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Feedback Modality

Faculty feedback is an essential component of the learning process. Research suggests that the modality of the feedback is most effective when aligned to the task type and learner needs.

Worked Examples

When students are provided with practice or application assignments after learning new content, they often use incorrect strategies because they do not fully understand the underlying concepts. You can prevent this ineffective struggle by providing students with worked examples when introducing a new skill or process.

Reach out to Missing Students

It’s important to identify missing students as soon as possible in the beginning of the semester and to encourage those who have not yet engaged. A simple way to do this is to create a small assignment in Brightspace that all students should submit to by the end of the first or second week of class. After the due date, click on the name of the assignment in Brightspace, and then click Email Users Without Submissions. This will open a new email draft window with the students who have not submitted the assignment in the BCC field. Send a quick message to remind them about the assignment and to let you know if they are having issues with the course.

Guide your students on the use of AI for learning

While there are mixed feelings about generative AI among faculty and students, it’s undeniable that AI is not going away and will continue to become embedded in all aspects of life. Even if students choose not to use it, they still need to understand how it works and ethical implications of its use. Who is going to teach them this?

Create custom holiday messages

You may or may not be ready to use generative AI for teaching and learning, but there are so many other uses. These large language models are really good with language, so if you need something well-written in a short amount of itme, try out one of the AI tools we have access to, like Gemini, Copilot, or Perplexity.

Feedback in your voice

Rubrics are handy tools for providing clear expectations and consistent feedback to learners, but students also welcome authentic feedback that sounds like it came from you. You can add your own “voice” through the commenting tool on the rubric in Brightspace or by adding multimedia feedback.

The Science of Meaning

I had the pleasure of attending a session on the Science of Meaning with Dr. Todd Kashan from the Well-Being Lab at George Mason University. According to his research, the three primary drivers of meaning in life are: (1) coherence, (2) significance, and (3) purpose. How can you use this in your teaching?