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| The speed at which information comes at us in 2026 primes us–and our students–to react rather than reflect. Ahlam Lee’s essay is a helpful reminder that “Because digital platforms reward speed and reaction, classrooms should model slower inquiry.” The author lays out simple strategies for teaching our students (and reminding ourselves) to pause and think through context and complexity instead of focusing on emotional hot-takes. |
Teaching Tips
Articles and resources to empower your teaching experience.
Cultivating Engagement, Curiosity, & Joy in the Classroom
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Last Thursday at the first Teaching Matters lunch of the year, we explored different strategies for fostering student engagement in ways that add joy to learning and teaching for our students and ourselves. Andy McCall (BIOL) talked about having students observe and then draw a plant specimen and how he emphasizes the value–and pleasure–of trying things (like drawing), even if we’ve been told long ago that we weren’t good at them. |
The Return of the Oral Exam
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| This Chronicle article on “The Return of the Oral Exam” highlights the fact that the current interest in oral exams (something happening at Denison, too) is not simply a reaction against AI-related issues but part of ongoing efforts across the country to implement the most effective pedagogical approaches for any given generation of students. At UCSD, for example, engineering professors found that some of their best students “could solve problems but had trouble explaining their thought process. |
Making Space for Choosing
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| Last week in a post-assignment debrief, my students expressed surprise that such a short paper had been so hard to write. The challenge was that the broad prompt had required them to make a lot of their own choices about how to focus their reflection and what evidence to select to support their assertions. This process was hard and time-consuming. |
The Courage to Teach & On Writing
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Productive Friction: What Universities Must Protect in the Age of AI
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| The ineffectiveness of “frictionless learning” is a recurring theme in current conversations at Denison and across higher ed. In this short essay, Vladimir Bratic explains how his concerns about frictionless learning are shaping his classroom strategies.
“Throughout history, humans invented technology in order to eliminate excess frictions which made life difficult and unproductive. The washing machine is an example of such a tool and today nobody looks back on washing clothes in the river with nostalgia. |
3 Ways to Liven Up Your Lectures
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| The role of lectures in our liberal arts classrooms varies from one class level, discipline, and faculty member to another. But what we all have in common is that when we do use a lecture format, we want and need our students to be visibly engaged in that learning process and contributing to the energy of the class. |
Uncommon Sense Teaching
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One of the best parts of teaching at Denison is finding time to think through ideas with colleagues. In June, we had 55 faculty join book groups for some summer learning together. Over the next weeks, we’ll share some of participants’ key takeaways from each group. This week’s book is, Uncommon Sense Teaching: Practical Insights in Brain Science to Help Students Learn by Barbara Oakley, Beth Rogowsky, and Terrence Sejnowski. |
What’s Worth Teaching? Say It Loud
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| Many of our CfLT conversations last year explored the growing importance of helping students to understand and embrace the value of the learning they’re doing in our classes. In this week’s read, Christina M. Schmidt of Cornell University explains what happens when faculty start by asking themselves, “Five years from now, what do you hope a former student carries forward from your course, beyond content knowledge?” |
There and Back Again: Why I Don’t Ask My Students to Use AI
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| In this recent essay for the Math Association of America, Denison math professor Lew Ludwig shares his reflection on why, even though he has spent the past “four years leading workshops, running trainings, writing a book about” teaching with AI, he still does not “build a single assignment around it” in his math courses. |