Weekly Teaching Tips

Helping Students Reconnect We’ve been hearing from colleagues who are concerned about students who have already missed several class meetings this semester, and/or haven’t handed in assignments. There are plenty of explanations for these lapses: Students may be feeling overextended, and they often have trouble managing competing priorities. They may stop showing up because they’re […]

Learning From Exams By this point in the semester, your students have probably completed graded work and gotten some feedback, so they have a sense of their progress toward the learning goals of the course. After students take an exam or turn in a project, they usually focus on the score they got and how […]

If the courses you teach include exams, you may be working on preparing the first one around this time of the semester. Many faculty use exams to evaluate how much students have learned at particular points in a course, but designing an exam that does so effectively can be easier said than done. When you […]

Guiding Students’ Progress with Feedback It seems like the semester just began, but somehow the fourth week of classes starts on Monday. By this point, students in most courses will have received some feedback on their progress. This might take the form of smaller graded assessments like quizzes or reading responses, and maybe they’ll be […]

Moving Toward Expertise If you’ve ever felt like you and your students were talking to one another without actually communicating, it might be because you occupy such different positions on the spectrum of expertise. Sprague and Stuart explain the development of mastery with a model that can help us identify why these breakdowns occur and […]

Why Names Matter It’s always a pleasure to hear about students’ best learning experiences at FSU, and we are fortunate to have many opportunities to hear from students, through our Thank-a-Professor Program, student panels, focus groups, and everyday conversations. As we start a new semester, we’re reminded of one undergraduate’s story about how much she […]

Planning the First Class Session Thousands of new students will join us at FSU on Monday, and your class may be their first experience in a college classroom. The first day of class is a time when we can shape the conditions for learning, getting students excited about our courses and welcoming them into our […]

Upcoming Events at CAT The Center for the Advancement of Teaching is pleased to offer these upcoming opportunities. We hope you can join us! SoTL Summer Faculty Workshop Series From Classroom to Conference: Turning Your Teaching Insights into a Scholarly Project Thursdays: 7/9, 7/16, 7/23 | 10:00–11:30 a.m. | Zoom | Click here to register […]

Suggestions for Summer Congratulations on your last day of classes, and on the great teaching you did this spring. We hope you’re looking forward to your plans for the summer. If you’re teaching this summer, you may be in the midst of planning a six-week course. “Compressed” or “intensive” classes, like those in summer A […]

A Time to Consolidate and Connect The teaching showcase is today! Please join us in the Strozier library basement to celebrate your own and your colleagues’ outstanding teaching. There will be a social hour with refreshments from 11:45–12:45, and the program starts at 1:00. We will observe a moment of silence together at noon, in […]

2026 Provost’s Showcase of Scholarly Teaching We’re pleased to invite all faculty and graduate students to attend the third annual Provost’s Showcase of Scholarly Teaching! Friday, April 17th | Strozier Library Basement Pre-event Social Hour: 11:45 am-12:45 pm | Presentations: 1:00 pm-5:00 pm Hosted by CAT and FSU libraries, the third annual Provost’s Showcase of […]

Helping Students Prepare for Exams With finals around the corner, those of us who give exams are thinking about how to help our students do well. Even if you don’t usually build review sessions into your course, you might consider making time to guide the way students prepare for exams. Your guidance can enhance both […]