What to Do for the Last Week of Class

By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development, CITAL Does your last week of class look like every other week of the semester?  If so, you may be missing a chance for a memorable finale that will fix the semester’s learning in your students’ minds. In this article some of your colleagues share their ideas about […]

Read More…

The Green Campus and Eco-Pedagogy

By Cynthia Rutz, Director, Valparaiso Institute for Teaching and Learning (CITAL)   Would you like to see VU become more sustainable? Then read on to learn about some green initiatives on campus. Alberto López Martín (WLC), VU’s first Faculty Development Fellow, has spent the last year working on eco-pedagogy with a faculty learning community co-led […]

Read More…

Beyond Exams: Other Ways to Measure Student Learning

By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development, CITAL Do you ever wonder whether your tests, exams, and assignments are really developing the skills you want your students to learn?  What would you like them to retain five minutes after your class ends? Five months later? How about five years later?  Your colleagues Salena Anderson (English) […]

Read More…

Getting Students to Read for Class by Using Perusall

By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development, CITAL   Like many of you, I have struggled to get my students to read for class.  I have tried daily reading quizzes, group presentations, even assigning questions for each reading. But nothing has worked as well as the free and easy to use app Perusall. Perusall is […]

Read More…

Technology: Neither Culprit nor Savior

By: Allison Hunt On the heels of the last article (Effective Online Teaching -Best Practices), we explore the question: how can I use technology to address my pedagogical challenges?   Technology is primarily a utility for teaching and learning.  When faculty state they want to learn more about technology to use in their courses, what […]

Read More…