Almost at the finish line (Teaching Tip)

Over a decade ago, I participated in my first marathon. Despite being exhausted, the last two miles were my two best miles because the end was in sight. I knew that I would accomplish the goal that I had spent months preparing for. We are mere weeks away from the end of the semester. What could you do in the next class session to help your students and yourself see the finish line?

Review course objectives

Consider spending the first 2-5 minutes of an upcoming class period asking students to reflect on the new knowledge and skills they have gained from your course. You could ask students to examine the course objectives as outlined on your syllabus and rank them (either using paper or Top Hat – use the Sorting type of question) from their most to least confident. This information, combined with your knowledge of students’ progress in your course can help inform your final exam preparations.

Ask for their questions regarding final assessments

It is also a great time to display the course schedule. Remind students of the tremendous progress that has been made and ask for their questions on upcoming exams, projects, and assignments. If you have a particularly talkative class, this can be accomplished through verbal feedback. Alternatively, providing them a means to write down or type the responses and submit via a Canvas ungraded survey allows for the opportunity to clarify and hopefully improve their success on final assessments.

Student Ratings of Teaching

In the coming weeks, students will receive emails asking them to complete the student ratings of teaching. Students often do not understand why these are important to instructor’s formative plans to improve the class and summative annual reviews. To help provide guidance for students providing useful feedback, share the Providing useful and constructive feedback webpage with your students.

Finally remind your students that learning is hard work. There is an overabundance of neuroscience research that proper nutrition, adequate sleep, and fitness supports good health as well as improved learning.*

With a joy for teaching,

Sara Marcketti, Director
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

*Doyle, T., Zakrajsek, T., & Gabriel, K. (2019). The new science of learning: How to learn in harmony with your brain / Terry Doyle and Todd Zakrajsek; foreword by Kathleen F. Gabriel. (Second ed.).


Full Teaching Tip

View the published CELT Teaching Tip: The 10,000-hour rule applied to improving your teaching (April 18, 2019 – Constant Contact) website.

Prefer a Print version?

To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for April 18, 2019 (PDF)

Tips to Make Your Course More Accessible (Teaching Tip)

Students work together during Disability Awareness Week

This week, Iowa State University has been observing Disability Awareness Week, a week devoted to educating the Cyclone community about the experience of individuals with disabilities. As an instructor, you have a direct impact on a student’s experience and ability to grow and thrive at ISU. Consider these tips to increase accessibility and improve all student learning experiences.

  • Present information in multiple formats: A disability may impact a student’s ability to access specific forms of communication. Provide course content in a variety of modalities to eliminate this barrier, and allow all students the ability to access materials through the platform most beneficial to their learning. Create captions and transcripts for videos and audio recordings, include audio descriptions of images, diagrams, or maps, or include a simulation or hands-on experience.
  • Consider how students will engage with course materials and each other: Can you identify any barriers to or within the meeting location(s) or learning environment? Have you selected learning technologies accessible to students with disabilities? Support students by being flexible and providing alternative options for engaging with course materials and each other. Allow students to participate in person or virtually. Give them the opportunity to voice questions and comments, type them within a chat, or provide anonymous feedback via Qualtrics. Encourage students to work together using alternative formats including virtual rooms, team chats, discussion boards, or online interactive apps.
  • Use assessment for learning ownership: Identify alternative mechanisms students may utilize to demonstrate acquisition of knowledge and skills indicated in your learning objectives. Provide a variety of options for students to demonstrate their skills that allow for various strengths, preferences, abilities, and student disabilities.

Contact Lori Mickle (ldmickle@iastate.edu, 515-294-5299) for more information about course accessibility or email celt-help@iastate.edu with any questions.

Above photo courtesy of Alexandra Kelly/Iowa State Daily

Full Teaching Tip

View the published CELT Teaching Tip: Resources for Success (October 28, 2021 – Constant Contact) page.

Prefer a Print Version?

To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for October 28, 2021 (PDF).

Encouraging Student Ratings of Teaching (Teaching Tip)

Jason Chan teaching a lecture course
We are rapidly approaching the end of Spring 2022, which means in part, seeking, end-of-course feedback from students. Student ratings are not perfect measurements of teaching effectiveness but can create an opportunity for students to reflect on their perceptions of the learning and the classroom environment.
 
Strategies for better course ratings include:
  • Seeking constructive feedback. Student input is most helpful when it is specific, focused, and respectful. Suggest a focus on observable behaviors and practices that the instructor can control, rather than remarks or criticisms based on identity.
  • Use class time to complete evaluations. Provide a bit of class time at the end of a session for students to complete their ratings (while you are not in the virtual or physical classroom).
  • Ensure students understand the importance of the feedback. Share with students an example of how you’ve used past feedback to make changes or provide examples of constructive feedback comments. 
  • Explain how ratings are used. Share with students how these evaluations are used by you to improve teaching, and how they are used at the department-level.
  • Consider offering an incentive. For example, once a percentage of the entire class has completed the evaluation, offer a small amount of extra credit.
To help make sense of the student ratings, consult the CELT Student Ratings Analysis Worksheet or work with a CELT Faculty Fellow or staff member.
 
If you have questions about end-of-course student ratings, contact your departmental SubUnit administrator.

Full Teaching Tip

View the published CELT Teaching Tip: Resources for Success (April 21, 2022 – Constant Contact) page.

Prefer a Print Version?

To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for April 21, 2022 (PDF).

“A journey of a 1,000 miles begins with a single step”

The great Chinese thinker Laozi’s words could apply perfectly to the transition from teaching in Blackboard to Canvas. As I shared last week, in Confessions of a Procrastinator, I have not yet built my course in Canvas, but this week I started and here are some tips to help you take that first step.

Start with the end in mind

It is my great honor and pleasure to teach Everyday Creativity developed by my colleague and friend, Dr. Elena Karpova. As I started to build my Canvas course, I realized that first I needed to keep the learning outcome goal in mind. For us, that is students learning and then applying creative thinking strategies to generate multiple unique ideas. To accomplish this the students complete pre-class readings and quizzes, in class individual and group activities, and out of class work that demonstrates their use of the strategies.
As you are bidding farewell to Blackboard, filter and sort through your collection of instructional materials and make decisions whether they need to be updated and/or replaced in your new course. Then as you (re)build your course in Canvas, there are three actions you can take to begin the journey of teaching in spring semester.
  1. Build your modules: Modules organize your content by weeks, units, chapters, concepts or a different organizational structure. Modules give your course a consistent look and feel and make it easy for your students to navigate it. Modules also accommodate your delivery style: use them to re-create the folder set up from your course in the previous learning management system or, better yet, use them to chunk up your instruction into smaller, independent “digestible” units to empower student cognitive processes.** A module can contain files, discussions, assignments, quizzes, and other learning materials. Learn more using the Create a Module web guide.
  2. Choose your homepage: Your homepage sets the mood for learning in your course. Canvas has different options for choosing your course’s homepage. The syllabus is a great way to introduce your course, make your expectations transparent, and keep students abreast of all course happenings. Learn more via the Setting the Course Home Page web guide.
  3. Clean up your course’s menu: Your students should only see the course-specific menu options that allow to quickly and easily navigate all course information and keep distraction to a minimum. Learn how using the Customize the Course Navigation web guide.
  4. Check your quizzes: While most of your previous quizzes will import from previous Blackboard content, some, such as such as hot spot and quiz bowl do not transfer, and matching questions that have images in the answers must be fixed. Additionally, you will want to double-check multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks, essay, matching, numerical, and formula question types before publishing your migrated quiz or survey. If a question format is not supported by Canvas, the question will become a simple text (students will not have the option to answer). The Quizzes tool in Canvas can be used for graded or practice quizzes, as well as graded and ungraded surveys and automatically creates a column in the grade book.
CELT developed this Canvas Course Building Basics YouTube video (below) and a Course Building Basics web guide on these actions that you can take to (re)build your course in Canvas.

If you have made it this far in the teaching tip, Congrats!

You probably realize this is going to be a multi-step journey. Don’t fear! CELT’s open labs will be closed Dec. 8-Jan. 2, 2018, but consultations with our instructional designers may be scheduled during that time via the appointment scheduling website. There are multiple ways to learn the Canvas learning management system, including workshops (below), recorded resources, self-paced tutorials and webinars on the ISU Canvas training and resources website.
Additionally, Canvas offers 24/7 support, listed in the “? Help” icon on the global navigation (far left of your Canvas website) or via the Canvas support line, 515-294-4000 (press 2, then 1).
Best wishes for your winter break and spring semester canvas course building,
Sara Marcketti, Interim Director
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT)

Full Teaching Tip

View the published CELT Teaching Tip: “A journey of a 1,000 miles begins with a single step” (December 14, 2017 – Constant Contact) website.

Print Version?

Prefer a Print version? If you would prefer to view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip December 14, 2017 (PDF)

Why don’t they attend? 12 ways to boost student participation in synchronous sessions

Why don’t they attend? (Teaching Tip)

12 ways to boost student participation in synchronous sessions

Attendance expectations continue to be challenging due to Covid-19. In the fall semester, we heard from students that they needed and appreciated the flexibility in accessing lecture material; however, they sought more in-real-time experiences. We also heard from instructors that offered many synchronous opportunities but that students sparsely attended these. We gathered the following strategies for encouraging participation and attendance from the CELT Advisory Board, CELT Staff, and colleagues across campus. 

Before each synchronous class session — connect with your students.

During the synchronous session — encourage attention.

  • Check-in with your students. Start each session with an agenda slide to know what is coming and have a moment to gather necessary materials. As they log in, ask students a question of the day via the polling function in Webex or Zoom. Or share a Word Cloud that changes shape in front of their eyes. Create a one-question survey in Qualtrics, focus the question on the content, such as one word to describe the most recent class reading or a check-in regarding their current mood. Display the word cloud results in real-time or share them during the next class session using the Engage students with a Qualtrics word cloud in your course guide.
  • Make it meaningful. Why just read class notes or review the textbook material during a live session? Provide an experience that necessitates their attendance. Perhaps this is case-based learning, small group discussions in breakout rooms, or working on challenging problems.
  • Clarify. Identify common mistakes or errors from homework problems and offer a mini-lesson with a similar situation that students can take then-and-there. This step can provide valuable feedback to both students and you as the instructor – what are they still not understanding? 
  • Motivate. Start the session with a mini quiz drawn from the last session’s material. If for points, this can provide a small incentive to attend and provide valuable information regarding their current knowledge.
  • Engage. Share a document to take collaborative notes and emphasize these notes could be used for open-book exams by all, so the more attendees, the better and more precise the notes. 
  • Invite guest speakers. Both Evrim Baran, School of Education, and Elizabeth Stegemoller, Kinesiology, invite guest speakers to the synchronous sessions to connect students with professionals working in various settings (e.g., industry, academia, schools, etc.). They both carefully aligned the speakers with the current week’s focus and activities.
  • Incentivize proactiveness. Melissa Tropf, Veterinary Clinical Sciences, taught a class with all asynchronous lectures (pre-recorded) and weekly virtual synchronous review sessions and labs. Weekly quizzes incentivized students to stay current with the asynchronous material and come prepared for the live sessions. When Tropf reached out to students who struggled in the synchronous sessions, they shared that they were behind in their asynchronous material, inhibiting their ability/willingness to engage in the synchronous sessions. Students appreciated the accountability measures.

Closing a synchronous session — share highlights.

  • Finish a session with an exit ticket. Ask students to share one thing they have a better understanding of today’s class meeting. Save the chat transcript in Webex for tracking purposes. Sharing the chat and increasing student clarity encourage other students to attend future sessions (see the Save a meeting chat guide). 
  • To record or not record? Some faculty shared that they upload a recorded version of the live synchronous session. Others stated that they synchronize sessions so engaging and tailored to the specific experience they do not record and upload. Instead, they provide a synopsis document or short video sharing content, clarifying questions, reminders, and highlighting positive trends (e.g., lots of students submitted work on time, the discussion board is very active, etc.). 

As we continue to endure the pandemic, flexibility is vital (see the Be Flexible page). However, finding ways to ensure the students are aware of the sessions, making them interactive, collaborative, and timely, can go a long way towards encouraging participation. For more ideas, tips, and strategies, check out CELT’s Engaging students online page.

With a joy for teaching,

Sara Marcketti, Director

Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching


Full Teaching Tip

View the published CELT Teaching Tip: Why don’t they attend? 12 ways to boost student participation in synchronous sessions (January 28, 2021 – Constant Contact) page.

Prefer a Print version?

To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for January 28, 2020 (PDF).

Different Methods to Engage Students

Students studying at the ISU Library

The Spring 2022 semester is quickly approaching. Last week, Senior Vice President and Provost Jonathan Wickert provided guidance for Spring 2022 instruction following the University’s announcements of Spring procedures and health measures.

These ideas for engaging students may be helpful for encouraging participation in different modalities and scenarios:

  • Engagement with Instructor: Maintain a daily presence in your course by providing introductory videos or using video/audio feedback with these feedback tips
  • Student-to-Student Engagement: Incorporate and facilitate meaningful group work with this helpful guide
  • Engagement with Course Content: Improve your course accessibility and ensure that your course content is accessible to all

More information and suggestions can be found on the CELT website.

We wish you a happy and healthy start to the New Year and look forward to having a great Spring 2022 semester with you!

Full Teaching Tip

View the published CELT Teaching Tip: Resources for Success (January 12, 2022 – Constant Contact) page.

Prefer a Print Version?

To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for January 12, 2022 (PDF).

Five factors for success in remote assessment (Teaching Tip)

As you prepare for your final exams, consider the following factors:

  1. Ask yourself: What ways can my students demonstrate what they know? How can I make it more meaningful/authentic? How can I incorporate knowledge creation?
  2. Consider the impact of proctored examsFaculty should consider other assessment strategies to adapt to our unprecedented situation, only using proctored exams when no other options work (e.g., due to accreditation rules). For these reasons, we recommend choosing a suitable remote assessment method (e.g., fact sheet, group project, non-traditional essay, Open Book, or “Take-home” Exam, etc.) on the CELT Remote Assessments page.
  3. Communicate clearly with your students. Provide an announcement that contains information about the exam, clarify essential details, using these guiding questions.
  4. Be available. Recognize that students may require your assistance during your exam/assessment period (e.g., what happens if there are technical issues?). In your communication, please provide the most reliable way for them to contact you or technical support.
  5. Remind students about the importance of academic integrity. Continue to promote academic integrity throughout your course; don’t forget to prominently place the academic integrity statement at the beginning of the assessment to emphasize responsible behavior. See examples on the Academic Integrity page.

Are you interested in discovering more remote assessment strategies? Register to attend the ISU Online Learning Community, Nov. 13 (11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., via Webex form). Join us to hear Dr. Monica Lamm, Associate Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, explains “public exams” in courses while demystifying the design and development of final exams for students (see this Inside Iowa State story). We will also discuss recent Canvas updates and features to accommodate final assessments.

With a joy for teaching,

Sara Marcketti, Director
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching


Full Teaching Tip

View the published CELT Teaching Tip: Five factors for success in remote assessment (November 12, 2020 – Constant Contact) page.

Prefer a Print version?

To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for November 12, 2020 (PDF).

Classes cancelled due to the Polar Vortex? Ideas of what to do next (Teaching Tip)

Has one or more of your classes been impacted by Iowa State University’s recent closures due to weather? Here are some ideas to help you navigate the missed class days. Weather (and other emergencies) that cause class cancellations can impact your plan for the whole semester. When this happens, consider these suggestions to account for class disruptions:

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

  • Inform students of course plans or expectations during weather cancellations or other emergencies. Be sure to communicate in more than one way what is happening (for example an email and a Canvas announcement) in conjunction with the University’s notification. Learn more about the process from ISU’s Closings and Cancellations webpage.
  • If you do post an announcement in Canvas, know that students might have opted out of receiving notifications. See more on setting notifications within the How do I set my Canvas notification preferences as a student? web guide.

Update critical course information

  • If there are student work-days built into the syllabus, consider how these might be best used. Perhaps students need those work days later in the semester or it could be an opportunity to host a drop-in office or class hour to answer student questions.
  • If you do make any changes within the class, be sure to revise your syllabus and due dates on Canvas in a timely fashion so that students can prepare.

Consider finding and posting online videos on missed content

  • For content and days that you have missed, consider recording yourself and posting additional readings to Canvas. A creative re-tooling of face-to-face lecture and in-class assignments can be re-positioned with concise voice-over recordings and assignments. There are a number of tools for recording. Arc is a Canvas tool that you can use to post a screencast or video. Learn more from the following CELT resources:
    • Lecture Capture webpage
    • To learn about creating engaging and accessible media interactions around your subject matter attend the Video Instruction and Learning in Canvas workshop. Choose from one of the following offerings: Feb. 19 (1-2:30 p.m.), Mar. 12 (10-11:30 a.m.), Apr. 16 (9:30-11 a.m.), or May 7 (2-3:30 p.m.). Register via the Learn@ISU website.
  • If you are using a new technology in your class don’t assume students will know how to access or use the technology. Include how-to videos and/or links to guides to assist with assignments requiring new to the class technology.

Other things to consider:

  • Don’t radically alter the expectations for your course because of 1 or 2 missed days.
  • Be aware that not all students have Internet access at home during inclement weather. Plan to provide accommodations on assignment submissions and due dates when necessary for such students.
  • Missing a day or two of classes is a wonderful opportunity to carefully examine your syllabus. Are there topics that do not align with your overall student learning outcomes? Does everything on your syllabus, including assessments, have a place within what you want the students to know?
  • Collaborate with your colleagues in order to ensure uniformity across the curriculum in multi-section or sequential courses.
  • Finally, begin the next class session with a 5-10 minute review on key concepts not covered due to the inclement weather. A small quiz worth a minimum number of points can help the students and you as the instructor determine knowledge acquisition and any gaps due to the missed class time.

Hope to see you in 3024 Morrill Hall (all CELT staff are now centrally located!),

Sara Marcketti, Director
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching


Full Teaching Tip

View the published CELT Teaching Tip: Classes cancelled due to the Polar Vortex? Ideas of what to do next (February 7, 2019 – Constant Contact) website.

Prefer a Print version?

To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for February 7, 2019 (PDF)

Student reflection and feedback: Ending the semester on a reflective note (Teaching Tip)

Student reflection and feedback: Ending the semester on a reflective note

As you close out the semester, consider ways for students to reflect on the important new knowledge, skills, and growth they have gained in your course and encourage them to share that information with you.  

Self-reflection allows students the time and space to consider the importance of what they have learned. Take just 5 minutes of an upcoming class and ask students to (individually or in small groups, written or verbal) reflect on the following prompts: 

  • What was the most significant idea you learned in this class? 
  • What did you learn in this class that will help you in your next class (or in your internship or career or…….)? 
  • What did you not expect to learn, but you did in this class? 

Explore additional prompts for self-reflections on the Powerful endings and reflection page.  

Encourage student feedback. Every semester, students are asked to provide feedback via the electronic class climate course evaluation system. Encourage the students’ constructive input by:  

  • Taking class time for students to complete the end-of-course evaluations. It is best practice for the instructor to excuse themselves from the room (physical or virtual during this process). 
  • Telling students directly how much you value their feedback. 
  • Sharing how you incorporated past feedback into your previous courses.  
  • Sharing examples of constructive feedback comments.  
  • Explaining to students how evaluations and feedback comments are used at the department and college level.  

For more approaches, see the Strategies for better course evaluations page.  

With a joy for teaching,

Sara Marcketti, Director

Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

Full Teaching Tip

View the published CELT Teaching Tip: Student reflection and feedback: Ending the semester on a reflective note (April 8, 2021 – Constant Contact) page.

Prefer a Print version?

To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for April 8, 2021 (PDF).

Facilitating Successful Group Work (Teaching Tip)

Group of students meeting with Professor Joel Geske
Wrapping up week two and heading into week three, we want to provide you with strategies that may be helpful if you are planning on incorporating group work into your course this semester. Group work can help to motivate students, encourage creativity, and provide critical thinking opportunities. Take these into consideration to set the stage for successful group work.
  • Create Groups in Canvas: Consider setting all of the groups up in Canvas for easy collaboration among learners
  • Assign Group Roles: Assign or ask students to self-assign to a variety of roles to ensure that all students have a clearly identified role within their group
  • Provide Checkpoints: Using student (office) hours, consider having each group check-in for 7-10 minutes to allow for reflection and feedback
  • Identify Potential Challenges: Help your students troubleshoot any challenges they may be having in their group, whether that’s pre- or mid-project
  • Set Your Gradebook Up for Groups: With groups established, consider the different tools and methods available to grade group work
More methods and logistics can be found on the CELT website. You can also email celt-help@iastate.edu to set up a meeting with one of our instructional designers for assistance.

Full Teaching Tip

View the published CELT Teaching Tip: Resources for Success (January 27, 2022 – Constant Contact) page.

Prefer a Print Version?

To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for January 27, 2022 (PDF).

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