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How Do I...? Index - See All

Concrete strategies and examples to answer common questions faculty have about teaching

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How Do I Address Suspected Student Misuse of GenAI Tools?

To maintain trust, ensure fairness, and prioritize student growth alongside content mastery, instructors can adopt strategies for prevention, identification, and measured response. 

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How Do I Choose Between Dialogue, Debate and Discussion to Explore Challenging Topics?

Each structure has its own goal and process. Depending on your learning objectives, class environment, and course content, one structure might make better sense for you and your students.

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How Do I Navigate Hot Moments in the Classroom?

Strategies for navigating and managing yourself during hot moments during class discussions, and helping students process conflict.

 
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How Do I Engage Students in Difficult Class Discussions Around Sensitive Topics?

Practices and strategies that you can use to help you and your students talk in ways that support positive engagement and minimize harm and unproductive conflict

 
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How Do I Ease Student Anxieties through Intentional Course Design and Instruction?

Would it surprise you to hear that nearly a third of the learners you see may have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder? This page details how instructors can make course design decisions that ease student anxiety, increase wellbeing, and make learning more possible. 

 
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How Do I Help Students Engage Fully with Course Readings?

Faculty can utilize an array of strategies to support course learning outcomes and increase student engagement with assigned readings.

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How Do I Get Started in Creating a Syllabus?

A well-designed, detailed syllabus serves as a roadmap of the course for both instructor and student

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How do I Consider the Options for a Generative AI Course Policy?

A flowchart designed to assist in thinking through the implications of choices about the use of generative AI tools in courses.

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How Do I Support Students Whose Speech and Privacy Might Be Limited?

It is important that you have a plan for helping students minimize their own risk so they can have the best possible educational experience.

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How Do I Submit an Academic Alert?

Faculty and instructors often identify students who seem to be struggling academically in their classes--missing class sessions, performing poorly on exams, or failing to turn in assignments. The Academic Alert Initiative can help faculty and their students by providing faculty with a powerful way to connect with their students and offering students a community of support and a wide range of resources.

 
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How Do I Increase Student Engagement with Participation Agreements?

Students engage and participate when there is a class climate in which they feel safe, supported, and encouraged to express their thoughts, values, experiences, and perspectives.

 
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How Do I Support International Students in My Classes?

We can support our international students through relationship building, explicit communication, resources, relevant course content, cognitive load, scaffolding, various ways of participation.

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How Do I Support Students Whose Speech and Privacy Might Be Limited?

It is important that you have a plan for helping students minimize their own risk so they can have the best possible educational experience.

 
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How Do I Support Students with Compassion and Empathy?

Faculty can support student learning by designing courses to include compassion, communicating often, and connecting students to wellbeing resources on campus.

 
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How Do I Provide Flexibility and Ensure Attendance?

Instructors can help students make more positive decisions about class attendance by discussing how attendance supports their learning, supplying guidance on how to use supplemental course materials, and promoting incentives rather than penalties. 

 
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How Do I Write an Inclusive Syllabus?

This page covers the six principles of an inclusive syllabus design: learning-focused, essential questions, UDL connections, inclusive & motivating language, supportive course policies, and accessible design.

 
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How Do I Consider the Impact of AI Tools in My Courses?

Students may be interested in using artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to enhance their own writing. As you reflect on your course expectations, we encourage you to review the following strategies and examples when considering AI use in your courses.

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How Do I Help Students Reduce Textbook Costs?

This page offers strategies to help student reduce textbook costs, provide students multiple options to access course materials and high-quality content.

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How Do I Work Effectively with Teaching Assistants?

Involving your TAs in class communication, behind-the-scenes work, and community building can support your students' learning.

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How Do I Set My Students Up for Success using Flexible Teaching Strategies?

Flexible teaching strategies allow students to choose a learning path that works best for their needs.

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How Do I Chunk Content to Increase Learning?

Increase your students' ability to learn by delivering course content in sequenced chunks.

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How Do I Create Memorable Lectures?

Memorable lectures emphasize key concepts and connects them to what students know, have a structure, and allow time for processing.

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How Do I Design Videos That Students Want to Watch?

You can use the videos you create to connect with your students, communicate with them, teach, and engage them.

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How Do I Design a Good Exam?

Crafting higher-order questions, giving practice opportunities, and clarifying your testing conditions are approaches to designing a good exam.

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How Do I Design Meaningful and Clear Writing Assignments?

Quick tips for incorporating writing assignments into your class, no matter the context.

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How Do I (Re)Design Assignments and Assessments in an AI-Impacted World?

In the context of readily accessible AI tools, educators may need to transform assignment and assessment design, balancing the need to make tasks AI-immune with the potential for integrating AI into learning activities.

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How Do I Start Each Class Session?

A good start to your class can help build community, establish the depth and character of your learning environment, provide hands-on engagement, give students an opportunity to connect their experience to course topics, and set an inclusive foundation for learning.

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How Do I Keep My Students Engaged in Large Courses?

Frequent check-ins, building in interactions, and bringing in real-world examples can help keep your students engaged in large classes.

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How Do I Best Engage Students During Synchronous Class Sessions?

You decided to offer synchronous class sessions to your students, but to fully use the possibilities these tools offer, you need to consider the specifics of this media and intentionally redesign the content and learning activities for it.

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How Do I Facilitate Effective Group Work?

Build successful group work characterized by trust, psychological safety, clarity of expectations, and  good communication.

 
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How Do I Use Note Catchers to Support Group Work and Collaborative Note Taking?

Note catchers, shared collaborative documents accessed in real time, keep students focused and help you monitor online or in-person group work.

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How Do I Increase Student Engagement with Participation Agreements?

Students engage and participate when there is a class climate in which they feel safe, supported, and encouraged to express their thoughts, values, experiences, and perspectives.

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How Do I Structure Discussions for Deeper Learning?

Carefully structuring discussions can promote deeper learning by giving space and time for processing new material.

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How Do I End a Course Successfully?

There are a range of strategies that can help you and your students reinforce learning at the very end of the semester, including reflections, celebrations, framing course evaluations, and more. Read our page on ending the semester on a positive note, and pick up some new ideas.

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