Around midterms, instructors tend to see student engagement plummet. Over the past few semesters, I’ve written about encouraging peer-to-peer engagement as well as a few tricks for getting your students talking. Today, I’m going to highlight two instructors who facilitate innovative and successful group work during class time. Sarah Fischer (PhD Candidate, Associate Instructor, Lieber… Read more »
Teaching Strategies
Quick Tip: Strategies to Combat Deficit Thinking
I’ve been writing a series of posts that spotlight the incredible instructors on our campus and the valuable insights they shared during our Annual Associate Instructor Orientation (highlights include STEM classrooms, active learning, and analysis). Today, I want to highlight Kevin Mudavadi and Selim Yavuz, who led a workshop titled, “Better Together! Personal Experiences, Empathy,… Read more »
Prove Me Wrong: How One IU Professor Works Smarter with Active Learning by Enlisting Students’ Help
Put down the pool floats, fruit smoothies, and sunblock: the fall semester is beginning! As you begin to prepare your courses, you may find yourself overwhelmed with choices about course design, assignment sheets, and student engagement. Sometimes, the easiest way to incorporate innovative teaching in these busy semester moments is through simple interventions with large… Read more »
Quick Tip: Beyond Likes and Dislikes: How to Lead Meaningful Classroom Discussions
At our annual Associate Instructor Orientation on August 21st, a group of IUB instructors generously volunteered their time and wisdom to help guide our newest instructors. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been sharing all sorts of incredible “quick tips” I learned from these instructors about active learning and leading STEM labs. Today, I want… Read more »
Active Learning is a Game Changer: Try the Crowd-Crumple Activity
As we’re entering the flow of the fall semester, you might find yourself wondering how to keep your students awake, engaged, and – oh yeah – actually learning! Lectures can be helpful for us to convey information, but if you really want to see students reach those learning goals, it’s time to try something besides… Read more »
I Built It, but They Won’t Come: Constructing Effective Office Hours Spaces
One of the questions I receive most often as an Instructional Consultant is about office hours. Students are struggling with coursework, but they are not coming to office hours. Instructors are teaching large classes and would love to get to know their students more, but students are not coming to office hours. Students are missing… Read more »