Tilt 2.0

16 Denison faculty members participated in the Center’s TILT workshop in January. TILT stands for Transparency in Learning and Teaching, which provides a simple three-step structure: purpose, task, and criteria.

Maybe you were curious about the idea, but you were too busy, had a schedule conflict, or life got in the way. Dr. Anabel Stoeckle from the Office for Teaching & Learning at Wayne State University developed a TILT 2.0 version for all of us too busy to rework our assignments.

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5 Ways to Be Strategic About Service

From Matt Kretchmar and your Selections and Elections Committee:  This timely Chronicle article reminds us of the importance of giving ourselves to the broader mission of the college through our service work.  The article reminds us that the best and most rewarding work is that which speaks to our hearts and connects with our talents.  This is a good article to review before engaging with the upcoming governance ballot.

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Tidbit – Trapped in the Quagmire of Digital Recommendation Letters

It’s that time of year. Students are looking for summer opportunities, trying to land that first job, or contemplating graduate school. Yes, recommendation letter writing season is in full swing! A recent Chronicle article bemoans how the digital age has ruined this process.

Never fear! Recall, the Lisska Center has created this video to provide you with suggestions on writing letters of recommendation, including things to focus on and what to ask of students.

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Tidbit – Some Publishing Resources from our Friends at The Lisska Center

The below list of helpful publishing tips was compiled by the Faculty Development Center at Hollins College. 

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Tidbit – From the Archive – Midterm Course Evaluations

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

  1. provide a chance to correct student misconceptions or make changes to the course schedule, activities, etc. if necessary.
  2. give students an opportunity to reflect on their own 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, as well as some open-ended questions.

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Tidbit – Plagiarism Education by Rachel Mitton-Fry

As Process Advisor for Academic Integrity, I often see cases involving misuse of source material. Instances include inadequate paraphrasing, quotations missing references, and direct use of entire passages without attribution. Speaking with students, it becomes clear that many of them have a poor understanding of what constitutes plagiarism, despite the integrity statements they see in their syllabi. This short article from Faculty Focus highlights the value of plagiarism education. It

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Tidbit – Preparing Students for Beyond Denison

Denison students will spend their spring semester diving into important topics in their classes and figuring out how to answer one of two questions:

“What will you be doing this summer?” or 
“What are your plans after graduation?”

For most students, the answers are directly related to internships and jobs – the work experience they need to launch from their Denison education. 

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Tidbit – a tricky question

What will students remember from your class in 20 Years? In this article, James Lang tackles this thorny question that has no set answer. However, as we are mapping out our semester, consider how your course might:

  • inspire a passion for the subject
  • provide a sense of disciplinary literacy
  • give an understanding of how the discipline matters in other realms
  • develop an eye for the bigger picture

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