Recent Teaching Tips
Ideas for inclusive teaching practice
Inclusive teaching practice involves embracing diversity holistically throughout your course and activities. This Teaching Tip provides some ideas and resources for how to think about your course through an inclusive lens.
The art of the welcome announcement
Sending a welcoming message to students at the beginning of the semester is an important step in designing an effective online course. Intentional design and language choices in the announcement can create a lasting positive impression.
Introducing the online course evaluation rubric
The Online Course Evaluation Rubric serves as a framework for making notes on and progress toward preparing your course for next semester. Several instructional designers worked together gathering important course elements into categories with evaluative statements to jumpstart your review.
What is CircleIn and when will students have access?
UAF is expanding its pilot study of CircleIn, a supported online tool for peer study groups. Starting in fall 2021, CircleIn will be available to all students at UAF.
My course content is in Canvas. Now what?
Blackboard courses are currently being migrated to Canvas to help make the transition easier for faculty. Once there, courses will be ready to teach with some lightweight cleanup.
Understanding content organization in Canvas
Content organization functions differently in Canvas than it does in Blackboard. Students will easily learn to navigate your course when you thoughtfully design how your content is presented.
Creating a learner-centered syllabus
Research shows that a learner-centered syllabus increases positive student perception of the course and instructor, and generally leads to better learning outcomes. Here are specific ways you can update your syllabus to be more learner-centered.
Tips for students using the new WordPress block editor
On May 7, 2021, the Community@UAF WordPress server will be updated to the Gutenberg editor. Here is information to share with students on using the new editor.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up below or use this full-page form.
Best Practices
Ideas for inclusive teaching practice
Inclusive teaching practice involves embracing diversity holistically throughout your course and activities. This Teaching Tip provides some ideas and resources for how to think about your course through an inclusive lens.
The art of the welcome announcement
Sending a welcoming message to students at the beginning of the semester is an important step in designing an effective online course. Intentional design and language choices in the announcement can create a lasting positive impression.
Introducing the online course evaluation rubric
The Online Course Evaluation Rubric serves as a framework for making notes on and progress toward preparing your course for next semester. Several instructional designers worked together gathering important course elements into categories with evaluative statements to jumpstart your review.
What is CircleIn and when will students have access?
UAF is expanding its pilot study of CircleIn, a supported online tool for peer study groups. Starting in fall 2021, CircleIn will be available to all students at UAF.
My course content is in Canvas. Now what?
Blackboard courses are currently being migrated to Canvas to help make the transition easier for faculty. Once there, courses will be ready to teach with some lightweight cleanup.
Understanding content organization in Canvas
Content organization functions differently in Canvas than it does in Blackboard. Students will easily learn to navigate your course when you thoughtfully design how your content is presented.
End-of-semester checklist to promote student success
At the end of the semester, students may struggle to remember everything they need to accomplish before the break. Here are five things instructors should remind students to do as each semester comes to a close.
10 tips for Zoom fatigue
Daily Zoom calls can be draining. Here are a few ways to deal with Zoom fatigue to make your experience more relaxing and less draining.
How accessibility happens at UAF
Learn how disability accommodations work at UAF in a new series hosted by UAF Disability Services, the UA Human Resources ADA office and UAF eCampus.
Aim for progress
At UAF, Student Progress Reports and Nanook Navigator Alerts are two mechanisms for providing feedback, which can lead to better student performance.
Q&A about teaching high school students
Enrollment of high school students in college courses is increasing. This Q&A was designed to answer questions about resources at University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Five questions to ask during course revision
You may have plans to work on your course over the winter break, and this is the perfect time to do some focused reflection on how things went this semester. This Teaching Tip presents suggestions for questions to ask when doing a self-critique in preparation for revision.
Blackboard
Blackboard improvements within Grade Center
This tip continues to explain new features available to instructors after the Blackboard upgrade that happened over winter break.
Setting up your course in Blackboard
You may not have used Blackboard much in the past, but with the uncertainty of how COVID-19 will affect in-person classes, Blackboard can be a reliable tool to help you prepare. Here are some steps to get started.
Save time setting up due dates in Blackboard
Setting due dates for assessments in Blackboard can be a time-consuming task. Use the Grade Center Due Dates tool to manage this task faster.
Make use of Blackboard Test Tool
In the UA Blackboard system, one of the most used tools is the Test Tool. It can be used to create quizzes, midterms, exams and pre- and post-assessments.Good and effective use of the Test Tool can be facilitated by carefully thinking about how to...
Three ways to submit a Blackboard assignment
There are three methods for submitting assignments through Blackboard’s Assignment feature. This teaching tip will help you decide which works best for you and your grading process.
Try something new in Blackboard
Here are three scenarios you might find yourself in – and three new-ish Blackboard features that could help you out.
Three tips to untangle Blackboard notifications
Customizing notifications in Blackboard allows both instructors and students to better manage their online educational experiences.
To total or not to total – Blackboard Grade Center
Every teacher has goals to be effective and efficient. Knowing more about the tools and features in Blackboard’s Grade Center can help you reach your potential. This week’s tip concentrates on different kinds of Total columns you might use in your course to organize and compute final grades. There is a lot of capability and might be the perfect feature for you to implement in your course.
Blackboard adds new features
New features have been updated in Blackboard Learn relating to assignment submissions. Teachers and students are now able to add attachments via drag and drop. There are also new features that allow tracking of quiz attempts and assignment submissions. Read this week’s Teaching Tip to learn how the new features are giving both students and instructors more power in Blackboard Learn.
Providing feedback in Blackboard two ways
Building a rubric can help you determine how–or if–an assignment aligns to your course objectives. Once built, you may use it to frame your feedback. Sharing the specifics with students prior to task assignment helps focus their efforts. Your students may not know about the wealth of information provided by clicking on the link, “View Rubric.’
Adapt your course for Blackboard Mobile Learn
More and more students are using mobile devices and an app called Blackboard Mobile Learn to access course content on the go. While students shouldn’t solely rely on smartphones to complete course requirements, there are steps instructors can take to make it a better experience, such as using common file types (like PDFs), keeping titles short and testing links on a variety of devices.
Build game badging options inside of Blackboard Learn
We all spend time playing games. According to vertoanalytics.com, we spend more than a billion hours per month playing mobile games and that doesn’t include games played on laptops, desktops or with game consoles.1 According to the entertainment software association, in 2015, 65% of US households had at least one person who played online games, three hours or more per week.
Emerging ideas
Courses on AlaskaX reach across the globe
UAF instructors are reaching a global audience through course offerings on the edX platform. Learn more about developing and delivering AlaskaX courses in this Teaching Tip.
Why do I need to sign in at eCampus faculty development events?
Providing faculty development that is current and useful requires understanding the needs of instructors at UAF. When you reserve a seat, sign in to an event or book a designer consultation, you are relating your email address to that activity.
Building student engagement with Zoom
We’ve all become Zoom experts in the last 10 months. But we’ve also gotten used to the platform and how we use it. Could we be more creative? What could we change about how we use this tool to create more meaningful synchronous experiences for our students?
Unlocking your “hidden curriculum” to help high schoolers
We have been welcoming an increasing number of high school students into our courses. Helping these go-getters achieve a passing grade while still working on their high school diploma is easily achieved by following a hidden curriculum.
Managing large online classes
With strategic course design, it is possible in large classes to provide a strong instructor presence, give expert-level feedback on subjective assignments, and maintain a quality learning experience for students.
Trauma-informed practices for finals
For some of us, the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the deepest experiences of trauma we’ve had. Trauma can be defined as “any experience in which a person’s internal resources are not adequate to cope with external stressors” (Hoch et al., 2015). Between the...
Demystifying trauma-informed teaching
When students enter the classroom, they come with a backpack of experiences – some positive and some not so positive. Trauma-informed teaching helps us recognize the societal, systemic and family impacts on students, including various forms of societal oppression...
Building community in a virtual world
There is a common misconception that it’s harder for students to feel connected when they can’t meet in person, or that distance-based learning is inherently less impactful for students. Although this may apply in some cases, it’s up to the instructor or facilitator...
Where to find inspiration for course design
Course Showcase We can learn a lot from each other. You may be curious to see what other faculty are doing in their online class, like how they are organizing content and managing activities. Touring other courses can be a great way to get inspired about creating...
Finding community and humor in a changed classroom
Despite the initial challenge, my spring semester students created an environment filled with community and humor, and it ended up being one of the most memorable classes I have ever taught.
Effective distance teaching through flexibility
Pros and cons of three distance-education methods — audio conference, video conference and online — from UAF’s rural-oriented programs.
Fostering engagement in online discussion
Creating active discussions in a course can be challenging. In times of COVID-19, fostering that space for community exploration and making connections between content and the current world can become the anchor that keeps the momentum.
Pedagogy
Refresh your course in three simple steps
Course revisions can be daunting, particularly this year, but a quick course refresh is achievable in three simple steps: start at the beginning, support failure, and remember — less is more!
Trauma-informed practices for finals
For some of us, the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the deepest experiences of trauma we’ve had. Trauma can be defined as “any experience in which a person’s internal resources are not adequate to cope with external stressors” (Hoch et al., 2015). Between the...
Building community in a virtual world
There is a common misconception that it’s harder for students to feel connected when they can’t meet in person, or that distance-based learning is inherently less impactful for students. Although this may apply in some cases, it’s up to the instructor or facilitator...
We are more than floating heads
Trauma, anxiety, and depression impact us cognitively, emotionally, and physically. Trauma-informed approaches to pedagogy allow us to take a more holistic, embodied approach to the teaching and learning processes. Read more to learn strategies of embodied and trauma-informed pedagogy to better support students.
How to get students to read your feedback
The type of assessments you give will direct the nature and method of feedback you provide students. Feedback provided through the semester can be essential for guiding student learning. However, if students miss seeing your feedback or if they don't understand what...
STEAMy ideas for your course
A recent trend in higher education involves integrating arts, humanities, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) curriculum now known as STEAM. Large research studies (1) show that integration can broaden the student experience within highly...
Let’s talk about digital literacy
More than ever, faculty are being tasked with fostering digital literacy in order for students to be successful in class and ready for the workforce. Digital literacy as an important component of higher education is something that has become critical in higher...
Facilitate active learning online
We learn better when we are involved in constructing our own knowledge. Some of us know this from experience -- it’s why we do research, why we collaborate, why we ask our kids questions when we read to them. But this is also a finding backed by decades of research on...
Invite students to publish
Are you interested in encouraging your students to create work to share with others? Adding your voice to the domain knowledge--which shapes our education--is a strong motivator. As teachers, writers, designers, and artists we long to create and share. What is Open...
Examining hybrid designed course structures
This is the second in a two-part series of Teaching Tips based on Hybrid Pedagogy. While the first teaching tip provided some background and definitions, this tip focuses more on specific changes instructors can make to their classes to cultivate...
Explore hybrid course design
Asynchronous online and face-to-face are the most familiar modes of course delivery but you may want to consider a hybrid delivery model to meet student or program needs.
Practice object-based teaching
Though I’ve long practiced the technique of Object-Based Teaching (OBT) in face-to-face and online classrooms alike, I’d never really looked into the scholarship behind it until recently. I’d also not really considered the pedagogical principles behind it, nor whether my pedagogy needed any scrutiny and modification. It turns out that there were some aspects of my practice I needed to modify.
Tools & How to
Tips for students using the new WordPress block editor
On May 7, 2021, the Community@UAF WordPress server will be updated to the Gutenberg editor. Here is information to share with students on using the new editor.
Community WordPress sites switching to block editor
eCampus is updating WordPress sites hosted on the community server to use the Gutenberg block editor on May 7, 2021. The Gutenberg block editor is a very different editing experience compared to the WordPress classic editor. Here’s how you can prepare.
10 Zoom do’s and don’ts
Here are some things you can do to improve your Zoom experience and give a better impression when video calling.
10 tips for Zoom fatigue
Daily Zoom calls can be draining. Here are a few ways to deal with Zoom fatigue to make your experience more relaxing and less draining.
Assessing Canvas as an alternative to Blackboard
This year, UAF has been involved in a UA-wide pilot program to assess the Canvas learning management system (LMS). More than 1,000 students and 45 faculty are currently using Canvas in 66 courses. Read their feedback regarding design and usability.
Personalizing communication with your students
Many students struggle with staying engaged in their online courses. Others lose track of deadlines. Some students feel that the lack of communication makes it hard for them to stay involved in their courses. In some situations, students have been through online...
Fostering engagement in online discussion
Creating active discussions in a course can be challenging. In times of COVID-19, fostering that space for community exploration and making connections between content and the current world can become the anchor that keeps the momentum.
End-of-semester grading for an extremely unusual semester
The end of spring semester is coming at us like a freight train and if you don’t usually use the Blackboard Grade Center, you may be wondering how to adjust the way you share grades with students while staying FERPA-compliant.
Try Flipgrid for more engaging discussions
Flipgrid is one way to engage students in an interactive discussion and can be utilized without creating additional work for the student or faculty member.
A Swiss Army knife for video
Kaltura MediaSpace provides a rich set of tools and features for staff, instructors and students to create video. Learn how to make the most out of what it offers.
Autocaptions are new in Kaltura
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Ethical ramifications. IRB application. Supercontinent Pangaea.Sit in a few classes at UAF and these are terms you may hear. These are also terms that have been accurately transcribed by the new autocaptioning feature in Kaltura,...
Use Zoom videoconferencing in your courses
Many UAF instructors rely on Google Hangouts or Blackboard Collaborate Ultra to facilitate synchronous sessions in their courses. There’s a new tool on the block: Zoom Meetings. Let’s run through what can be accomplished by meeting in Zoom, the new videoconferencing...