By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development, CITAL Many of you are trying the Canvas LMS for the first time this semester. So we asked you what features of Canvas you have found work best for teaching and learning in your classes. Twelve of you responded. Here are some of the features that your colleagues […]
Tag: teacher effectiveness
VU Faculty Test-drive Simple Syllabus
By Cynthia Rutz, Director, Valparaiso Institute for Teaching and Learning (CITAL) This summer several VU faculty piloted Simple Syllabus, a new tool that ensures students can, with a single click, get to the most important parts of your syllabus. In this article two faculty–Theresa Carroll (CONHP) and David Rolling (Kinesiology)– talk about their successes and […]
Using Student Groups Effectively
By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development, CITAL Putting students in groups during class improves engagement, retention of knowledge, and deep learning according to several studies (see list of further resources at the end of this article). Students learn better when they can build knowledge together or when a fellow student explains a concept in […]
…with a little help from your friends
Classroom Observations by Jen Gregory and Cynthia Rutz Teaching can be an isolating activity. It is hard to know whether things you are trying in the classroom are working well or not. Would you like some friendly feedback on your teaching? CITAL’s Directors of Faculty Development and Instructional Design are available to observe faculty who […]
Do Good Course Evaluations Mean You Are a Good Teacher?
BY: Allison M. Hunt, Assistant Director of Instructional Technology Why is teacher effectiveness so important? I think the obvious answer is that the measure, in part, determines one’s future in academe (i.e. promotion and tenure). Accreditors are also scrutinizing the ability of institutions to provide evidence to show whether students are actually learning what instructors […]
Why Quality Matters Matters
By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development We all know that enrollment in traditional in-person university classes has declined across the country. But did you know that there has been a corresponding increase in enrollment in online and hybrid courses? Despite this growing demand, many faculty have little or no experience designing online and hybrid […]
Self-Care for You and Your Students
By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development, CITAL The second half of fall semester is bound to be a stressful time both for you and your students. For students, major assignments start to pile up and they begin to feel that they can’t stay on top of things. For faculty, keeping up with grading becomes […]
The Humane Syllabus
By Cynthia Rutz, Director, Valparaiso Institute for Teaching and Learning (CITAL) As we know all too well, both faculty and students have been worn down by the pandemic. In particular, the mental health of our students has suffered. Even before COVID, the teen suicide rate had increased so much in the last decade that it […]
Helping Your Students Write Better
By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development, CITAL We all know that VU’s Writing Center exists to help students become better writers. But faculty often do not make full use of this splendid resource. In the following article, student writing consultant Maddie Henry gives us some tips about how we and the Writing Center […]