Dear Colleagues,
For many of our classes, October brings first exams and early deadlines for substantial projects. For our students, this is the time of the year when they draw on their good study habits and rely on our smart instruction to keep them engaged and motivated. But what if our students lack those good habits and strong engagement? Here are some resources that might support our students as they face upcoming course deadlines.
Study Habits
- ACUE prepared this handout of effective study habits. To promote these techniques, I posted this sheet on my canvas page and asked students to complete a survey indicating which study habit they find most beneficial. I reported the results in class to highlight key strategies.
- This Youtube video of Famous Failures reminds students that the path to success necessarily includes trial and error. Failures help us find our way to our goals.
- The Sanger Learning Center provides support for UT students, and in these remarkable times can also help build student capacity for online learning.
Another way to prepare students for success is building deep learning experiences into our courses throughout the semester. Course activities and assignments that promote a more fundamental understanding of the material build thinking and learning strategies and also help prepare students for exams and other substantial course projects.
Building deeper engagement can be quite simple. Consider asking students to explain course concepts to each other in small groups or through online discussion boards. The act of explaining material moves students from passive observer to active participant and can make the course content stick.
Deeper Engagement
- Dr. Mike Starbird uses “Calcsplaining” in his mathematics course. Here’s how Mike describes this activity:
“Calcsplaining” is our ‘teach-to-learn’ component of instruction. Each weekly Calcsplaining assignment asks pairs or triples of students to create two short videos explaining the calculus topics at hand. During the calculus discussion sessions, two groups come together, and on Tuesdays one group shows their video about the first topic and the second group shows their video about the other topic. Students ask questions of each other, with the groups being moderated by a facilitator who is an ETC Project student from a previous year. On Thursdays the groups switch topics, ideally (and often) producing more refined versions of the video they watched in the previous Tuesday session.”
- If you find this example helpful, you may also like his book, Five Elements of Effective Thinking, co-authored with Edward Burger.
- To pick up additional tips for online instruction, you might also find Small Teaching Online, by Flower Darby, helpful.
My students took on a similar challenge, in a simplified version of Mike’s assignment. Last week my students engaged in a real-life scenario about foreign aid spending. Using our canvas discussion board, students posted a defense of their spending choice, using course readings to explain why their choice was most effective. Students solidify their own understanding when they describe their choice to others. And now our discussion board includes a student-generated study guide covering the material and the application of this material to current events!
With quick, simple techniques, you can bring greater engagement to your online instruction. I hope some of these tips are useful for you in the coming weeks of the semester.
Other Upcoming Events for Instructors - Join us for a discussion of Research and Mentorshop at the upcoming Provost's Teaching Fellows Think Tank, on Monday, October 19 at 10:00am.
- Fall Meetups at the Faculty Innovation Center are in full swing, taking place every Friday this semester at 1:00pm. Some of the topics covered this month are "Making Thinking Visible" and "Students Teaching Students."
- The Provost's Teaching Fellows have released a Podcast, "The Other Side of Campus," which releases new episodes every other Friday.
Join the PTF ProgramIf you’d like to participate in a community of faculty who explore and share teaching strategies, please consider joining the Provost Teaching Fellows program. Express your interest in by filling out the intent form by November 1, and a PTF will follow up with you to discuss the application process and your interest in the program. Sincerely,
