Weekly Teaching Tips

Even in normal circumstances, students can start to fall behind (or even disappear) by this point in a semester. If only a few of our students consistently participate or turn on their cameras, it may be harder than ever to tell whether they’re with us. Especially in an asynchronous course, students may feel like we’re […]

“But I understood it in class!” We hear this all the time from students who are surprised by a lower than expected exam score. Chances are you hear it, too. Variations include: “I studied so hard for the test, and I still got a C! How is that possible?” Obviously, there can be many explanations […]

It’s always illuminating to get students’ feedback on the way we’ve designed our courses: what’s helping them learn, what’s not helping them learn, and what adjustments we could make for the remainder of the term. Just the act of checking in with our students about how the course is going from their perspective shows that […]

Are you getting enough sleep lately? Do you feel like your day includes enough breaks to rest when you’re working? If we’re being honest, many of us would likely answer no to these questions. According to Kelly Baron, many people’s sleep problems have worsened during the pandemic, and some have developed sleep issues they didn’t […]

Videos are one of many tools we can use in our teaching in any modality, but now that many of us are teaching remote or online courses, we may be using them more than we ever thought we would. When faculty first start teaching with videos, there are a few technical hills to climb: We need to […]

Have you noticed time distorting while you’re working remotely during the pandemic? Somehow, time seems to be moving both much more slowly and much more quickly than usual. Combined with the unfamiliarity of teaching by Zoom, or by recording, this probably makes it even more difficult than usual to get the pacing right in our […]

Many of our colleagues have reported hearing from students who are “lost,” disconnected, discouraged, overwhelmed, or otherwise struggling to manage their coursework or their mental health. Stress and anxiety seem to be hitting young adults especially hard right now. In a recent report from the CDC, 25.5% of survey respondents aged 18–24 years had seriously considered suicide […]

In his now-classic book Learner-Centered Teaching, Terry Doyle describes a fundamental shift in faculty’s thinking about course design: instead of focusing so much on the work that we will do (reading, taking notes, lecturing, working problems, doing demonstrations, etc.), he encourages us to focus more on what we will ask students to do because, as […]

Normally, the first week of class is spent building a classroom community , introducing students to the big ideas in the course, and helping them get into the rhythm of class sessions and assignments. Students get accustomed to their new class schedules and their new set of professors, syllabi, and peers. We all get over […]

During the toughest summer of many of our professional lives, faculty across the university have been working tenaciously to design effective and resilient learning experiences for our students. We’re all making compassion and flexibility our themes for the fall. When facing uncertainty, it’s helpful to have a supportive community around us. As the first day […]

Students’ interactions with us and with each other are essential parts of the invigorating learning environments we work so hard to cultivate. Especially during the pandemic, when many people are feeling isolated, students benefit when we provide opportunities for them to connect. If we’re teaching remotely, these interactions need more planning and communication, but allowing […]

First, a warm welcome to all of our new colleagues joining us at FSU this semester, and a warm welcome back to our returning colleagues. As we begin a new academic year in extraordinary circumstances, some things remain familiar: We’re preparing our courses, writing our syllabi, meeting our new students, and helping them to grow […]