Teaching Ideas & Tips
Teaching Ideas & Tips
Teaching Ideas & Tips
Find practical, research-informed ideas for designing courses, engaging students, assessing learning, providing feedback, and responding to common teaching challenges.
Not finding what you're looking for? Contact us facultycenter@rowan.edu!
Planning Your Course
- Course Development
- Preparing A Course - Summarized from Davis, Barbara Gross, “Tools for Teaching.” San Francisco Jossey-Bass.
- Universal Design for Learning (UDL) from LRC-South in the Rowan College of Education
- Rowan's Inclusive Teaching Resource
- Culture of the Community - this section from the Rowan Inclusive Teaching Resources features strategies meant to support a diverse and flourishing classroom community, intentionally structured to support well-being and belonging for all students.
- Syllabus Guidance
- Rowan Syllabus Policy - check for "must have" syllabus content
- Rowan Recommended Syllabus Statements
- Rowan Faculty Center Syllabus Checklist
- Suggestions for Preparing an Effective Syllabus
- Accessible Syllabus
- Office Hours
- Why I Require Office Hours Visits by Zachary Nowak, December 14, 2021
- Virtual Office Hours - Supplementing in-person office hours with online office hours can help extend the learning environment and make you more accessible to your students (Columbia CTL)
- Additonal SyllabusTools
- Course Workload Estimator 2.0 - from the Center for the Advancement of Teaching at Wake Forest
- Rowan Libraries Copyright and Fair Use LibGuide
Assessing Learning and Providing Feedback
- Assessment
- Assessment - This section of Rowan's Inclusive Teaching Resource offers strategies to integrate equity into your evaluation, grading, and assessment practices. While not every strategy will work in every teaching and learning context, we offer ideas like transparency and centering learning that are adaptable in any classroom.
- Alternatives to Traditional Testing - UC Berkeley Center for Teaching and Learning
- Examples of Classroom Assessment Techniques - some of the more commonly known techniques (Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Northern Illinois University)
- Alternative Assessment by R.D. Merritt, 2021, EBSCO
- Grading
- Fast and Equitable Grading - general strategies to save time from the Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo
- The Problem with Grading - When it comes to how we show what students know, do traditional grading practices deserve an F?
- Alternative Grading Methods: How do we determine the grade a student receives in a course? - specifications (“specs”) grading, ungrading (Eberly Center Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation)
- What is Ungrading? - by Amy Kenyon, September 21, 2022, Duke Learning Innovation and Lifetime Education
- Rubrics
- Using Rubrics - This article covers: 1) Why use rubrics? 2) How can you develop a rubric? 3) How can you incorporate rubrics in a course? 4) Online Rubric Resources from the Center for Teaching Innovation at Cornell University
- Performance Criteria - examples of rubrics and rating scales for different situations created by faculty at Carnegie Mellon
- Rubric for Assessing Student Participation from Ting Chang at Eberly Center Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation
- Feedback
- 5 Research-Based Tips for Providing Students with Meaningful Feedback
- Giving Effective Feedback - This resource gives three important questions to think about when composing feedback, followed by some ideas for effective face-to-face feedback (Centre for Teaching and Learning at Oxford University)
- Receiving and Giving Effective Feedback from the Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo
- Essential Guide for Giving and Receiving Feedback - key points to think about when receiving and giving feedback, which can be applied to a wide range of situations by Dom Barnard, February 15, 2021
Beginning the Semester
- Before the First Day
- Building Trust with Students—Even Before Class Starts: How to Promote Psychological Safety in Your Classroom by Alicia Burns, January 7, 2022
- The First Day Of A New Semester...as Told by an Extremely Anxious Student - by Betty Crocker, Eastern Connecticut State University, January 18, 2017, Podcast 4:00
- On the First Day
- How to Teach a Good First Day of Class: Advice Guide by James Lang
- A More Strategic "Syllabus Day" from Inside Higher Ed
- Engaging Students on the First Day and Every Day: 7 Strategies for Connecting in the Classroom by Michael Roberto, April 9, 2021
- Tips for Learning Students' Names - From Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University
- Icebreakers
- 101 Things You Can Do in the First Three Weeks of Class by Joyce Povlacs Lunde from University of Nebraska–Lincoln Office of Graduate Studies
- Icebreakers That Rock - Cult of Pedagogy, Jennifer Gonzalez, January 2015
- 60 Awesome Icebreakers for Orientation and Beyond by Lindsey Velde, Modern Campus, January 2, 2023
- 25 Classroom Icebreakers For College Professors [Plus: Free List of 50 Icebreakers]
TopHat, March 30, 2021
Engaging Students in Learning
- Discussions
- Effective Class Discussions - Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning
- Effective Online Discussion Questions - Teaching and Learning Resource Center at Ohio State
- 5 Strategies for Effective Discussion Questions
- Interactive Lessons
- The K. Patricia Cross Academy Videos from the University of Alabama (50 short videos on various practical and engaging teaching techniques)
- Increasing Student Motivation & Participation - Center for Teaching Innovation at Cornell University
- Increasing Student Engagement - from Stanford...strategies to help students increase their engagement with learning activities, build confidence in their community of learning, and increase their comprehension of the course material.
- Problem-Based Learning - Center for Teaching Innovation at Cornell University
- 50 Alternatives to Lecture - Alexandra M. Pickett, Associate Director, SUNY Learning Network
- From Teaching With Your Mouth Shut - by Donald L. Finkel, "Teaching with Your Mouth Shut" can also be read online and/or downloaded as an ebook
- Active Learning Strategies for Interactive Lecture - from Center for Transformative Teaching, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
- 289 Interactive Techniques
- Group Projects & Activities
- Using Group Projects Effectively - Eberly Center Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation
- Implementing Group Work in the Classroom - Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo
Supporting Students and Managing Your Classroom
- Before a Class Begins
- Small Changes in Teaching: The Minutes Before Class - 3 simple ways you can set up the day’s learning before the metaphorical bell rings (By James M. Lang, November 15, 2015)
- The Five Minutes BEFORE Class Begins - creating the right atmosphere to prepare your students for the class that is about to begin. (Steve Volk, October 12, 2018)
- Beginning and Ending Class
- The Beginning and End of Class - two of the most important moments of class time. From the Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning
- Small Changes in Teaching: Last 5 Minutes of Class - Don’t waste them trying to cram in eight more points or call out as many reminders as possible (By James M. Lang, March 7, 2016)
- Supporting Student Well-being All of the Time!
- Student Support & Well-Being Resources from the Rowan Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
- Rowan Center for Well-Being
- Pedagogy of Healing: Bearing Witness to Trauma and Resilience - from Inside Higher Ed, July 7, 2021
- 5 Things to Avoid Saying to Students Suffering from Anxiety - Christine Ravesi-Weinstein M.Ed., eSchool News, March 14, 2019
- 5 Things to Say to Students Suffering from Anxiety - Christine Ravesi-Weinstein M.Ed., eSchool News, March 15, 2019
- Facing Emergencies
- Emergency Guide for Rowan Faculty and Staff: Helping Students in Difficulty - Counseling & Psychological Services (CPS) have developed this informational guide to assist faculty, staff, and the university community when dealing with troubled and/or troubling students.
- Emergency Preparedness Quick Reference Guide for Rowan Faculty & Staff
Reflecting on and Strengthening Your Teaching
- Rowan Resources
- Additional Resources
- Mid-Semester Feedback from Students
- The Importance of Gathering and Incorporating Mid-Semester Student Feedback - Allison Pingree, Associate Director of Instructional Support and Development for the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Teaching and Learning Lab
- Mid-Semester Check-Ins - how to collect and review student feedback to gauge what course improvements can be made for the future from North Carolina State University Teaching Resources
- Reflecting & Looking Ahead
- When students’ words hurt: 12 tips for helping faculty receive and respond constructively to student evaluations of teaching - Susannah Cornes, Dario Torre, Tracy B Fulton, Sandra Oza, Arianne Teherani, and H. Carrie Chen; 12/6/22; Med Educ Online
- Assessing Your Own Teaching Effectiveness (pdf) - checklist with methods from BCIT Learning and Teaching Centre
- Reflective Practice - ideas from DePaul University Center for Teaching and Learning
- Sample Self-Assessment Tools - compiled by the University of Pittsburgh Center for Teaching and Learning
- Making Your Next Semester Easier - ideas from the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning at George Mason University
- Mid-Semester Feedback from Students
Managing Your Own Time
- Time Management Tips & Strategies - These are strategies used by Frances S. Johnson, Ph.D. in her life/work that she found to be especially helpful. Certainly, everyone has different strengths and needs, but you may find that some of these tips are useful for you.
- This productivity expert’s ‘five sentence rule’ can help you cut your email time in half - by Courtney Connley, Oct 17 2018
Updated 7/15/26