Engaging & Motivating Students

First Day of Class Strategies

• Back to School: First Day of Class Strategies (Various contributors, Faculty Focus) – This article features eight different approaches to setting a positive tone for the semester to come.

• How to Teach a Good First Day of Class (by James M. Lang, The Chronicle of Higher Education) – Using the pillars of curiosity, community, learning & expectations, this article offers clear, actionable ways to teach a good first day of class. (Hint: it doesn’t include reviewing the syllabus!). 

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Promoting Active Learning

• Resources for Active Learning (by Bonni Stachowiak, Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast) – From research through implementation, learn how to move from a passive to an active learning classroom.

• Motivating Students (Compiled by Lois Rosen, Phd., Instructional Consultant for the Office of Faculty and Organizational Development, Michigan State University) – A list of annotated resources from theory & research to ready-to use stratgies.

• Three Effective Ways to Engage Students (by J. Mark McFadden, Inside Higher Ed) – The suggestions in this article are sure to get students talking about & engaging with course materials. 

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How Students Learn

• How People Learn II, 2018 Edition (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine) – This book (pdf available free online) provides an update to its predecessor published in 2000; it discusses the scientific mechanisms of how the brain learns as well as how sociocultural & environmental factors impact learning. 

• Learning Principles: Theory & Research-Based Principles of Learning (Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University) – Based on research from a variety of disciplines, this brief article outlines the principles that “underlie effective learning.”

• Promoting Student Learning Through Effective Course & Syllabus Design (Center for Teaching Excellence, Duquesne University) – Starting on pg.5, this worksheet uses “backwards design” as a framework to guide instructors to build a course using desired outcomes as a foundation.

Improving Class Discussion and Participation

• How to Hold a Better Class Discussion (by Jay Howard, The Chronicle of Higher Education) – If you’re looking to freshen up your approach to class discussions, this is the article for you; read about why discussions matter, how to grade discussions, how to respond to poorly developed responses and how to handle divisive topics.  

• The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies (by Jennifer Gonzalez, Cult of Pedagogy) – Listen to the podcast or read the article, this post offers 15 different formats for structuring a class discussion.