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.

Tidbit – The Listening I: Shifting Agency in Student Writing Conferences

Posted on by Neica Raker

As due dates for those scaffolded writing projects come due, many of us are holding writing conferences with our students. This article by Paul Hanstedt in 
The Teaching Professor provides his fresh approach to this process that get his student actively engaged in the conference. He requires students to take out a notebook and make three lists:

  1. everything you already know you’re going to change
  2. everything you’re thinking about changing but aren’t sure about;
  3. any questions you have for him

He found that thee conferences were less work, students paid greater attention, and the papers got better. 

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Tech – Using tablet capture to save time

Posted on by Neica Raker

Ever want to communicate a quick idea or demonstration to your students outside of class, but an email format was cumbersome? Have access to a tablet, such as an iPad? Consider making a quick tablet capture voice-over video. Unlike a talking-head video made in something like Loom, with an iPad connected to a desktop you can create a quick voice-over video to:

  • share a quick example that may involve drawings or computations
  • point out key parts of a reading or diagram
  • provide verbal feedback on students’ work

This excellent website from the University of Pittsburgh instructs how to create video capture on a variety of tablets and systems.

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Teaching – Course evaluations

Posted on by Neica Raker

It’s that time of year. Course evaluations are an important feedback tool that can help inform our course design. Historically, providing a set time during class provides the highest response rate. As such, if there is something I want specific feedback on, I will have a brief conversation with the class the week before. For example:

This semester, we tried <blank> which was something new for the course.

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Teaching – Assignments: low stakes vs. low workload

Posted on by Neica Raker

At a recent meeting with colleagues, the discussion of student workload came up. Specifically, many of us are using the best practice of creating low-stakes assignments to keep our students engaged. But if we all do this, are we overloading students?

An important distinction came up in our conversation: low stakes vs. low workload. Some interpret low stakes assignments as counting for a small percent of one’s grade.

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Tidbit – You’re Mid-Career, Now What?: Next Steps of Your Faculty Journey

Posted on by Neica Raker

On Wednesday, November 10 at 12:00 noon, the GLCA’s Consortium for Teaching and Learning (CTL) will present a second webinar in the series by Vicki L. Baker, Professor of Economics and Management at Albion College, entitled, So You’re Mid-Career, Now What?: Next Steps of Your Faculty Journey.  This installment focuses on “SWOT Analysis/Goal Setting.”

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Tech – Press Pause

Posted on by Neica Raker

If you, like so many of us, have said or thought the phrase “I’m just trying to make it until the end of the semester,” it might be a good time to pause your digital devices and/or your notifications to take a moment to yourself “unplugged.” Read this ETS blog post “Press Pause” to learn more about how to use various do not disturb modes on devices, pause your email, and turn off different notifications.

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Tidbit – You’re Mid-Career, Now What?: Next Steps of Your Faculty Journey

Posted on by Neica Raker

On Wednesday, November 10 at 12:00 noon, the GLCA’s Consortium for Teaching and Learning (CTL) will present a second webinar in the series by Vicki L. Baker, Professor of Economics and Management at Albion College, entitled, So You’re Mid-Career, Now What?: Next Steps of Your Faculty Journey.  This installment focuses on “SWOT Analysis/Goal Setting.”

Continue Reading →