Tag teaching practice

Getting Started with Teaching and Learning Research

Instructor Abel Bult-It reads a lab paper held by a student, with two students looking on. The students and instructor are wearing white lab coats.

“Asking a colleague about a problem in his or her research is an invitation; asking about a problem in one’s teaching would probably seem like an accusation,” writes scholarship of teaching and learning researcher Randy Bass. This Teaching Tip explores the history of this troublesome dynamic, arguing that engaging in teaching and learning research can help you learn to love your teaching problems.

SoTL @ UAF 2025 – Academic Writing in the Context of AI

SoTL@UAF facilitates a group of UAF faculty as they research the impact of pedagogical changes in their courses using a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) approach.

Join a research team! For the 2025-2026 academic year, SOTL@UAF will bring together instructors, across department and rank, who ask students to write as a form of assessment – or who previously asked students to write as a form of assessment, but stopped due to the rise of generative AI tools like Chat-GPT. This program will build a cohort of instructors facing similar challenges in developing effective written assignments and assessing student writing as a mechanism for learning.

When: Runs 18 August 2025 - 01 May 2026

Teaching through a Presidential Election 

An illustration of two stylized politicians standing behind podiums. The composition is colored in red, white, and blue.

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.

Unlocking the Potential of Students as Partners

A graduate shaking the hand of faculty at graduation

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.

Practice object-based teaching

Businessman turns wooden cubes and changes the word Teaching to Learning. Beautiful grey table and grey background.

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.