Are you ready to hit the ground running with your students this semester? Do you want to improve your students’ learning and classroom performance? Below are some questions you might ask yourself to help socialize your students, articulate your performance expectations, and maximize your course design:
Socializing Students for Excellence
· Does your course explicitly offer a realistic understanding of the commitment (time, effort) that is needed to succeed (hours of reading per week? Hours dedicated to homework?)
· Does your course explicitly address practices such as time management and study skills? (How to take notes? How to review notes? How to use web resources?
· Does your course address how to access class materials, class linked academic support, or other academic support programs such as Study Stops, Individualized Coaching, or Group Workshops?
· Does your course promote social interactions among students? Study groups?
· Does your course effectively utilize student learning outside of the classroom (co-curricular learning experiences)?
Articulating Performance Expectations
· Within the first two weeks of class, how does your course require that students invest effort?
· Does your course offer early and formative feedback on an assignment so that students understand what constitutes excellent performance?
· Does your course require attendance and/or participation? Do you capture data about attendance and performance in the first two weeks and continuing throughout the term? Does your course use MyPLAN? (sending flags or kudos about academic performance or attendance)
· How do you follow through on early warning signs, providing feedback, or communicating other important information to students? Do you make referrals to First Year Experience and Transition Programs staff as appropriate?
Maximizing Course Design
· How do you make your choices in course design transparent to your students? How do you make the goals of your assignments, class activities, etc. visible and explicit in relation to goals for student learning?
· How does your course actively engage students? How does your course maximize time on task?
· How does your course develop the experiences that students need to succeed in more complex tasks, assignments, or analyses (i.e., scaffolding students up from a novice to an experienced learner)?
· In what ways does your course use lectures strategically?
· To what degree does your course use rubrics effectively, such as providing them in advance and explaining them to students?
· Does your course employ frequent low-stakes assessment?
· How do you bridge the current interests and conceptions that shape how students approach the discipline?
· How does your course take into account students’ diverse cultural backgrounds?
· How does your course assess the critical skills and/or knowledge students have when they enter the course?
· How does your course help students to connect course content with other courses that they have taken or will take? With career planning and development?
There are many opportunities to discuss these types of questions and more with other instructors who care about improving their students’ learning. You can check out the upcoming Teaching Symposium or apply to participate in the Peer Review of Teaching Program https://peerreview.unl.edu/
And for commonly asked questions about teaching at UNL, see https://academicaffairs.unl.edu/documents/Teaching-at-UNL-FAQ.pdf