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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 Tip – TTT
Articles and resources to empower your teaching experience.
Teaching: Student and Instructor Guides for Group Work
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| Group work is a vital component of college education. It is often challenging to execute effectively, and many students are predisposed to dislike it. Fortunately, our friend Tracie Addy, along with Wendy Hill, have developed valuable resources for both students and instructors to better navigate this essential pedagogical tool.
The student guide is crafted for groups to utilize collaboratively at the beginning of a long-term class project. |
Teaching: Stealing Ideas, Opening Doors
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| Both of my parents were teachers. My father, who passed away when I was five, taught high school math, while my mother taught for 12 years in the Cincinnati school system before stepping away to raise me. Although I never saw either of them in the classroom, my mother often shared insights and lessons from her teaching experiences, shaping my perspective on education. |
Teaching: Syllabi and AI
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| As you finalize your syllabi, you might take a look (or another look, for those of you who have already seen this) at the resources provided by Tricia Bertram Gallant (Director of Academic Integrity at UC San Diego) during her webinar on gen-AI and academic integrity. There are resources for designing an AI-policy statement, securing assessments, rethinking learning goals, and redesigning assignments. |
Teaching: Getting Ready for the New Semester
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| Whether this is your first time or tenth time you’ve taught a course, it is always good to run through a few checklists of things to consider:
1. Your syllabus: This comprehensive article by Kevin Gannon titled “How to Create a Syllabus” offers practical advice, innovative strategies, and thoughtful insights into making a syllabus be a tool for fostering a positive learning environment and clear communication with students. |
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: Course Evaluations
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| Getting ready for that dreaded email
My least favorite email of the semester will soon be in my inbox- “Your course evaluations are now available on myDenison” (or something like that). Yes, I’ve been teaching for over thirty years, yet this email still causes a twinge in my stomach and a slight increase in my pulse. |
Teaching: The Challenge of Forgetting- Why Students Don’t Retain Everything We Teach
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| Imagine it’s the beginning of the second semester, and you’re teaching the next course in a series. You mention the topic covered just last fall- a topic you yourself taught these very students- and they stare at you blankly. How could they forget so soon, you wonder?!
It turns out, the brain is a very efficient machine. |
Teaching: Cultivating Trust, Honesty, and Disclosure in the Age of AI
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Missed our recent Teaching Matters discussion on “Cultivating Trust, Honesty, and Disclosure in the Age of Gen AI”? We had a great turn out of folks who came together to share their ideas and experiences. Here are just some of the highlights:
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Teaching: Experimenting with AI Disclosure
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| Thursday (11/21/24) from 11:45-1:00, I am hosting a Teaching Matters session entitled “Cultivating Trust, Honesty, and Disclosure in the Age of Gen AI.” It is an opportunity to share our experiences with student-use of AI for our writing assignments and to generate ideas around helping students make better decisions about how and when to use generative AI to complete assignments. |