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.
Which is the most important factor in successful learning:
The answer, according to cognitive psychologist Stephen Chew, may surprise you. Lendol
In August, Dr. Mays Imad hosted a webinar for Denison where she shared her work on trauma informed pedagogy. As we look forward and what a fall return will look like, Mays will host the webinar:
Leveraging the Neuroscience of Now: Toward Healing & Recovery
Friday, March 26, 2021
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PDT (3:00 PM EDT)
Register: https://pima.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcsce-orzMpGt2DsqhxvQnJPvErr3kz1Yvo
In this recent Tomorrow’s Professor post, Stanford researchers have identified four key causes for zoom fatigue:
And provide some simple fixes.
This semester ETS has been helping several faculty members get setup to use Zoom on multiple devices during their hybrid classes. This approach allows you to have one device/camera set to show you, the professor, while the other device/camera can show the classroom or the whiteboard. It does not need to be a complicated setup with multiple headsets, iPads, and phones.
In this week’s deeper dive, Dr. May Mei, Mathematics, shares ideas from the two-page article Critical Learning Communities: Top Five Principles to Guide Your First Month by Kristen Luschen and Becky Wai-Ling Packard. May gives practical suggestions on how to make midterm course adjustments to ensure a smoother and more productive finish to our semester.
With our scheduled no-class days this week, it is not only an opportunity for our students to catch their breaths, but for us as well. This Chronicle piece by James Lang gives us three resources with strategies to consider to help us refresh and refocus:
Many of us have really leveraged tools offered by Google to help organize our classes, communicate with students, and conduct small groups. This article from Faculty Focus covers some other applications of Google Docs and Slides for things such as collaborative note-taking or the jigsaw teaching strategy that some of us use with in-person classes. The article also introduces Google Drawings, similar to Jamboards, but with a much larger range of drawing and graphical abilities.
Last week, we shared several midterm course feedback forms. Now, what to do with all that feedback?
This week the New York Times published a collection of resources for teaching about race and racism with The New York Times. The post offers a list of more than 75 writing prompts, lesson plans, graphs, short films and more, to help teachers explore these important topics with students. It also includes suggestions and strategies by four educators on how to facilitate these critical, yet sometimes challenging, conversations.
This semester, the Center will explore new ideas and approaches to teaching that Denison faculty have learned over the last year. This week, Professor Sheilah Restack shares how the Studio Arts used Zoom to create a thriving visiting artist program.
