While the prevalence of academic misconduct is debatable and uncertain, its existence is not. Courses can be designed proactively to reduce cheating, plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct. This teaching tip was motivated by a reading of James Lang's Cheating Lessons, and offers highlights from that book as well as advice from relevant peer-reviewed research.
Ever wondered if your course material organization needs improvement? You’re not alone! We are pleased to present this selection of best practices for maximizing your students’ success in navigating course materials on Canvas and staying on track throughout the semester.…
In learner-generated drawing activities, students employ multiple cognitive and muscular skeletal processes to produce illustrations based on verbal, text or other information. When properly supported as a learning activity, students tend to retain information longer and more accurately, than traditional methods. Learner produced illustrations also provide rich opportunities for assessment and dialog. This teaching tip provides pointers and shares experiences from a UAF Human Anatomy and Physiology course.
As the 2024 election approaches, many instructors and students are experiencing higher rates of stress, anxiety, and trauma symptoms. Stressful political events have the ability to impact student learning and create tension in the classroom community. This Teaching Tip offers practical strategies for teaching through the election season, including proactive planning and ideas for moments that may catch instructors off guard.
In the summer of 2012 the University of Alaska Board of Regents approved revisions to Policy 01.01.030 — University of Alaska Fairbanks Mission Statement and University of Alaska Fairbanks Core Themes. Contained therein was this vision statement: "Excellence through transformative experiences." How can we aspire to such a lofty goal? What is the intersection with teaching and learning? And, how might you go about fostering such things in your courses?
What if the key to deeper, more meaningful learning lies right in front of us—in the places we live, work, and play? In Learning in Context: How Place-Based Learning Fosters Deeper Connections explores how connecting students to their local environments and communities can transform the learning experience. Drawing on both research and my own teaching experience, this article offers practical strategies for integrating place-based learning into your courses, whether you teach in person or online. From local data collection to virtual tours, place-based learning taps into students’ lived experiences, making course content more relevant, engaging, and impactful. Ready to explore how this approach can be incorporated into your teaching? Dive in to discover the profound effects of learning in context.
In recent years, hiring practices have undergone significant transformations, accelerated by the impact of COVID-19. In response, higher education institutions are re-evaluating their roles in preparing students for the evolving job market. Microcredentials have emerged as a valuable tool to bridge the gap between academic learning and practical job skills. These credentials provide a verifiable way for students to showcase their competencies and align with employer demands for problem-solving, communication, and teamwork skills. Despite the shift away from traditional degree requirements, a college degree combined with relevant microcredentials is increasingly preferred by employers. This article explores how higher education can adapt to these changes by integrating microcredentials into their programs, enhancing students' employability, and aligning educational outcomes with market needs.
Communities of practice in the classroom create opportunities for transformative learning experiences, ones in which students take ownership of their own learning experiences and actively foster a collective learning environment. Social annotation is a tool that leverages collaborative learning to support communities of practice, and can increase student engagement and performance.
Four years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, there has been a massive increase in students requesting disability accommodations. Explore the data behind this trend, and learn what the UAF Disability Services office recommends to make your class more accessible.
Meaningful and equal collaboration between students and instructors can be a transformative experience for both parties, but achieving that goal often seems elusive. This teaching tip explores the possibilities of pedagogical partnership programs as one tool to build successful partnerships in the context of the UAF Center for Teaching and Learning's LEAP program.
While many courses at UAF are offered and listed as asynchronous, nothing prevents the inclusion of optional synchronous sessions. This teaching tip offers advice on a variety of different kinds of synchronous activities that you might consider as adding to your course as supplemental ways for students to connect with each other, you, and the content.
Are there any tools that can reliably detect if writing was created with artificial intelligence? No. No, There are no tools which can reliably detect AI-generated writing. This teaching tip covers the current state of automatic AI detection and where it falls short of being reliable, and illustrates why this trend will continue. More importantly, this teaching tip presents some methods in which faculty content experts can determine if writing has been created with AI.
