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December 2023

Beyond Bias: How to Get More Mileage out of Your Student Evaluations
Ending Strong: Considerations for Your Last Day of Class
Changing the AI Narrative: Embracing Defiant Optimism
Can Student Chat during Class Be a Good Thing?
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This Month’s Articles

Love ’em or hate ’em, student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are here to stay. Parts one and two of this

Since January, I have led multiple faculty development sessions on generative AI for faculty at my university. Attitudes from faculty at these events have ranged from concerned to
Does your class end with a bang or a whimper? Many of us spend a lot of time crafting the perfect first day of class to ensure we set

Faculty have recently been bombarded with a dizzying array of apps, platforms, and other widgets that may or may not be the Next Big Thing in

The rapid rise of livestream content development and consumption has been nothing short of remarkable. According to Ceci (2022), 126.7 million users in the United States viewed livestreaming

Feedback on performance has proven to be one of the most important influences on learning, but students consistently report that they want and need far more feedback than

Changing the AI Narrative: Embracing Defiant Optimism

Since January, I have led multiple faculty development sessions on generative AI for faculty at my university. Attitudes from faculty at these events have ranged from concerned to frustrated, overwhelmed to worried, as well as a sense of grim resignation (to be fair, there were

Read More »

“If identity and integrity are more fundamental to good teaching than technique—and if we want to grow as teachers—we must do something alien to academic culture: we must talk to each other about our inner lives—risky stuff in a profession that fears the personal and seeks safety in the technical, the distant, the abstract.”

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Changing the AI Narrative: Embracing Defiant Optimism

Since January, I have led multiple faculty development sessions on generative AI for faculty at my university. Attitudes from faculty at these events have ranged from concerned to frustrated, overwhelmed to worried, as well as a sense of grim resignation (to be fair, there were a small number of us excited and eager). In defense of the less-than-positive reactions, faculty had just started coming out the other side of the pandemic when ChatGPT dropped last November. Even as faculty attend workshops and webinars on the latest practical tips for dealing with AI, we also need to be mindful of the prevailing attitudes toward and narratives about generative AI.

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Ending Strong: Considerations for Your Last Day of Class

Does your class end with a bang or a whimper?

Many of us spend a lot of time crafting the perfect first day of class to ensure we set the right tone and build community. We then pay close attention to how we structure and script each class session, whether for the 20–30 times we have our face-to-face classes or for weekly modules in our online courses. As the end of the term or semester draws near, we are tired. During fall term, teaching the last few weeks of class seems especially exhausting. We may have been teased by a Thanksgiving break only to turn around and get back in the saddle to finish the class. Too often, our endings are rushed. We end when the content is covered. Whimper.

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Dramatic Film, the Rodney Dangerfield of Teaching Resources

Faculty have recently been bombarded with a dizzying array of apps, platforms, and other widgets that may or may not be the Next Big Thing in college education. Though such novel technologies deserve attention, our aim here is to delve into a much older, frequently used, but often misunderstood vehicle for learning: dramatic film. Combined, we have decades of experience teaching cinema-based courses and publishing on the medium. We have a good sense of what students think of dramatic films, as well as academics’ attitudes toward them. Our goal here is to provide insights into approaching this resource successfully and to warn against misuses and pitfalls.

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Don’t Knock TikTok (Yet): Lessons from Livestream Content

The rapid rise of livestream content development and consumption has been nothing short of remarkable. According to Ceci (2022), 126.7 million users in the United States viewed livestreaming content on mobile devices in 2019; the same year, 23 percent of Americans livestreamed content themselves. In other words, a vast segment of the US population finds livestream content valuable to both consume and create. Not surprisingly, Gen Z students are heavy livestream users (Huang, 2022). Considering the sheer popularity of livestreaming platforms, especially among those of traditional college age, educators should pay attention to these phenomena and even try to garner a few teaching strategies that may align with livestream content.

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Save Time and Boost Learning with a Teaching Toolbox

Feedback on performance has proven to be one of the most important influences on learning, but students consistently report that they want and need far more feedback than they get from their instructors (Hattie & Zierer, 2019). One of the main reasons for this relates to the distinction between feed back and feed forward. The former provides information on past performance (Wiggins, 2012); the latter tells students what they need to know or do differently to improve future performance.

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Current Issue

December 2023

This Month’s Articles

“If identity and integrity are more fundamental to good teaching than technique—and if we want to grow as teachers—we must do something alien to academic culture: we must talk to each other about our inner lives—risky stuff in a profession that fears the personal and seeks safety in the technical, the distant, the abstract.”

Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach

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