Teaching Resources
Getting Started (or Restarted) In The Classroom
This is an unmoderated course for faculty and staff at San Diego State University. If you would like to be added as a student to this course to try out the activities, please use this link.
The best time to set expectations is at the start of the course as you and the students are getting to know each other. Consider the following strategies:
- Make behavioral and academic expectations clear in your syllabus.
- Use positive, constructive language, not threats of reprisal.
- Ask your students to work in groups on the first day to develop classroom rules (view additional suggestions for setting ground rules).
- Talk about yourself and let the students know what you value.
- Learn your students’ names and learn more about them.
- Encourage students to see learning as a process, and to see how your course fits into their larger learning goals.
- Be alert for possible mismatched expectations.
- Have students complete a knowledge survey to see what they already know about the topics to be covered (or remember from prerequisite courses).
For additional tips, see the following links:
How to Teach a Good First Day of Class, James Lang (Chronicle guide)
The First Day of Class: A Once-a-Semester Opportunity.
“Active learning” is a broad term often used to describe a range of activities but the one thing all have in common is that they require students to actively engage with course material (versus passively receiving information). This can be as simple as stopping lecture every once in a while to let students process and ask questions, to methods as complex as Team-Based Learning where students spend the entire class period working in small groups on deep problems. For additional resources on some specific techniques, see the following links:
- The Guide to Active Learning compiled by Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching gives a great overview of the theory and evidence supporting active learning, as well as several examples of simple techniques to get you started.
- The Active Learning resource page put together by the CETL at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has a nice overview of active learning and lists of useful websites, books and journals – you may find the list of discipline-specific journals compiled by UNC-Charlotte especially useful.
- The SERC portal for educators has modules on several pedagogical approaches, ranging from quite simple to really complex. Each module describes the what, why and how for the pedagogy, along with specific examples and references to additional information. No matter what stage of teaching you are in, or what kind of teacher you are, exploring this site is sure to give you ideas for new things to try.
- Try something from this huge list of interactive techniques.
- The Chronicle's guide on How to Hold a Better Class Discussion has great advice about discussions but most applies to active learning more generally.
Informal Feedback/Formative Assessment
One of the best things you can do to help your students learn is provide them with feedback, early and often, through formative (as opposed to summative) assessments. Formative assessment is sometimes referred to assessment FOR learning while summative assessment tends to be assessment OF learning. Essentially, formative assessment solicit information from students about what and whether they are learning which you (and the students) can then use to adjust your practice. This does not mean you have to spend hours grading; formative assessments are often not graded, or graded only on a participation/effort basis (i.e., check, plus, minus).
- Be clear about the purpose and expectations for formative assessments. Will they be turned in for credit or can they be anonymous? What do you intend to do with the information you gather? Being transparent about why you are asking students to do something that is not graded, and pointing out to them changes you make in response to the information gathered, will help prevent perceptions that this is just ‘busywork’.
- Technology can be a great tool for formative assessment. Clickers can be used to conduct frequent quizzes about content (to maximize the benefits, make sure to follow clicker questions with peer instruction) while Blackboard surveys, quizzes and discussion boards can be used to collect student responses to pre-class preparatory assignments (readings, videos) or to have students post reflections after class.
- Formative assessment can also be considered a tool for assessing your own teaching – after all, if students are not learning what you want them to learn, there is a good chance that your teaching is not as effective as it could be. It can also be useful to ask students for more direct feedback about your teaching through mid-semester surveys or periodic minute papers that ask students to identify what is and isn’t working for them about the class.
See the following links and resources for additional guidance:
- The Best Value in Formative Assessment– discusses the benefits of formative assessments and how summative assessments can be used in formative ways.
- Classroom Assessment Techniques by Angelo and Cross is the ‘bible’ of formative assessment, listing dozens of examples with discussion of how to best implement each; this CAT overview from Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching provides a nice introduction.
Please review our Student Code of Conduct.
Please use the following link to report any student related incident.
Student Feedback Surveys (Explorance Blue)
Explorance Blue is our Student Feedback Survey system; at the close of each semester, you’ll be asked to provide feedback about your class experiences. Faculty are encouraged to review the Faculty Guide for Accessing Student Feedback Surveys. Please note that surveys will be automatically deployed via email and Canvas starting Fall 2022.
It can also be useful to ask students for more direct feedback about your teaching through mid-semester surveys or periodic minute papers that ask students to identify what is and isn’t working for them about the class.
