TFSC: 3 Minute Teaching Tips
Every summer the Teaching and Faculty Support Center (TFSC) holds a Teaching Camp. Usually scheduled for August, Teaching Camp is faculty tradition. Camp is an informal 2-3 day opportunity to focus on one or more aspects of teaching in a relaxed, offsite venue. The...
Faculty Spotlight: Student-Generated Test Questions
Ever get tired of coming up with unique and thoughtful test questions? Crowdsource! Have your students help!
Faculty Spotlight: “What Evidence Would Change Your Mind?” Using Critical Thinking in the Classroom
Critical Thinking and argumentation are key concepts and skills that we wish to teach our students. Sometimes it is difficult to get students to consider evidence for arguments when their "gut" or emotions are at play. When highlighting the need for students to use...
Faculty Spotlight: “I Expect…” and “You Can Expect…” – Syllabus Expectations
  The syllabus is often one of the most important documents we craft as faculty members. During a presentation when Lynne Meade was discussing guidelines for student civility during difficult discussions in the classroom, she said she has an "I expect" section in her...
Faculty Spotlight: Creating Groups in the Classroom
Do you ever get tired of asking your students to get into groups and waiting 5 minutes for them clump up? Take a look at some of these suggestions for moving the process along!
Faculty Spotlight: Facts, Values, or Rhetoric – Activity for Evaluating Arguments
It is often difficult to get students comfortable with discussing difficult topics. In some cases it is a matter of knowing what is a good reason or a bad reason for accepting an argument for or against a topic. Shauna Morimoto, Vice-Chair and Director of Graduate...
Faculty Spotlight: Using Games to Teach History
Dr. Jim Gigantino, Department Chair and Associate Professor of History, discussed his successful use of games in teaching historical events and ideas during a History Department Series on Teaching. The game series that he uses is called "Reacting to the Past" which...
Faculty Spotlight: Fictional Persona Writing Activity
This learning activity requires the student to think more deeply about the historical era they are studying. Students create a fictional person from the time period, and then write a series of journal entries from that person’s point of view.
What is the definition of a credit hour?
When designing your courses, it can be important to take into account exactly how much work in and out of class a credit hour of credit should equal.
Classroom: Calibrate the Annotation Pen
All classroom computers have an annotation ability. Sometimes the calibration is off and where you touch the screen is not where the writing appears. You can recalibrate the pen to correct for this!