Throughout consultations and events this fall, instructors have shared that the “magic” of their typical, in-person class wasn’t as strong in their online or hybrid courses. The common thread among all the stories is that instructors are missing the closeness felt among students in the class. These stories drive me as a graduate student studying… Read more »
Often instructors check in with students who are performing poorly. Don’t forget to contact those who are doing well! Tell them you’ve noticed and encourage them to keep up the great work, preferably with specifics about what they are doing well. Whether you want to contact students who are struggling or those who are doing… Read more »
If you’re accustomed to teaching in-person, I’m sure hybrid or online teaching has required some changes to your lessons. At first glance, the modalities of synchronous online classrooms and in-person classrooms may seem at odds. However, many types of assessments (e.g., exams, essays, quizzes, discussions) can be used for both synchronous online and face-to-face (f2f)… Read more »
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 »
