PlayPosit https://app.teaching.iu.edu/tools/playposit is an interactive teaching tool/application used to make interactive videos, also known as bulbs. The application can be integrated into the Canvas using your own videos or by extracting videos from other sources, such as YouTube or TED Talks, and convert them into an interactive, topic- and student-focused mini-lessons by adding questions at appropriate time-points… Read more »
Student Engagement
SER Student Engagement Roster Reminder
It is the time of year that we discuss the importance of using the Student Engagement Roster (SERs) to provide students with timely feedback on how they are doing in your course. These reports also provide records of your observations and recommendations to academic advisors, who can look for patterns across all a student’s courses. This allows advisors… Read more »
End of the Semester Tips
The following are a few ideas adapted from the SUNY Teaching and Learning center, that may help you prepare for the Spring semester, and/or update your teaching portfolio: Keep a copy of your syllabus and each assignment you design Your teaching portfolio may include a range of syllabi and assignments you’ve designed. Make sure you… Read more »
2023 State of Student Success and Engagement in Higher Education
Instructure, the company that created Canvas, has released the report: The 2023 State of Student Success and Engagement in Higher Education. They worked with Hanover Research to field a survey in 17 countries, asking for the perspectives of 6,100 current students, administrators, and faculty from 2-year, 4-year, public, and private higher education institutions in order to answer… Read more »
Getting to Know Your Students
Jennie Carr, an Associate Professor at Bridgewater College, explains that researchers have found “strong positive correlations between [faculty] building relationships and rapport with students and academic achievement, attendance, student interest, motivation, empowerment, self-efficacy student attention, classroom behaviors and interactions (Benson, Cohen, Buskist, 2005, Houser & Frymier, 2009, Kozanitis, Desbiens, Chouinard, 2007; Myers, Goldman, Atkinson, Ball,… Read more »
Sample Syllabus
Our colleague, Alexis Peirce Caudell, shared a three-part syllabus to encourage more students to read the syllabus. The main syllabus starts with information on three ways students can garner information from the syllabus. Part 1: Is a one-page summary of the most important components of the class, as well as the frequently asked questions that occur that… Read more »
Backchannels and Collaborative Note-taking
A backchannel is a conversation that takes place during an activity or event. It is common at conferences where attendees use Twitter to discuss presentations and announcements in real time. In classroom contexts, the word “backchannel” refers to conversations that take place among students during a classroom lecture or presentation. From the University of Waterloo: The… Read more »
The Role of Faculty in Student Mental Health and Announcements
The following Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast episodes focus on mental health: 317 Mental Health on the College Campus: https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/mental-health-on-the-college-campus 373 The Role of Faculty in Student Mental Health: https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/the-role-of-faculty-in-student-mental-health/ and 422 Improving Learning and Mental Health in the College Classroom: https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/improving-learning-and-mental-health-in-the-college-classroom These podcasts discuss tips faculty can consider integrating into their teaching practice in order to help address… Read more »
Revisiting Office Hours
We have talked in the past about tips for making office hours equitable and accessible for students: https://blogs.iu.edu/luddyteach/2021/02/10/office-hours/ This email adds to the conversation with a few best practices. The following are adapted from Vanderbilt University “Office Hours and Email” (n.d.) and Northern Illinois University (NIU)“Connecting with Students in Online Courses” (n.d.). NIU notes that there are typically two types of students… Read more »
Upcoming Workshops and Revisiting SERs
Last year we discussed the importance of using the Student Engagement Roster (SERs) to provide students with timely feedback on how they are doing in your course. These reports also provide records of your observations and recommendations to academic advisors, who can look for patterns across all a student’s courses. This allows advisors to reach out to students in… Read more »