Category Teaching Tips

Pedagogy, Teaching Tips

Slow Pedagogy

Caption: A Possible Framework for Slow Teaching with Technological Enhancements from Shaw, P. A., & Russell, J. L. (2013). 19 Determining Our Own Tempos. To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, 32. http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/tia.17063888.0032.023

Slowing down the teaching and learning process can be a challenging endeavor amongst the business of modern academic life. Slow pedagogy is a teaching movement that offers a lens and practices for reducing the pace and pressure of education. Slow pedagogy suggests that taking one’s time can offer opportunities for deeper learning and connections.

Elle Fournier
February 27, 2024

Best practices, Inclusive Practice, Teaching Tips

Faculty Perspectives: Open Educational Resources

Envision a futuristic library space designed as a whirlwind of information, where the top of the whirlwind opens into a breathtaking galaxy. This library combines the essence of science fiction with vibrant energy, with a dynamic, spiraling structure where streams of digital data and holographic images swirl around, ascending into a galaxy above. The base of the whirlwind is bustling with people of diverse appearances engaging with the information vortex, using tablets, interacting with holographic projections, and reading books floating in the energy stream. The scene is charged with colorful energy pulses, and the architecture supports this fluid motion with transparent materials and curved lines that enhance the sensation of movement and the flow of knowledge into the cosmos. This setting represents a bridge between the knowledge of humanity and the infinite possibilities of the universe, where learning is an immersive, visually striking experience.

Open Education Resources (OER) are freely accessible teaching and learning materials that are openly licensed, allowing faculty to legally and freely share, use, and modify educational content for their courses. At UAF, courses tagged as No or Low Cost (NoLo)…

Moss
February 9, 2024

Best practices, Teaching Tips

Public Domain, Copyright, and Fair Use Practices for Effective Teaching

A still from the Steamboat Willie animated cartoon

Anyone can use works that are in the public domain, and you as an educator can also use copyrighted works under the principles of fair use for educational purposes. This teaching tip provides details on copyright law and resources to help you apply fair use in your teaching.

Dan LaSota
January 30, 2024

Best practices, Inclusive Practice, Teaching Tips

Student Advice for Designing Your Best Course Yet

After four semesters of engaging UAF students and faculty in the LEAP program, several insightful bits of advice on course design are presented from the student point of view.

Clara Noomah
December 12, 2023

Best practices, Teaching Tips

Consider Online Teaching Tools to Promote Efficiency and Student Success

This line diagram illustrates the influence of information overload, communication overload, and perceived tech skill requirements on ultimately student satisfaction with an online course.

This teaching tip explores some details to consider when deciding which digital tools to use in your online class such as learning objectives, time, and opportunity. Knowledge is power in answering the question, "Good for us, or bad for us?"

Dan LaSota
November 28, 2023

Best practices, Teaching Tips

The HyFlex Teaching Model: Balancing challenges with innovative teaching strategies

Exploring HyFlex courses at UAF, this article details student experiences, addresses challenges, offers strategies, and highlights the support available for faculty embracing this flexible, multimodal approach to teaching and learning.

Zach Cureton-Hazard
November 14, 2023

Teaching Tips

Boost memory with the feel-good power of curiosity

A colorful illustration of a stylized face and a hand holding a magnifying glass over a giant eye. The background is a colorful swirl of organically circular shapes.

Curiosity isn't just a key to learning; it's a brain-boosting superpower. Research shows that curiosity triggers a dopamine response, enhancing memory and enabling incidental learning. Cultivating curiosity is a skill that can result in more effective learning.

Christen Booth
October 30, 2023

Best practices, RSI, Teaching Tips

Some perspective on the new UAF RSI checklist

A diagram showing the four aspects of RSI as interlocking puzzle pieces

This teaching tip serves as an introduction to the concept of Regular and Substantive Interactions, part of new Federal regulations concerning online education, and offers helpful and specific advice to instructors who are looking to transform their current course into one that not only meets the new regulations, but also increases student success, all while being efficient with the instructor's time.

Clara Noomah
October 17, 2023

Best practices, Teaching Tips, Tools and how to (tips)

Edit Video in the Cloud, Even with Low Bandwidth Connections

Introducing a web based editing and collaboration tool, WeVideo, that lets faculty and others produce finished, streamable video that will engage students.

Sean Holland
October 3, 2023

Emerging ideas, Teaching Tips

Mitigate AI problems with alternate assessments to the essay

A concept map of concept maps. The boxed words and phrases are concepts and the labeled connector lines indicate how one concept is related to another. From "The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them" by J.D. Novak and Alberto Caños [4].

Generative AI is disrupting normal practices in education, including one of the most often used forms of assessment, the essay. Approaches offered here include using other forms of assessment or embracing AI by modeling good behavior for your students. This tip builds on other ideas published in July.

Dan LaSota
September 18, 2023

Best practices, Teaching Tips

Support student motivation with Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that aims to bridge barriers to learning. This Teaching Tip demonstrates how the layered UDL framework can be applied to address student motivation and self-regulation.

Elle Fournier
August 28, 2023

Emerging ideas, Teaching Tips

Use ChatGPT to Generate Question Banks in Canvas

A screenshot of a multiple choice quiz question in Canvas LMS

Generating question pools that can be used for effective assessment or practice can be laborious. This teaching tip demonstrates a sequence of steps you can follow that will allow you to direct ChatGPT to create a large number of questions. These questions can then be placed in your Canvas course.

Dan LaSota
August 1, 2023