One way to connect with your students, particularly in an online course, is to invite them to come to your (virtual) office hours. Students are often shy or reluctant to come to office hours, so think about rebranding them as “coffee breaks” or “casual chats.” Or invite your students to sign up for brief time… Read more »
I recently attended a webinar about High-Impact Practices (HIPs) presented by Jerry Daday and Tom Hahn (Institute for Engaged Learning, IUPUI) and the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL). High-impact practices are educational practices that have been shown to increase student engagement and retention (Kuh 2008). There are eleven HIPs: service-learning/community-based… Read more »
Even under normal teaching conditions, there are good reasons to gather feedback from your students at mid-semester. Perhaps you’re trying a new teaching strategy or teaching a new course and you wonder what your students think of it. Or you want to avoid surprises in your end-of-semester evaluations. But with the pivot to remote instruction,… Read more »
Looking for a competitive edge as a scholar and instructor? CIRTL can help! The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) is a network of 37 research universities in the United States and Canada with the goal of enhancing STEM undergraduate education through the professional development of future faculty. Indiana University Bloomington… Read more »
I read this morning that an influential leader in educational thought, Arthur Chickering, passed away on August 15. While Chickering had a prolific career in advancing undergraduate education, he is most widely known for his 1987 collaboration with Zelda Gamson, “Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education,” which led to an 1996 adaptation with… Read more »
We are all hopeful that IU can control COVID-19 spikes and we are able to keep on-campus instruction going until Thanksgiving. But with so many COVID-related challenges out there, it is important that we are all prepared to pivot to remote instruction, just in case. Whether you are preparing for a full campus shutdown or… Read more »
