Faculty Focus Live

Join us as we dive into an innovative approach to student engagement with Margie Pannell and Frank Plunkett from Peirce College. In this episode, they share their journey of implementing a liquid syllabus pilot program inspired by a previous podcast episode.Discover how Pannell and Plunkett utilized Google Sites to create engaging, intuitive syllabi that fostered connections with students before the course even began. They outline the steps of their pilot program—from assembling a collaborative team and training faculty to creating consistent syllabi and gathering actionable student feedback.Recommended Resources:Canvas course about liquid syllabus: https://ccconlineed.instructure.com/courses/6771/pages/examples Michelle Brocansky-Brock's liquid syllabus: https://brocansky.com/humanizing/liquidsyllabus Podcast episode referencing liquid syllabi: A Thread Gone Viral: Last Night, A Professor Walking Into a Night Class...

We are back on the conversation of artificial intelligence (AI) since we're seeing AI being used more and more in our everyday lives. In this episode, we dive into how AI can offer assistance to faculty overwhelmed by escalating workloads. We'll explore the practical applications of AI in higher education, from enhancing teaching practices, drafting course materials, and helping assess student learning. Additionally, don't forget to check out the recommended resources where you'll find an array of AI programs, articles, and more to kickstart your AI journey in higher education.Recommended Resources:How You Can Use AI to Maximize Time ManagementHow Can I Use AI to Draft Course Materials? How Can I Use Generative AI to Assess Student Understanding?How Can AI Literacy Help Students Use AI Tools More Efficiently? Educators Reflect on Teaching and Learning in the Era of Generative AIHow Can I Use AI to Create Multimedia Teaching Materials?Article: Writing Case Studies Using Generative AI: Intimate Debate Case StudyArticle: Writing Case Studies Using Generative AI: Interactive Role PlayFree Report: Incorporating AI in Education: Empower Educators, Engaging StudentsArticle: AI Tools for Adding Interactions to Your Learning MaterialArticle: Beyond Text: AI Tools for Making Images, Videos, Audio, and Study AidsArticle: Let's Get Real: Does Using AI Aid Learning?

Have you ever looked at your students and saw their eyes glaze over, knowing they most likely are not retaining anything you're saying? So, what tools can you implement to help your students retain more of what you teach in class? Today, we're going to go through study skills you can provide to your students to enhance their recall, and we'll cover interleaving and microlectures. Research says you have 15 minutes of attention span before minds start to drift and wander. What can you do to increase long-term memory skills within your students? Recommended Resources:How Can I Use My Teaching to Improve Student Study Skills?Using Interleaving in Course Design to Improve RetentionHow Can I Use Microactivities to Engage Students and Improve Learning and Retention?Mindful Moments: 50 Microactivities for Energizing the College Classroom

What can you do to propel your teaching career, and what advice do some of our great higher ed instructors have for you? In this episode, you'll be reminded of the importance of remaining open to learning, how to seek mentorship, and how to foster meaningful connections within your academic circle. Additionally, we'll cover prioritizing work-life quality over monetary incentives, along with truly understanding your teaching methods and recognizing both your strengths and weaknesses. Through insightful anecdotes and practical advice, this episode offers a roadmap for those of you seeking to elevate your teaching practices and advance your careers. Recommended ResourcesWhat are 14 Strategies to Take My Teaching Career from Good to Great?What is the Best Leadership Advice I Ever Received?How Can I Move My Teaching Forward at Midcareer?This episode is sponsored by the Teaching Professor Conference. Join us in New Orleans from June 7-9 and share ideas, discuss strategies, and get the charge of inspiration from knowing you are not alone in tackling today's teaching! 

We always talk about the beginning of the course and setting the tone, but what about the end of the course? How can you make your course memorable? How can you make your end-of-course project meaningful? Today, we'll look at it from multiple perspectives. First, we'll look inward and outward and ask ourselves pertinent closing questions. Next, we'll look at how an end-of-semester service learning project can make students feel empowered and feel as if the class work they are doing is meaningful. Last, I'll read an article from Maryellen Weimer about a learning moment, and how it impacted her students from the first day until the last day. You may think that the first day is the most important day, but how students feel walking out of your classroom on the last day is just as important. Recommended Resources:Can I Create a Memorable Course Finale?How Can I Create a Meaningful Service Learning Project for My Online Class?Teaching Professor article: A Learning MomentTeaching Professor article: The Art of Ending Well

Today, we're going to explore innovative assessment strategies that enhance student learning. We'll talk about reflection and how to use feedback as a tool for growth and knowledge, and then we'll talk about asynchronous online teaching assessments such as a weekly choice board or brochure. Finally, we'll talk about the integration of generative AI in assessment practices. Whether you teach in-person or online, these ideas offer new ways to reveal student understanding and better connect complex ideas for your students. Recommended Resources:How Can I Use Assessment Data to Provide Meaningful Feedback and Deeper Learning?What Assessment Strategies Are Effective for Asynchronous Online Teaching?How Can I Use Generative AI to Assess Student Understanding?

In this episode, we dive into the power of gamification in education, exploring how it can transform student engagement and motivation. We start by examining the role of failure as a motivating tool within gamified learning, proposing that challenges and setbacks can be reconfigured as stepping stones toward success. We also talk about strategies, such as playful openers, game-infused instruction, and storified assessments, to spark interest and sustain engagement among students, especially reluctant learners. Lastly, we'll delve into the importance of leveraging pop culture to create memorable learning experiences, from incorporating familiar characters (like Harry Potter) into case studies to embedding entire courses with engaging, fictional scenarios. So, how can you start gamifying your courses? Game on!Recommended Resources:How Can I Use Simple Gamification Strategies to Engage My Students?How Can I Spark and Sustain Engagement in Reluctant Learners?How Can I Bring Pop to My Classroom with Pop Culture?This episode is sponsored by The Teaching Professor, a source of inspiration for more than 10,000 educators at universities and colleges worldwide. 

In this episode, we dive into the rapidly evolving landscape of generative AI tools in education. Dr. Jayne Lammers emphasizes the importance of collaborative exploration, urging teachers and colleagues to embark on a collective learning journey together. We also discuss specific AI tools such as Claude, Bing, Bard, TeachAI, Magic School, and more, and how educators can use these tools for brainstorming sessions, language translation, and lesson planning. “We are all learning how to use these tools together. And I think that will go a long way to not keeping it as something we need to hide or feel like we're cheating with but using it as a tool to make the things we don't like to do or that are hard to do, easier. And this gives us the energy and space to be more creative and to do the things that humans are best at.”Mentioned resources:ChatGPTClaude.aiBingGoogle BardMagic SchoolTeach AIMagic Studio (Canva)Khan Academy Commonsense EducationOur Generative AI in Education Experiments: Lessons Learned | Edmentum Other recommended resources:How You Can Use AI to Maximize Time ManagementHow Can I Use Generative AI to Assess Student Understanding?Educators Reflect on Teaching and Learning in the Era of Generative AIHow Can I Use AI to Draft Course Materials?How Can I Use AI as a Student Writing and Editing Coach?How Can I Use AI to Create Multimedia Teaching Materials?

Last summer, I attended our Teaching Professor Annual Conference, one of my favorite conferences that we host. If you haven't been to it, I highly recommend attending it this year in New Orleans. You can check it out at www.TeachingProfessorConference.com. When I attended last year, I went to a session by Jonathan Howle about empowering trans-spectrum students. He said something that I'll never forget. He said, “Your space and your class may be the only safe space that a student has. Your class being a safe space, could save lives.” So today, we're going to talk about strategies that instructors can use to create safe spaces where transgender students feel as if they belong without fear or stress, and ultimately, help students grow personally and academically. Both instructors in this episode will share their own stories and explain how making small, inclusive adjustments will help students feel more comfortable, perform better academically, and grow personally. Recommended Resources:Simple Strategies to Create an Inclusive Classroom for Gender Variant StudentsHow Can I Move from Supporting to Empowering Trans-spectrum Students?

Join Staci Gilpin and Courtney Plotts in their research on how social media impacts the educational journey and engagement of undergraduate students. They explore the transformative power of social media in bridging a genuine human connection, and discuss strategies to integrate social media into the educational journey, sharing insights on cultivating communities, empowering students, and enhancing the overall learning experience. Discover how social media is reshaping education, fostering lifelong connections, and preparing students for the interconnected world of tomorrow."Humaneness can transcend technology, it really can, and that's what it comes down to. And at the end of the day, we can't be everything for every student, but we can give them access to what they need in those psychological and social spaces for a relationship, for connection, for those other important pieces of learning, right? Because learning is not done alone. It's done in a community."Recommended Resources:Research article by Staci Gilpin and Courtney Plotts: From Likes to Learning: Enhancing Classroom Culture through Social Media EngagementOther related articles:Using Social Media to Retain and Connect with Students in the Shift to Online EducationAdventures with Snapchat in an Online CourseBitmojis, Gifts, and Snaps in the Classroom? Oh My!This episode is sponsored by The Teaching Professor, a source of inspiration for more than 10,000 educators at universities and colleges worldwide. 

As we wind down in the month of December, I'm always in awe at how fast it goes by. I thought it would be a good reminder to slow down this month, to really practice our mindfulness muscles. It's the season of giving, so let's give ourselves a break and remind ourselves of what we can do to really live in the moment. Today, we will have Seena and Stuart Haines dive into mindfulness and offer strategies on how we can build our mindfulness muscles. Picture this: you're zipping through life on autopilot, not noticing the tension building in your body until you flop onto the couch at night. Sound familiar? Well, you're not alone! This episode dives headfirst into what mindfulness really means. It's a superpower that helps us pay attention to the here and now—our thoughts, feelings, and the world around us—without putting a "good" or "bad" label on it. Our brains can do amazing things, but sometimes they need a little nudge to calm down. Mindfulness isn't about shutting off our thoughts (because hello, ideas and creativity!), but it's about taming the internal chaos that can overcome us. Recommended Resources:Virtual Workshop: Mind Full to Mindful: Strategies to Enhance Teaching and LearningWellbeing Elixir Community with resources: https://www.wellbeingelixir.org/ Online Course: Wellbeing Elixir CourseBook: Real Happiness: A 28-day program to realize the power of meditation

Join Michael Strawser as he explains how he maintains motivation in his teaching amidst the challenges of complacency and burnout. Strawser explores the power of professional development communities and the impact of public teaching on invigorating classroom dynamics. He uncovers the value of reaching out to former students, seeking recognition, remembering your why, and embracing rejection as part of the growth journey. Additionally, he explains how building relationships and advocating for students' needs are integral to sustaining motivation, and explores ways to support students in their journey toward discovering their passions and professional development.

As educators, you understand the need to captivate your students' attention. So today we're going to explore specific technology tools that can help reinvigorate your teaching methods – if you're having fun with the content and technology, so are your students.However, it's not enough to simply adopt technology; it must be thoughtfully chosen to align with specific pedagogical needs. We hope you can take a few technology tools that fit into your course to help you better assess and better engage your students. From self-reflection to interactive instructions to Loom and a digital foldable, let's explore the intersection of technology and pedagogy. Recommend Resources20-Minute Mentor: What Are 5 Ways H5P Tools Can Help Students Retain Course Content?20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Use Technology Platforms to Engage Students in Active Learning?20-Minute Mentor: What Are 5 Easy-To-Use Technologies That Have A Big Impact on Learning in the Online Classroom?This episode is sponsored by The Teaching Professor, a resource for more than 10,000 educators at universities and colleges worldwide. Choose from a monthly or yearly subscription. 

Communication in the classroom matters. Whether it's verbal communication or non-verbal, how and what you say - or don't say - in the classroom directly impacts your teaching and your students' learning. For instance, something as simple as the placement of a pause can completely alter your intended message. If you say, “Let's eat Grandpa,” or “Let's eat, Grandpa," those have two totally different meanings. Now, this is a more humorous example, but communication mishaps aren't always funny. So today, we're going to provide you with techniques to help strengthen your communication in the classroom and with your students. We'll explore what students consider as communication “misfires” in the classroom, different forms of communication that can help facilitate student learning, and then we'll dive into communication techniques for the online classroom, because we've definitely learned these past few years that online communication is not easy. Get ready to communicate because your words matter!Recommended Resources:20-Minute Mentor: What is the Role of Communication in Teaching Excellence?20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Avoid Communication "Misfires" with Students?20-Minute Mentor: What are the Communication Musts in an Online Class?

According to research, less than half of students complete assigned readings. So, how do you get your students to complete the reading so they are better prepared to complete assignments, to participate in discussions, and are just more engaged with the content?Today, we'll talk about how changing the term “reading assignment” to a “task” can give students more agency and break down the wall of resisting reading. We'll talk about different strategies to encourage active reading and to help strengthen student reading techniques. And lastly, we'll cover reading assignments that help students discover how much more they learn when they actually do the reading. Recommended Resources:20-Mintue Mentor: How Do I Get Students to Complete Reading Assignments?20-Minute Mentor: What Interventions Help Students Master Deep Reading and Engage with Assignments?20-Minute Mentor: How Do I Get Students to Read Their Assignments Before Class?

Today we're going to dive into some of the challenges that faculty are currently facing and explore strategies to re-engage faculty in their roles. We're tackling the issue of faculty disengagement.We'll be discussing strategies to overcome disengagement stemming from workload, stress, technology, and self-worth. In this series of programs, Russell Carpenter and Kevin Dvorak will offer practical insights that can empower both educators and administrators to foster a more supportive academic environment. From celebrating faculty success to addressing self-worth, we're here to equip you with the knowledge and tools to help overcome faculty disengagement. Recommended Resources:20-Minute Mentor: What are Proven Strategies to Overcome Faculty Disengagement Due to Professional Self-Worth20-Minute Mentor: What are Proven Strategies to Overcome Faculty Disengagement Due to Technology20-Minute Mentor: What are Proven Strategies to Overcome Faculty Disengagement Due to WorkloadCOMING SOON: What are Proven Strategies to Overcome Faculty Disengagement Due to Stress?This episode is sponsored by the Teaching Professor Online Conference. Learn teaching practices you need to help your students succeed in the comfort of your own space! 

Get a notepad or your laptop ready for this episode, because you'll want to write down some of these AI tools we're about to dive into. From using AI to design course materials, to supporting students with AI writing and editing, to creating multimedia teaching materials, this episode has something for you! You'll discover how AI can help with translation, image creation, slideshows, and audio or video support. Get ready to unlock the potential of AI in education and take your teaching and learning to the next level with Jeremy Caplan's three AI-featured programs. Recommended resources:20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Use AI to Draft Course Materials?20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Use AI as a Student Writing and Editing Coach?20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Use AI to Create Multimedia Teaching Materials?On-demand Seminar: From Fear to Fluency: Educators Discuss Integrating ChatGPT to Foster Online Student LearningOn-demand Seminar: Facing the Future: Educators Discuss Teaching in the Era of ChatGPT

Today, we're going to dive into the world of critical thinking – a skill that's often misunderstood and rarely mastered. We'll explore how this skill can transform students into astute thinkers who question the world with curiosity and creativity. By the end of this episode, you'll have the tools to craft lessons that invigorate curiosity, evaluate learning, and inspire the minds of your students. Recommended resources:Magna Online Seminar:Teaching Critical Thinking to Students: How to Design Courses That Include Applicable Learning Experiences, Outcomes, and AssessmentsMagna Online Seminar: Creating Critical Thinkers in the Information AgeMagna Online Seminar: Foster Creative and Critical Thinking Through Intrinsic MotivationOther resources:How We Can Help Our Students Become Better Critical Thinkers, and Why It MattersInfusing Critical Thinking into Your CourseHow Can I Assess Critical Thinking with Student-Created Work?How Can I Design Critical Thinking into My Course?What Activities and Assignments Promote Critical Thinking?

Do you know the difference between virtual reality, mixed realities, augmented reality, and extended reality? In this episode, Juanita J. (JJ) Wallace will start by explaining the differences between these realities, and then dive into specific tools that instructors can use in their own courses. Wallace will also go through design aspects when creating assignments and assessments that utilize virtual reality. This will help instructors impact student learning outcomes more effectively and use best practices while creating assignments.Recommended resources:Magna Online Seminar: Extended Reality (XR) As A Tool for Impactful and Engaged Learning20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Apply Virtual Reality to Create Meaningful Assignments and Assessments20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Use Virtual Reality to Impact Classroom Learning?20-Minute Mentor: How Do I Start Using Virtual Reality as a Tool for Instruction? Mentioned resources:Anne Frank House: Secret AnnexSketchARVirtualSpeechHuman Anatomy 3D AtlasGoogle EarthFelix and Paul StudiosSTEAM

Today we're going to look at ways we can increase human motivation and give faculty a sense of autonomy. We'll talk about the Motivation Hygiene Theory, where although someone can be highly motivated they can also be highly dissatisfied. We'll also discuss the Job Characteristics Theory, where skill variety, task identity, test significance, autonomy and feedback all help in the meaningfulness of work – we'll specifically relate this to faculty development. Lastly, we'll go over recognizing intervention points to promote health and wellness. We dig deeper into looking at the structures of work, how to shape people's daily working lives, and how to make choices that improve people's health. Katherine Sanders will be guiding us in creating a healthier academic environment.Recommended Resources:20-Minute Mentor: How Can Faculty Development Increase Faculty Engagement?20-Minute Mentor: How Can Shifting from Symptoms Thinking to Systems Thinking Make Your Campus Healthier?20-Minute Mentor: How Can Systems Thinking Strengthen Faculty Development?Publication Subscription: Supporting FacultyThis episode is sponsored by the Teaching Professor Online Conference. Learn teaching practices you need to help your students succeed in the comfort of your own space! 

The first day of class is filled with emotions. Whether or not you feel confident, calm, and collected, doesn't mean your students are feeling the same way. So how do you use the first day to foster a zest for learning? How do you make sure they know you care? How can you decrease their stress they may be feeling?In today's episode, we'll cover some teacher-tested activities for the first day of class and how you can make slight tweaks to make meaningful strides in relieving student mental health concerns and stress on the first day. By setting the stage on day one, your students will be invested, interested, and ready for your class!Recommended resources:Free report: Icebreakers (Your Class Won't Find Cheesy)20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Use the First Day to Set the Tone for a Semester of Learning?20-Minute Mentor: How Do I Release My Students' Natural Zest and Curiosity for Better Learning?20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Intentionally Create a Course that Boosts Learning and Decreases Student Stress?This episode is sponsored by the Teaching Professor Online Conference. Learn teaching practices you need to help your students succeed in the comfort of your own space! 

Do you remember your first year as a college student? Were you nervous, scared, excited, lonely, happy, sad? Maybe you felt all of these emotions, which is a lot for anyone to take on. Add to that figuring out your class schedule, where things are on your campus, the dialogue of instructors using words you've never heard before. Today, we're going to focus on how you can continue to support first-year students in their educational journey. We'll talk about being purposeful in your course design from studying habits to evaluations, and then we'll talk about discussion board labs for first-year students to help them engage in discussion and increase their confidence in their abilities. Lastly, we encourage you to ask your students: What's working well and what do we need to change? What do we need to improve upon? How can we continue to better meet what you need? These questions and tactics can help your first-year students become more successful and confident.Recommended resources:20-Minute Mentor: How Do I Create a Class that Supports First-Year Students?20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Use the Discussion Board to Stimulate Engagement and Build Confidence for First-Year Students?Magna Seminar: Practical Ways to Support First-Generation College Students in the College Classroom

Today we're going to talk about student mental health, infusing applicable humor into the classroom, emotion science, and collective effervescence. By implementing temperature checks and reflections, you can assess how your students are feeling. Include a mental health check question like, What did you do to take care of yourself this week? And then at the end of the reflection, ask your students, Is there anything else you'd like to share?  You'll be asked to consider the question, If you held the higher ed magic wand, where would you start to create a humor climate? What would you do? What would your colleague do? Additionally, we'll cover emotion science. That is, when we feel bad, we can't learn as effectively. And when we feel good, it benefits our learning. Lastly, we'll go over collective effervescence, which represents the synchrony we feel when we are together and in communication with one another. Flower Darby explains, "We want to extend this sense of belonging to our students, no matter who they are, no matter their personality, their preferences, their identities. We want all of our students to feel like they belong so that they can thrive in our classes."Recommended resources (Please note, the resources used in this specific episode are from last year's Teaching Professor Online Conference. For similar and new content, register for this year's Teaching Professor Online Conference):Teaching Professor Online ConferenceApplying the Surgeon General's Model for Workplace Mental Health and Wellbeing in Higher EducationIncreasing Student Engagement, Persistence, and Success Online Using Emotion ScienceUsing Humor and Levity to Enhance the Online Learning Environment

In today's episode, we will explore the topics of resiliency, stress management, wellbeing, and grit. Stress definitely has a significant impact on our wellbeing and overall mindset, so we'll discuss work-related stressor strategies including the benefits of a 10-year journal and the concept of "eating the frog" in the morning.  We will offer valuable insights on fostering resilience and utilizing tools like appreciative inquiry, growth mindset, and grit in overcoming teaching challenges. By implementing these concepts into our teaching practices and daily lives, we can cultivate more happiness and better navigate the emotional costs of daily stressors. Recommended Resources:FREE 20-Minute Mentor: What Can I Do to Manage and Reduce Academic Job Stress? (Special offer ends Friday, June 2, 2023)20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Apply a Resilient Mindset to My Teaching Practice?Magna Online Course: The Wellbeing ElixirWellbeing Webinars (different wellbeing topics each month for only $25!) Don't forget! Expand your love of teaching at the Teaching Professor Annual Conference in New Orleans, June 9-11, 2023. Give yourself something to look forward to at the end of your school year: a conference to network, learn, and refocus on why you got into teaching in the first place! 

Here's to having a little fun in class. Here's to using creativity to connect with students and connect students to the content. Here's to playing games in the classroom. Your lecture doesn't have to snooze students to sleep

Every now and then it's important to take a step back to self-reflect and listen to advice from other educators. With an exhausting past few years, here's your reminder that your purpose as an educator is so impactful and so important. Today, we'll talk about mindful teaching and how you can use the acronym HEARTS to be mindful of your presence as an instructor. And then, Ken Alford will talk about his 40-year teaching career, the best advice he's received, and how you can experience more career satisfaction and effectiveness. We hope you can take these tips and techniques as a reminder that you are not alone – we are rooting for you.Recommended Resources:Magna Online Seminar: Contemplative Pedagogy for Purposeful Teaching20-Minute Mentor: What Are 14 Strategies to Take My Teaching Career from Good to Great?20-Minute Mentor: What is the Best Teaching Advice I Ever Received?Don't forget! Expand your love of teaching at the Teaching Professor Annual Conference in New Orleans, June 9-11, 2023. Give yourself something to look forward to at the end of your school year: a conference to network, learn, and refocus on why you got into teaching in the first place!

There's been a lot of chat about ChatGPT and artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of higher education. From concerns about academic integrity to prohibiting this all-knowing AI, but today, I want us to see AI from a different perspective. What if you could use AI at your university to help students experiencing food insecurity and connect them with resources? What if you could use AI for your syllabus and lesson plan ideation? What if you could minimize the temptation to cheat? In this episode, Jeremy Caplan, Flower Darby, and Liz Norell discuss how educators can embark on this new technological journey.  Additionally, we'll meet Reggie, Ocean County College's virtual chatbot who can communicate with students and better meet their needs. Remember, both of these Magna Online Seminars are 20% off with coupon code PODCAST20. You don't want to miss out on these full, one-hour discussions!Recommended Resources:Facing the Future: Educators Discuss Teaching in the Era of ChatGPTUsing an AI Chatbot: Programmed for SuccessFREE Special Report: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education

Have you ever been asked this question by a student: Will this be on the exam? Do I need to know this? In today's episode, Maryellen Weimer will offer evidence-based study strategies that you can implement into your course to help prepare students for exams. Rather than cramming the night before, you can encourage students to take more responsibility in their review techniques and redesign exams to promote learning.Recommended resources:Magna Online Seminar: An Integrated Approach to Student ExamsMagna Online Seminar: What are Five Methods that Help Students Become More Effective Learners?20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Make My Exams More About Learning, Less About Grades?

We're going to talk about community, swift trust, and storytelling. Whether you teach an online or in-person class, you want your students to feel as if they are entering a community where they are welcome, safe, and can share ideas among each other. You want to establish common interests and a sense of togetherness because they are going to be solving problems together, they'll be investigating and exploring topics, they'll share knowledge and maybe even challenge each other respectfully. So, today we'll talk about ideas to foster a sense of community, how swift trust can be applied in an educational setting, and finally, how a storytelling activity with a sticky note or penny can inspire students to share their own stories. Recommended Resources:Magna Online Seminar: 7 Indispensable Strategies to Build Community in Your Online Courses20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Earn Swift Trust in My Online Classes?20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Harness the Power of Story to Create Classroom Community?Don't forget! Expand your love❤️ of teaching at the Teaching Professor Annual Conference in New Orleans, June 9-11, 2023. Give yourself something to look forward to at the end of your school year: a conference to network, learn, and refocus on why you got into teaching in the first place!

Today, we're going to talk about racial justice, the relationship between food and culture, and a type of plan-do-check-act cycle for diversity, equity, and inclusion work. To start, Santos Felipe Ramos explains how food is so intertwined with culture that it makes for an effective method of inquiry into racial identity and racial disparities, in his seminar, Understanding Racial Justice Through Food Studies. Additionally, Stephanie Delaney offers a multi-step process for narrowing DEI work from a huge multi-generational project into something obtainable each week. Recommended Resources:Magna Online Seminar: Understanding Racial Justice Through Food Studies20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Pace DEI Work to See Subtle Gains Now and Significant Gains in the Future?Don't forget! Expand your love❤️ of teaching at the Teaching Professor Annual Conference in New Orleans, June 9-11, 2023. Give yourself something to look forward to at the end of your school year: a conference to network, learn, and refocus on why you got into teaching in the first place!

Have you ever had a student say, "Wow, this class is so hard!" or "These homework assignments are impossible!" Many students might even do their own research before taking your class, trying to determine what the workload might be or what the level of difficulty is. For this reason, it's important to understand how you can communicate your definition of academic rigor and ensure your goals are aligned with the expectations of your students. In this episode, we'll go through the research on growth mindset. We'll cover how you can foster growth mindset in your own course to improve learning and how you can make connections with your students to emphasize the task at hand, and then, we'll cover specific strategies to inspire students to keep on trying even when it gets tough. Recommended Resources: Magna Online Seminar: Aligning Student and Faculty Perceptions of RigorMagna Online Seminar: Building a Tougher Student: Applying the Research on Intellectual Development20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Manage the Disconnect Between Faculty and Student Perceptions of Rigor to Increase Learning?Join us this year in New Orleans for the Teaching Professor Annual Conference from June 9 - 11.  Give yourself something to look forward to at the end of your school year: a conference to network, learn, and refocus on why you got into teaching in the first place! 

In this episode, we're going to talk about a Twitter thread that went viral. Dr. Liz Norell's thread on her night class now has more than 800,000 views. On it, Norell talks about ice breakers, her liquid syllabus, ungrading, a "punchy" Word document syllabus she created the night before, and communicating the message of care and belonging.  When it comes to ungrading, Norell tells students that learning is change happening in their minds, something that you can't always see. "And so my hope is that by the end of the semester...students really embrace ungrading, because I find, contrary to my own expectations, they do more work because they care, because they're interested, and they're not doing it for a grade." Additionally, Norell explains that a delightful consequence of ungrading is that students learn how to self-advocate and take ownership of the work they've done. From ungrading to a liquid syllabus to bringing snacks to class, Norell's main goal is  communicating a message of care and belonging to every person in the classroom.  Recommended Resources:Liz Norell's ResourcesThe viral Twitter thread: Last night, a professor walked into a night class for the first time since 2016. Here's what happened...Liz Norell's YouTube video: Why I Think Grades are StupidHappiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

Ungrading might seem a little daunting, right? How can you just take away grades? How can you assess students without actually grading their essays, projects, or homework? How do you prepare students who depend on grades to adapt to a new type of grading? In this episode, we'll cover what ungrading actually is, some of the research behind it, and how it can be brought to any classroom by having an honest conversation with your students. And then we'll take a few minutes to dispel some misconceptions about ungrading, because ungrading doesn't mean you have to completely eliminate grades in all forms from your classroom. Lastly, we'll cover a few ungrading assessment strategies that you can implement into your own course.Recommended Resources:20-Minute Mentor: What Is Ungrading and How Can It Unleash Your Students' Potential?20-Minute Mentor: What Are 7 Ways to Assess Students in an Ungraded Classroom?Don't forget to expand your love for teaching at the Teaching Professor Annual Conference in New Orleans, June 9 - 11. Give yourself something to look forward to: a conference to network, learn, and refocus on why you got into teaching in the first place!

In this episode, we'll cover snippets from the Wellbeing Elixir course, presented by Seena Haines and Stuart Haines, on how gratitude is associated with numerous mental and physical benefits; how extending generosity to others has been shown to lower blood pressure, increase self-esteem and self-worth, and enhance optimism; and lastly, we'll cover goal setting and how both success and failure are part of the journey – it's important to set goals but to also know that having goals does not guarantee success, and that's okay. Recommended Resources:The Wellbeing Elixir CourseA special coupon just for YOU! Use coupon code WELLNESS and take $60 off your purchase of the Wellbeing Elixir Course.

Teaching students in the classroom while simultaneously teaching students online is hard. How do you bring students together when some are in the classroom and some are online? What tools can you use to cater to this type of Hyflex or hybrid teaching?  In this episode, we'll explain different tools and techniques you can use in a Hyflex setting, we'll go over a couple of best practices to keep in mind when designing a course like this, and lastly, we'll cover more online tools you can use to help bridge the in-person and online students together and make it feel more like a cohesive class session.Recommended Resources: 20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Teach with Confidence in the Hyflex Classroom?20-Minute Mentor: What Are Best Practices for Hyflex Course Design and Delivery?Magna Online Seminar: Blended and Flipped Course Design: Tried and True Approaches20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Gauge Online Learning Through Engaging Activities and Assignments?

Today is all about the memory, from short-term to long-term. Do you still remember your childhood phone number? What about your high school fight song? Or the street you lived on when you were eight years old? We might remember some of these things, but sometimes we forget what we read this morning or what we ate for breakfast two days ago. Don't worry, there are numerous proven ways to manipulate and develop our ability to remember! So, what small changes can you integrate to help students remember your content? In this episode, we'll start with the academic research on memory and how you can create a more successful environment so that you can apply cognitive theory in your courses. Next, we'll go over strategies that you can incorporate to improve student learning and memory, such as semantic encoding, cueing, peer teaching, and more. And lastly, we'll cover how microactivities are a great way to check in with students and move information closer to long-term memory. Recommended Resources:Using Brief Interventions to Maximize Student LearningWhat Key Concepts Improve Student Learning and Memory?How Can I Use Microactivities to Engage Students and Improve Learning and Retention?

How do you make your online classroom feel welcoming and safe for your students? Unlike the face-to-face classroom, you don't always have the opportunity to greet students with a warm smile and ask them how they're doing. So, how do you bring these in-class approaches to your online environment? In this episode, we'll cover techniques on how to be culturally responsive in your online courses, we'll provide tips on how you can format your online class to be warm and welcoming, and we'll cover assimilation strategies for nontraditional and marginalized students in the online environment. From student testimonials to a name story exercise and community rubric, your online classroom will be a safe space for all of your students.Recommended Resources: 20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Become a Better Online Instructor?20-Minute Mentor: How Do I Establish an Engaging Atmosphere in My Online Classroom?Magna Online Seminar: Online Engagement and Assimilation Strategies for Nontraditional and Marginalized Students

Lectures can be boring, without a doubt, but they don't have to be. There are a variety of creative approaches for making your lecture more interactive and interesting for your students so that they stay tuned in and remember the content you want them to remember. In this episode, we'll talk about how you can start and end your lecture with bookends, how to incorporate lecture wrappers, and different engagement techniques you can try. We'll also cover what a microlecture is and the process of creating one, and then we'll go over effective Q&As to help engage students, buzz groups, and a snowball group activity. Recommended Resources:Magna Online Seminar: How to Use Interactive Lecturing as Pedagogy of Engagement20-Minute Mentor: How Do I Create and Implement Microlectures?Magna Online Seminar: Strategies for Making Lectures More Active, Engaging, and MeaningfulThis episode is sponsored by the Teaching Professor Online Conference – network from the comfort of your living room. 

Today's episode is all about technology. Now, you may be tired of hearing about all the tools and gadgets you can integrate into your courses, but we'll go through easy-to-use technologies, including the appropriate application and benefits of each. We also don't expect you to start integrating every single one of these tools. Start with just one, or maybe two, and see how it goes.  We'll demonstrate the value of H5P tools and how to use them with your existing platforms from crossword puzzles to flash cards. We'll touch on FlipGrid, EdPuzzle, and more. And then we'll discuss how you can use backward design to help you identify and implement the best technology tool solution for your course, so that there's intention and meaning behind the technology you use.Recommended Resources:20-Minute Mentor: What Are 5 Ways H5P Tools Can Help Students Retain Course Content?20-Minute Mentor: What Are 5 Easy-to-Use Technologies that Have a Big Impact on Learning in the Online Classroom?20-Minute Mentor: How Do I Align Learning Objectives with Technology Using Backward Design?This week's episode is sponsored by the Teaching Professor Online Conference. Network and learn from the comfort of your own home!

As an educator, you've been through some of the toughest years of teaching. Many have faced academic stressors, burnout, anxiety, and so much more. So this is your timely reminder to take care of yourself. In today's episode, we'll talk about resiliency, appreciative inquiry, growth mindset, and mindful self-compassion. The following tools, resources, and techniques can help you construct a more joyful mindset and will offer you a process for helping with stress and wellbeing. This episode is a reminder to direct an attitude of loving kindness towards yourself, using mindful self-compassion. No matter what the feeling is—anger, guilt, shame, or grief—whatever it is, treat yourself with a gentle kindness, as you would recognize common humanity with the rest of us.Recommended Resources:20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Apply a Resilient Mindset to My Teaching Practice?20-Minute Mentor: What are 3 Calendar Hacks Faculty Can Use to Avoid Stress and Burnout?Magna Online Seminar: Cultivate Resilience: Six Steps for Stress InoculationMagna Online Course: The Wellbeing ElixirFree article: Finding the Positive: Your Mental Health and Wellbeing MatterThis episode is sponsored by the Teaching Professor Online Conference. 

Despite their universal use in online teaching, online discussions often fall flat. But it doesn't have to be this way. In this episode, we'll discuss how multiple due dates for a discussion can foster thoughtful responses; we'll talk about the importance of using Universal Design for Learning to guide your discussion; we'll discuss the importance of putting yourself in the student perspective when writing your discussion prompts; and finally, we'll go over techniques for fostering a community within your discussion board and class.This episode is all about the discussion board!Recommended Resources:20-Minute Mentor: The Discussion Board and Beyond: How Can I Engage Students Online?20-Minute Mentor: How Do I Create Questions that Stimulate Engaging Conversations in Online Discussion Boards?20-Minute Mentor: What are Three Proven Ways to Manage My Online Discussion Board and Actively Engage Students?This episode is sponsored by the Teaching Professor Online Conference - network from the comfort of your living room. 

As a STEM educator, how can you reimagine STEM education through a humanities lens? How can you use disruptive innovation to help students think more critically? And how can you teach critical reflection skills in an engineering or math course? In this episode, you'll consider how to make sure your perception of what students want out of their education aligns with what the student actually wants. You'll go through speaking, writing, activities, and media modes of critical thinking. And finally, you'll go through a disruptive innovation assignment to encourage students to think more critically and be more impactful in their design. This episode is filled with STEM-inspired information!Recommended Resources:Magna Online Seminar: Reimagining STEM Education Through a Humanities Lens20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Teach Critical Reflection in STEM Courses?20-Minute Mentor: How Can Disruptive Innovation Impact STEM Education?

The first day of class is approaching and this day is filled with emotions. Students might be filled with excitement or dread. They may be filled with eagerness or anxiety, but no matter the emotions it's an important day for you to set the tone for the rest of the semester. In this episode, we'll go through specific generative games you can implement on the first day to prime students' minds for open mindedness; we'll explain how you an use a kite drawing activity to have students introduce themselves; and we'll talk about how you can use toast to help explain the diversity of opinions and the merit of working together. Recommended resource:20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Use the First Day to Set the Tone for a Semester of Learning?20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Maximize the First 10 Minutes of Remote Teaching to Spark Student Engagement?Faculty Focus article: Connecting Before We Can Physically Connect: Online Icebreakers to Use for the First Day of ClassFaculty Focus article: Advice for the First Day of Class: Today We WillFaculty Focus article: First Day of Class Activities that Create a Climate for LearningFree report: Back to School: First Day of Class StrategiesTED Talk: Got a wicked problem? First, tell me how you make toast

When you're designing a course, what should you consider? How can you create your course so students are remembering and recalling the information you're teaching throughout the entire semester? In this episode, we'll explain how fundamental and powerful concepts can help you design your course with the big picture in mind. We'll explain how starting from the end when designing your course is beneficial and will help you create an elevator pitch and purpose for your course. And lastly, we'll go over how you can incorporate interleaving into your course design to improve student retention.Recommended Resources:Magna Online Seminar: Course Design Strategies to Enhance Critical Thinking SkillsMagna Online Seminar: Creative Course Design: Yes You Can!Magna Online Seminar: Using Interleaving in Course Design to Improve Retention

Maybe it's your coach from high school, an instructor from college, a colleague who helped mentor you - no matter who it is, having someone to mentor you, coach you, motivate you, and help you be the best version of yourself is priceless. In this episode, we'll provide a stepwise progression for mentoring:1. Show them2. Help them3. Watch them4. Let themAnd then we'll dive into what makes a great faculty coach and how this differs from mentoring. "Take a minute to think back to your own life experience of great coaches, maybe coaches that you've watched, coaches that you've observed, coaches that you've been coached by...great coaches are typically people who know how to inspire," says Nicki Monahan. "They know how to motivate. They know how to observe carefully and analyze. They know how to listen. They know how to ask good questions. And they know how to help people through the change process, and sometimes that's a hard process. And I would suggest that great coaches aren't born, but they're made and one of the things that makes great coaching is great coach training."Recommended Resources:Magna Online Seminar: Creating and Maintaining a Robust Faculty Mentoring Program20-Minute Mentor: How Do I Move from Mentoring to Coaching in Faculty Development?20-Minute Mentor: Is Coaching a Good Fit for My Faculty Development Program?20-Minute Mentor: What Tools Can I Use to Ensure I Have Effective Coaching Conversations with Faculty?20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Be an Effective Mentor?

In this episode, we talk to Loreen Smith who explains the purpose of a Peer 2 Peer Mentoring Program (P2P), the steps to implement it, and how it can significantly impact students.Whether it's a first-year student being mentored or a peer mentor learning how to lead, both roles form connections and are given direction on their journey. Peer mentors gain leadership skills, hands-on experience, and because it is a paid position, they have a job title they can use on their resume. Additionally, the students being mentored often become more confident in their understanding of their learning and learn how they can address any obstacles or barriers to help them achieve their goals.With just four simple steps, Smith says any university can start their own Peer 2 Peer Mentoring Program:Establish a teamRecruitTrain mentorsPromote the programSmith says that the joy this program exudes is infectious, and it's really about making a difference in the students' lives and seeing how many doors are going to open for them in their own way. “We've given these students the most important tools that they need to succeed, and that supports connections, direction, and really a reflection for a stronger and more meaningful education,” Smith says. Resources:Reach out to Loreen Smith to learn more about a Peer 2 Peer Mentoring Program (P2P): lsmith@isothermal.edu

How do you get your students to engage with the content so they better retain it? How do you get your students to engage in discussion so that everyone is talking and everyone feels empowered to use their voice? The concept of student engagement is broad, but today, we're going to talk about how to incorporate min-lectures, the importance of a prediscussion post, and how you can use drawings, a multimedia starter, or social activity to engage students with your content. Recommended Resources:20-Minute Mentor:  How Do Mini-lectures Improve Student Engagement?20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Structure Class Discussions to Maximize Student Engagement?20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Maximize the First 10 Minutes of Remote Teaching to Spark Student Engagement?Learning Path: Teaching Professor Conference 2021 On-Demand: Student Engagement

How do you get your students to complete the readings you assign? More importantly, how do you get them to engage with and retain the readings you assign? In this episode, we'll talk about strategies to help students master deep reading, a reading discussion or literature circle you can implement to foster student engagement through reading roles, and a technique to encourage students to do the reading prior to class.From roles such as a discussion leader, passage master, devil's advocate, illustrator, creative connector, and reporter, you'll have students not only talking about the reading but engaging with one another as well. Additionally, Maryellen Weimer offers a technique to encourage students to do the reading prior to class and how to reiterate reading as an essential part of the course.Recommended Resources:20-Minute Mentor: What Interventions Help Students Master Deep Reading and Engage with Assignments?Magna Online Seminar: Maximizing Student Engagement with Course Readings20-Minute Mentor: How Do I Get Students to Read Their Assignments Before Class? 

In this episode, we talk with Jeremy Rentz about the positive aspects that come from students doing work in class. By allowing students to figure things out for themselves, and giving them time to discover and interact with one another, students can have powerful learning experiences. By including examples that students can work on during class and encouraging in-class exam reviews, Rentz says students can support each other and he can essentially help “coach” them through the examples. “While they are in the class, they have their neighbors to help them, their neighbors can support them, they can ask them questions, they can make them feel good about themselves...and then the other positive that it brings is I can help coach essentially every student in class,” Rentz says. Lastly, Rentz encourages that instructors and teachers work together and learn from their colleagues as often as they possibly can.“One of the things that I want to make sure that I highlight in my session is that I have a few good answers, but collectively, as a group, we have many, many good answers,” Rentz says. Recommended resources:Best of Teaching Professor Conference 2021 Free ReportThe Teaching Professor Conference

We're chatting about co-construction circles, empathy mapping, and the Teaching Perspectives Inventory with Cynthia Alby, Karynne Kleine, and Caralyn Zehnder who will be presenting at our Teaching Professor Conference. They discuss how co-construction circles help give each student something different to focus on in a reading. Someone may be coming up with discussion questions, while someone else is focusing on reading connections, and when students come together in class, they all have something different to bring to the table. Additionally, they dive into empathy mapping and how instructors need to ask the question of, Who are we designing for? Empathy mapping fosters an incredible joy for them in designing for diverse groups of students. “We do that through building narratives that describe diverse student experiences and perspectives…”They also use a tool called the Teaching Perspectives Inventory to get a notion of who they are as teachers and how to better appreciate their colleagues. Rather than having a perspective of “good” and “bad” teachers, they ask the question of, What can we appreciate from that person's perspective?You won't want to miss out on the magic of the Teaching Professor Conference in Atlanta from June 3 – 5.  

In this episode,  we discuss and chat with a few of our Teaching Professor Conference presenters. First up, Mary Norman and Lisa Low talk about radical empathy and burnout, and how you can use empathetic strategies to empower yourself and students for success. “I think that radical empathy is something that's very important to talk about, because it's so needed right now. Our students are really being inundated with stressors that we've never before seen,” Norman says. Additionally, both Norman and Low add empathy tactics to help read their classroom and ask questions like, “How are you feeling about this class today?” and “How are you feeling right now?” This helps students be seen and heard both in class and within their personal lives. Julia Osteen, another Teaching Professor Conference presenter, also uses the analogy of menus, master chef, and ingredients to guide engagement strategies that work in her class. “So, just like great chefs create menus with a variety of ingredients, teachers need to put together a variety of strategies and techniques to reach today's learner,” says Osteen. “What's oftentimes overlooked is an end reflection. And this would be like complimenting the chef. It's much like when you're in a restaurant and a server comes to your table, and they say, ‘How was it?' and you say, ‘Oh, it was delicious,' right? But this encourages in our students the development of metacognition.”Recommended Resources:The Teaching Professor Conference, June 3-5 in Atlanta