blog posts

• The Three Most Time-Efficient Teaching Practices

  Aug 28, 2014 8:00 am27 views

  The Three Most Time-Efficient Teaching Practices.  As we start our semester, it is important to look at how effective and efficient we can be with our time.  Here are three suggestions from Linda Hodges (U. of Maryland, Baltimore Co.) on how to be more productive in our class preparation, while also promoting better student learning.  

• Ten Rules of Good (and Bad) Studying

  Sep 10, 2014 8:00 am9 views

  Ten Rules of Good (and Bad) Studying.  Students may not be aware that they are using some unhelpful strategies when they are studying. Think about sharing with your students strategies such as explanatory questioning and simple analogies to help them more deeply encode what they are learning. Click here for a list of helpful studying strategies.

• Getting Students to Read: Important Considerations

  Sep 11, 2014 8:00 am5 views

  Getting Students to Read: Important Considerations. “Whenever faculty get together to talk about student writing or critical thinking, they inevitably turn also to problems of student reading.” (Bean, 1996, p. 133).  Think carefully about why and how you assign required readings. You can reduce your own and your students’ frustrations by thinking about these important ways to incorporate readings into your course. Click here to read the IDEA article.

• Have you done your Informal Early Feedback (IEF)?

  Sep 25, 2014 8:00 am0 views

  Have you done your Informal Early Feedback (IEF)? Using informal early feedback (IEF) can help you learn about what is working and what is not working in your class at a time when you can make mid-course corrections. Late-September to mid-October is a great time to collect this feedback from your students.  Additional information and samples are on our website.

• I Was Inspired by a Teaching Workshop, But Now What Do I Do?

  Sep 25, 2014 8:00 am0 views

  I Was Inspired by a Teaching Workshop, But Now What Do I Do?  This month, there are many workshops offered to help you learn new strategies and teaching approaches. Before implementing these new teaching techniques, keep in mind these helpful words of wisdom: be strategic about which techniques to implement, explain the techniques to your students, start with small, incremental steps. Here is more advice.  And, of course, you can always contact CITL (citl-info@illinois.edu).

• Providing Timely and Frequent Feedback

  Oct 9, 2014 8:00 am2 views

  Providing Timely and Frequent Feedback. If students are to benefit from feedback, it must not only be timely and frequent, but also useful for improving performance by addressing three areas: what students did well, what students need to improve on, and how to make this improvement. Although giving detailed feedback is important, it may be even more important to give it in a timely manner. Click here to read about helpful types of feedback.

• Getting Students to Act on Our Feedback

  Oct 9, 2014 8:00 am10 views

  Getting Students to Act on Our Feedback. “I’m still pondering why students don’t make better use of the feedback we provide on papers, projects, presentations, even the whole class feedback we offer after we’ve graded a set of exams. Yes, we do see improvement as we look back across a course, but we also see a lot of the same errors repeated throughout the course.”  Learn how to improve your comments to help your students develop an action plan based on your feedback for the next assignment.

• Design Considerations for Exam Wrappers

  Oct 23, 2014 8:00 am1 views

  Design Considerations for Exam Wrappers. "Exam wrappers are short activities that direct students to review their performance (and the instructor's feedback) on an exam with an eye toward adapting their future learning.  Exam wrappers ask students three kinds of questions: How did they prepare for the exam?  What kinds of errors did they make on the exam?  What could they do differently next time?"  Click here to see examples and strategies to help our students become more reflective about their learning.

• Final Exams as Learning Moments

  Dec 3, 2014 8:00 am0 views

  Final Exams as Teaching Moments. A common complaint from students is that final exams do not always test the kinds of knowledge that is asked for in homework or quizzes or presented in lectures. Whether this perception is accurate or not, it’s an excellent starting point for talking about the final exam. The worst final exams can seem unfocused, determined to test everything, or random things. The best final exams are learning moments. Click here for suggestions from Berkeley’s teaching center.

• Establishing Rapport and Why It Matters

  Jan 14, 2015 8:00 am6 views

  Establishing Rapport and Why It Matters.  It cannot be underestimated how important establishing rapport is in effective teaching and learning. Connections with students play a role in student participation, effort, and engagement with the content. Ways to build rapport and respect for your students are providing praise, nodding and smiling, using their names, and identifying prior knowledge. Additional strategies such as helping students answer their own questions are quite effective in creating rapport, while enhancing learning.

• Building Rapport from the Beginning

  Jan 14, 2015 8:00 am2 views

  Building Rapport from the Beginning.  Good rapport between instructor and students is arguably the most important factor in good classroom dynamics. You should begin the process of building rapport and collegiality on the first day of class, and continue cultivating this environment throughout the semester. Don’t miss this opportunity on your first day.

• Mindsets Toward Learning

  Jan 28, 2015 8:00 am33 views

  Mindsets Toward Learning. A mindset, first described by Carol Dweck, is a view you have of yourself as a learner, and it affects all the decisions you make about your learning-the effort you put forth, the risks you take, how you deal with failures and criticism, and how much of a challenge you are willing to accept. Mindsets can be fixed or growth. There are strategies your students can adopt to promote a growth mindset and to be a successful learner.

• You Got Students Talking about Their Experiences, Now What?

  Jan 28, 2015 8:00 am1 views

  You Got Students Talking about Their Experiences, Now What? "Get students talking about their experiences!" - a recommendation shared at a Teaching Professor Technology Conference. Students learn new material by connecting it to what they already know. If a teacher gets a sense of that knowledge base (which often grows out of and rests on experience) it's a lot easier to make good connections between what students know and what they need to learn. You may be surprised by what they believe and think they know.

• Reading Circles Get Students to Do the Reading

  Feb 12, 2015 8:00 am4 views

  Reading Circles Get Students to Do the Reading. Eric Hobson reports that on any given day and for any given assignment, 20 to 30 percent of the students have done the reading. When students don’t do the reading, they hear about the text, but they do not actually experience it or do anything that develops their reading skills. When students are placed in reading circles, with a rubric and assigned roles, they improve their reading skills, their self-confidence, and ability to express their ideas.

• Getting Students to Read: Fourteen Tips

  Feb 12, 2015 8:00 am58 views

  Getting Students to Read: Fourteen Tips. “Whenever faculty get together to talk about student writing or critical thinking, they inevitably turn also to problems of student reading.” (Bean, 1996, p. 133). The first question is “Is a textbook necessary for this course?”  If so, there are strategies you can use to enhance the value of reading the text and assignments and activities to enhance the reading.

   

• The University of China at Illinois.

  Feb 26, 2015 8:00 am11 views

  The University of China at Illinois.  Did you know that UIUC has nearly 5000 students from China?  That’s more than any other U.S. University. Our Chinese students make up the largest group of international students on our campus, followed by South Korea and India.  Read this article from Inside Higher Ed, including interviews with Charles Tucker and Nicole Tami about how our students adapt.  To learn more about how to create a more supportive learning environment for a diverse student body, attend our Post Faculty Retreat Workshop Series (open to all graduate students and faculty).

• How Diversity Makes Us Smarter

  Feb 26, 2015 8:00 am7 views

  How Diversity Makes Us Smarter. The first thing to acknowledge about diversity is that it can be difficult. Yet, the first thing to acknowledge is that good diversity, such as expertise, is beneficial, but even more so is social diversity, such as ethnicity, race, gender.  This article states that it is social diversity that promotes creativity, innovation, and higher cognitive action in our work environments and team projects. 

• Four Key Questions about Grading

  Mar 11, 2015 7:00 am1 views

  Four Key Questions about Grading. There's an excellent article on grading in a recent issue of Cell Biology Education-Life Sciences Education. It offers a brief history of grading (it hasn’t been around for all that long), and then looks to the literature for answers to key questions. Does your grading system motivate your students? Does it help them to improve their learning? And… what kind of learning is being measured? Here are some thoughts to consider.

• Using Whole Class Feedback When Returning an Assignment or Exam

  Mar 11, 2015 8:00 am3 views

  Using Whole Class Feedback When Returning an Assignment or Exam. Whole class feedback … you know, when the teacher returns a set of papers or exams and talks to the entire class about its performance, or the debriefing part of an activity where the teacher comments on how students completed the task. Is it a good way to provide feedback? Do students pay any attention to feedback delivered in this way? Weimer describes a future-focused discussion where students identify what to do to improve, and what to stop doing.
  

• "She Didn't Teach. We Had to Learn it Ourselves"

  Apr 2, 2015 8:00 am11 views

  "She Didn't Teach. We Had to Learn it Ourselves"  A faculty member had received on her student ratings this comment: "This teacher should not be paid. We had to teach ourselves in this course." I remember another faculty member telling me about similar feedback, which was followed later with a comment about how the course "really made me think." Two possible reasons for these comments are students being overly dependent on the instructor for their learning and no rationale is provided for a specific assignment or action. This article shares ways in which to reach a balance between student and faculty goals.

• What’s an Empowered Student?

  Apr 2, 2015 8:00 am11 views

  What’s an Empowered Student? When students are empowered, they learn more and learn better. Some things that instructors can do are to provide accurate descriptions of those actions learners must take in order to succeed. Create authentic assignments and delineate the tasks and steps to achieve and support student efforts through coaching. In this article, Weimer provides more strategies. 

• Alternatives to the Traditional Final Exam

  Apr 23, 2015 8:00 am144 views

  Alternatives to the Traditional Final Exam. As you prepare your students for the final exam, keep in mind the following: research has shown that students vary the way they study depending on how they think they will be tested. For example, if students think they will be tested on details, they'll spend their time memorizing. If they know the test will ask them to apply theories and concepts to unique problems and situations, they'll practice this skill. This means that preparing for the final exam can be a powerful learning experience if we give students the information they need to study effectively. Providing sample questions is an excellent way to do this. The challenge is to create a final test which reflects what we most want students to learn. If you're interested in some alternatives to the traditional final exam, consider the following alternatives.
  

• Final Exams: Fair or Unfair?

  Apr 23, 2015 8:00 am24 views

  Final Exams: Fair or Unfair? A common complaint from students is that final exams do not always test the kinds of knowledge that is asked for in homework or quizzes or presented in lectures. Whether this perception is accurate or not, it's still an excellent starting point for talking about what you are testing when you give a final exam. The worst final exams can seem unfocused, determined to test everything, or random things. The best final exams are learning moments. If you presented a set of learning goals and objectives to your students on your syllabus, you're way ahead of the game, because that means you've thought through what is important to you for a particular class. The very simplest procedure then is to develop an exam that will demonstrate whether students have achieved these objectives.

• Should Effort Count? Students Certainly Think So

  May 7, 2015 8:00 am2 views

  Should Effort Count? Students Certainly Think So. In a recent study, a group of 120 undergraduates were asked what percentage of a grade should be based on performance and what percentage on effort. The students said that 61% of the grade should be based on performance and 39% on effort. Historically, grades have been thought of as measures of performance. Is effort a viable dimension of a course grade? Should you get credit for trying if you don’t succeed or just barely succeed? This article raises a number of thought-provoking questions.

• Assigning Course Grades

  May 7, 2015 8:00 am2 views

  Assigning Course Grades. We come to that time of the semester when we must do the difficult task of assigning the final course grades. What do we do with “borderline” grades? Should effort be considered? What about bonus points? Here are some strategies to consider when determining the final grade.

• Why Are You Teaching That?

  May 21, 2015 8:00 am10 views

  Why Are You Teaching That? My undergraduate experience wasn't as bad as that, but it left a lot to be desired. If you look through everything you're teaching and consider how useful it might ever be to the students, you'll certainly find some "need-to-know" material-things all graduates in your field should know and instructors in subsequent courses will assume they know. You'll also find material that makes you wonder "Why am I teaching this stuff?" If you're like most of us and have more jammed into your course than you can comfortably cover, consider cutting down on some of that superfluous material. Here are some candidates for cutting: It is adapted from Felder, R.M. (2014). "Why are you teaching that?" Chemical Engineering Education, 48(3), 131-132

• Thresholds Are Troublesome

  May 21, 2015 8:00 am0 views

  Thresholds Are Troublesome. Few new ideas in the ongoing inquiry into effective teaching and learning have generated as much productive discussion as the idea of "threshold concepts" and its older sister, "troublesome knowledge."  Another name might be bottlenecks. Threshold concepts are “portals” or gateways to transformative educational development (Meyer & Land, 2003; Trafford, 2008), and “going through” this portal leads to significant and important outcomes for the student. To promote deeper learning, faculty should identify key threshold concepts in their disciplines and assist their students in mastering those concepts.

• A Learner-Centered Syllabus Helps Set the Tone for Learning

  Aug 12, 2015 8:00 am40 views

  A Learner-Centered Syllabus Helps Set the Tone for Learning. At its most basic level, the syllabus is used to communicate information about the course, the instructor, learning objectives, assignments, grading policies, due dates, the university’s academic integrity statement, and, in some cases, an increasingly long list of strongly worded admonitions on what is and isn’t acceptable behavior in the college classroom. Could portraying the syllabus as a contract set up a less than optimal relationship?  This article suggests some areas to think about when writing your syllabus. 
  

• Don’t Waste the First Day

  Aug 12, 2015 8:00 am2 views

  Don’t waste the first day. Do you go over the syllabus page by page on the first day? Take advantage of the first day by hooking students into course content before distributing the syllabus. Do a background probe activity, get to know them and walk from one student to another, make your teaching style transparent. This article describes additional strategies to maximize that first day as a valuable learning experience.  

• A Strategy to Get Student Buy-In for Active Learning

  Aug 30, 2015 8:00 am61 views

  A Strategy to Get Student Buy-In for Active Learning. A professor had asked himself, “Do my students know why I ask them to learn this way?” He had moved away from an almost entirely lecture-and-exam format to a more active class using small groups working on authentic problems. However, he was frustrated because his students didn’t understand the value of preparing before coming to class or the benefits of his teaching this way. Here is the assignment and the first-day questions he used to get student buy-in for active learning.

• Building Professor-Student Relationships in an Age of Social Networking

  Aug 30, 2015 8:00 am1 views

  Building Professor-Student Relationships in an Age of Social Networking. The influence of teacher-student relationships on the quality of teaching and learning is well-documented. What about the use of technology, especially social networking, in interacting with your students? What is the perceived impact and understanding?  In this article are some insights shared by one professor on how to have a good rapport with students online while avoiding any miscommunications and maintaining a professional relationship.

• Time to Conduct an Informal Early Feedback (IEF)

  Sep 14, 2015 8:00 am0 views

  Time to Conduct an Informal Early Feedback (IEF). Using the informal early feedback (IEF) tool can help you learn about what is working and what is not working in your class at a time when you can make important mid-course corrections. You can get valuable valuable information not only about your teaching, but also on what and how your students learn. Late-September to mid-October is a great time to collect this feedback.  Additional information and samples are on our website. Also, register for our workshops about IEF being offered now.
  

• Enhancing the Effectiveness of TA Office Hours

  Sep 14, 2015 8:00 am0 views

  Enhancing the Effectiveness of TA Office Hours. With any strategy, it is important that TAs send messages of genuine willingness to assist students. Undergraduate students do distinguish between "availability" and "approachability." They have told us that a person's "availability" during tutoring/office hours does not necessarily mean that they see him or her as "approachable." They are far more likely to "approach" someone whom they perceive as willing to assist - empathetic, patient, and interested in their learning.See this article from Tomorrow's Professor to learn more.
  

• Let Students Summarize the Previous Lesson

  Sep 29, 2015 8:00 am58 views

  Let Students Summarize the Previous Lesson. Students often think of class sessions as isolated events—each containing a discrete chunk of content. Those who take notes during class will put the date along the top and then usually leave a space between each session, which visually reinforces their belief that the concepts and material aren’t connected. But in most of our courses, today’s content links to material from the previous session as well as to what’s coming up next. Having a quick recap is a good idea. That’s what Professor Annie Blazer does. Each of her class sessions begins with a three- to-five-minute summary of the main ideas discussed in the previous session, and that summary is presented by a student.
  

• Getting the Most out of Guest Experts Who Speak to Your Class

  Sep 29, 2015 8:00 am7 views

  Getting the Most out of Guest Experts Who Speak to Your Class. Inviting guest speakers into your classroom is a classic teaching strategy. Welcoming other voices into the classroom provides students with access to other perspectives, adds variety to the classroom routine, and demonstrates that learning is a collaborative enterprise. At the same time, however, presentations by guest experts are often plagued by a variety of design flaws that hinder their educational effectiveness. Here are five things you can do to prepare for an optimal experience.

• Exploring the Advantages of Rubrics

  Oct 12, 2015 8:00 am4 views

  Exploring the Advantages of Rubrics. "I don’t understand what you want on this assignment.” It’s a comment teachers don’t like to hear from students, and rubrics, checklists, or the grading criteria offer constructive ways to respond. They identify those parts of an assignment or performance that matter, that if included and done well garner good grades and learning. If teachers don’t identify them, then students must figure out for themselves what the assignment needs in order to be considered good. Here is an article that describes the value of using a rubric for more effective student achievement.
  

• Collaboration or Plagiarism? Explaining Collaborative-Based Assignments Clearly

  Oct 12, 2015 8:00 am1 views

  Collaboration or Plagiarism? Explaining Collaborative-Based Assignments Clearly. Although there are many positive aspects of group work, there are negatives as well. One particular problem occurs when students are confused about faculty expectations involving the work product of teams. More specifically, students often have difficulty determining how much of a group product, if any, is to be created by an individual. Here are strategies that help clarify for the students what is acceptable collaboration.
  

• Save the Last Word for Me: Encouraging Students to Engage with Complex Reading and Each Other

  Oct 25, 2015 8:00 am2 views

  Save the Last Word for Me: Encouraging Students to Engage with Complex Reading and Each Other. Online discussions are often implemented in college classes to allow students to express their understanding and perceptions about the assigned readings. This can be challenging when the reading is particularly complex, as students are typically reluctant to share their interpretations because they are not confident in their understanding. This can inhibit meaningful interactions with peers within an online discussion. Through a review of research, we found that more structured discussions tend to exhibit higher levels of shared cognition (deNoyelles, Zydney, & Chen, 2014).  Here is the article describing the strategies.

• Note-Taking Pairs.

  Oct 25, 2015 8:00 am40 views

  Note-Taking Pairs. In Note-Taking Pairs, student partners work together to improve their individual notes.  Working with a peer provides students with an opportunity to revisit and crosscheck notes with another source. Partners help each other acquire missing information and correct inaccuracies so that their combined effort is superior to their individual notes.
  

• Learning to Analyze and Critically Evaluate Ideas, Arguments, and Points of View

  Nov 9, 2015 8:00 am153 views

  Learning to Analyze and Critically Evaluate Ideas, Arguments, and Points of View. The critical evaluation of ideas, arguments, and points of view is important for the development of students as autonomous thinkers. It is only through this critical evaluation that students can distinguish among competing claims for truth and determine which arguments and points of view they can trust and those of which they should be skeptical. This article describe ways for students to develop disciplinary critical thinking.

• Thinking Creatively and Critically

  Nov 9, 2015 8:00 am1 views

  Thinking Creatively and Critically. Two popular targets on the list of Things These Students Can't Do are creative thinking (coming up with innovative ideas) and critical thinking (making judgments or choices and backing them up with evidence and logic). When our colleagues complain to us that their students can't do them, after we make appropriate sympathetic noises we ask, "Where were they supposed to learn to do it?" The answers may vary, but one we rarely hear is "In my class."  Here are some strategies from Rebecca Brent and Richard Felder.

• The Last Day of Class - Make It Count

  Nov 29, 2015 8:00 am4 views

  The Last Day of Class. Make the last day count. Too often, the last day of a class can be taken up with housekeeping-information on the final, last minute details, and course evaluations. But as Richard Lyons, author of several books on college teaching says, "the final class is a key student retention milepost." Here are some activities from Berkeley’s teaching center.

• Assigning Course Grades

  Nov 29, 2015 8:00 am0 views

  Assigning Course Grades. Various grading practices are used by college and university faculty. Some examples are absolute standard, relative grading, percent grading, and grading on the curve. The Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning provides an examination of the more widely used methods and discussion of the advantages, disadvantages and fallacies associated with each.

• Considerations in Designing and Teaching Your Course

  Dec 22, 2015 8:00 am0 views

  Considerations in Designing and Teaching Your Course. Take advantage of the few weeks before the semester starts to look at the course you will be teaching – whether it is a new course or one you have already taught. Many of the decisions affecting the success of a course take place well before the first day of class. Careful planning at the course design stage not only makes teaching easier and more enjoyable, it also facilitates student learning. Once your course is planned, teaching involves implementing your course design on a day-to-day level. Here is a list of things for consideration. 

• If Your Syllabus Were Graded, Would It Pass? Using a Learning-Centered Approach to Design a Course Syllabus

  Dec 22, 2015 8:00 am15 views

  If Your Syllabus Were Graded, Would It Pass? Using a Learning-Centered Approach to Design a Course Syllabus. A well-designed and thoughtful syllabus will inform the students about expectations, values, and ways to be successful. It focuses on the needs of the students and their learning processes. Read this article to learn more about how to create a learner-centered syllabus.

• Three Active Learning Strategies to Push Students Beyond Memorization

  Jan 26, 2016 8:00 am14 views

  Three Active Learning Strategies to Push Students Beyond Memorization. Many students come to us having achieved academic success by memorizing the content, regurgitating that information onto an exam, and promptly forgetting a good portion of it. New material builds upon the material from the previous semesters, it is critical for students to retain what they learn throughout their coursework and as they begin their careers. Here is a description about the strategies and how to implement them.
  

• First-Day Questions for the Learner-Centered Classroom

  Jan 26, 2016 8:00 am15 views

  First-Day Questions for the Learner-Centered Classroom. Why had my evaluation scores gone down while student achievement had gone up? The reason became clear as I read the written comments. The students were displeased with the greater work. They were content to ignore reading assignments, assuming that I would lecture over the content that was important. They were content not to review information and construct knowledge except by cramming the night before exams. What I needed was a way to engage them to see that how I taught the course mattered to them; that learning this way helped them accomplish goals that were important to them. Read here for strategies to help student buy-in for more active learning.

• 10 Assessment Design Tips for Increasing Online Student Retention, Satisfaction and Learning

  Feb 7, 2016 8:00 am4 views

  10 Assessment Design Tips for Increasing Online Student Retention, Satisfaction and Learning - How much time do we put into the design of the assessment plans in our online courses? Is most of that time focused upon summative graded assignments that factor into the course grade? Or, do they also include opportunity for practice and informal feedback? I confess that I have an increasingly difficult time with online courses that limit assessment plans to a few papers, projects, quizzes, and tests. In an age of educational innovation and online learning, perhaps it is time to further explore enhancements to traditional notions of grading. Click here to read the suggested strategies. 

• Building Professor-Student Relationships in an Age of Social Networking

  Feb 7, 2016 8:00 am9 views

  Building Professor-Student Relationships in an Age of Social Networking. Sometimes the only interactions we may have with students occurs online. In this article are some insights shared by one professor on how to have a good rapport with students online while avoiding any miscommunications and maintaining a professional relationship. Also, included are a few suggestions for establishing authority and professional boundaries while still maintaining professor-student relationships characterized by warmth and friendliness. 

• Now is the time to do an Informal Early Feedback (IEF)

  Feb 22, 2016 8:00 am0 views

  Now is the time to do an Informal Early Feedback (IEF). Student evaluations of teaching are an important part of the feedback that instructors receive. This feedback can be especially helpful when it is collected during the semester. Our students can tell us if we are clear, accessible, respectful or timely. They may also be able to tell us if the activities we give them are well aligned with the ways we evaluate their learning. Responding to students’ comments by discussing them in class, and making changes as appropriate, can lead to increased motivation, better learning, and possibly improved end-of-semester student ratings. Here are the directions and example IEFs. If you would like assistance in developing your own IEF or interpreting the results, email did@illinois.edu