Teaching Tip – TTT

Articles and resources to empower your teaching experience.

Teaching: From the teaching archive- Midterm Course Evaluations

Posted on by dalkej

As we near the halfway mark, consider getting mid-semester feedback from your students. Mid-semester evaluations:

  1. If necessary, provide a chance to correct student misconceptions or make changes to the course schedule, activities, etc.
  2. Allow students to reflect on their expectations, efforts, and learning.
  3. Let students know you care about their input.

Here are some sample mid-semester evaluations you can use or adapt for your course:

  • This check-off format from Seattle University makes it easy for your students to provide specific feedback and some open-ended questions.

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Teaching: Do my learning outcomes meet the needs of my students these days?

Posted on by dalkej

 

This question, posed during a recent session on AI and assessment, really resonated with me. The rising attention (or, should we say, hysteria?) surrounding AI has prompted me to reflect on what I expect my students to learn and how I choose to assess that learning. While I’m still grappling with a definitive answer, two insightful articles this week prodded me to reconsider my teaching approach as we enter this new era of AI.

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Teaching- Five Ways to Help Your Students Become Better Critical Thinkers

Posted on by dalkej

Our foremost objective at Denison is to cultivate adept critical thinkers. Yet, as seasoned critical thinkers ourselves, we sometimes forget the steps required to nurture this valuable skill in our novice learners. Merely observing us critically analyze topics doesn’t automatically equip students with the same capabilities. We must adopt a deliberate approach. This short article by Dr.

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Teaching- From AI to A+: Prepare Your Students for Using ChatGPT and other AI

Posted on by dalkej
I did not plan to send a TTT this week. But as we gear up for next week’s session, AI in Academia: An Introduction and Exploration of Generative A.I. in the Classroom, I couldn’t resist sharing a resource to help us prepare for this event. Thanks to Karen Spierling for forwarding this fantastic link!

In a timely post titled From AI to A+: Prepare Your Students for Using ChatGPT and Other AI, Ryan Watkins offers practical guidance on effectively discussing AI with your students.

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Teaching – Attendance and the first day(s) of class

Posted on by dalkej

Attendance has always been a tricky thing – how do we keep students accountable while at the same time being empathetic to their situation? The aftereffects of a global pandemic and the rising needs around mental health concerns have only exacerbated things.

In the Chronicle piece, When Students Miss Out, Beckie Supiano reports ways to get ahead of attendance issues.

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Warming up to the power of ChatGPT

Posted on by dalkej

Traditionally, the TTT goes on summer break until August, but I couldn’t help doing a quick check-in on ChatGPT. I am eager to return to the classroom after my sabbatical, but I need to figure out how to navigate this new technology. A lot has developed in the past few months, and I am curious to see how you will address this AI in the fall.

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Teaching- The Agony and the Ecstasy: Reading Your Student Evaluations

Posted on by dalkej

Twice a year, I get that email that always causes a twinge in my stomach: your course evaluations are now available. Course evaluations can be tricky to navigate, whether it’s your first or fifteenth semester. In the compelling article, The Agony and the Ecstasy: Reading Your Student Evaluations, Regan A.R. Gurung offers invaluable insights into dealing with the emotional toll of student feedback.

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Teaching- Getting ready for course evaluations

Posted on by dalkej

Whenever colleagues invite me to observe their classes for formative feedback, I always ask them to share two or three aspects they’re working on where they’d appreciate some constructive input. For instance, they could be aiming to engage more students, attempting to summarize the class within the last five minutes, or simply organizing their board work more effectively.

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Teaching- Writing versus Thinking Skills: A False Dichotomy

Posted on by dalkej

Does your students’ writing seem vague? As we approach the final weeks of the semester and brace ourselves for the onslaught of paper revisions, John Orlando offers a fresh perspective that might hold the key to addressing this issue. In his insightful article, Writing versus Thinking Skills: A False Dichotomy, he posits that writing problems extending beyond basic grammar and spelling errors are, in fact, manifestations of muddled thinking.

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