID) framework by Dr. Kari Weaver that you might find useful if you are asking students to disclose AI use. Here is an example for student writing:
Artificial Intelligence Tool: Microsoft Copilot (University of Waterloo institutional instance); Conceptualization: Microsoft Copilot was used to identify key motor-performance fitness tasks in the development of the research question; Information Collection: I used Microsoft Copilot to find relevant journal articles and other sources; Visualization: I used Microsoft Copilot to create a graph comparing the different motor-performance fitness tasks included in my paper; Writing—Review & Editing: I used Microsoft Copilot to help break down my paragraph-long draft sentences into clearer, shorter ones. |
Tidbit: Break the Routine with Five-Minute Starts to Reenergize Your Classroom
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| Now that the initial energy of the new semester has waned and we’ve reached week six, have you noticed your class settling into a predictable routine? While routines have their place, too much predictability can lead to autopilot mode—for both you and your students. It might be time to refocus and inject some fresh energy into your classroom. |
Teaching: Midterm Check-In Do Your Students Know What They’re Learning?
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| What are your course learning goals? You’ve likely outlined them in your syllabus. Now, as we reach the sixth week of the semester, ask yourself: Do your students really know and understand these goals?
“Critical thinking” frequently appears in learning goal lists for a liberal arts education. In my current sophomore-level math class, I estimate we engage in critical thinking about 97.3% of the time. |
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: Take a moment to dwell on the positive
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| The first batch of major writing assignments will come in soon (if it hasn’t already), so I want to take a moment to dwell on the positive. In my class last semester, it was clear that only a small minority of students were misusing AI. Participants in the November Teaching Matters session on AI in writing instruction reported similar experiences. |
Tidbit: The Power of No
One of the more memorable, if improbable, scenes from Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” is when Legolas is battling his archenemy Bolg on a fallen tower that begins to crumble underneath him. In his own physics-defying, elfish way, he starts running up the blocks as they fall to the chasm below.