engaging students

Three Effective Ways to Start a Class

All communication begins with grabbing your listener’s attention, something that everyone instinctively understands. A marriage proposal does not begin with the speaker opening a PowerPoint presentation, providing an outline of topics to be covered, and a schedule with time for each topic—including time at the

Read More »

Light Student Engagement with Adobe Spark

Online faculty have numerous options for creating graphic, video, and website content. But Adobe Spark stands out as a single system that can create all three types of content. Spark is really three systems in one—Spark Post for graphics, Spark Video for videos, and Spark

Read More »
student writing

Write with Your Students to Promote Writing-as-Thinking

The single greatest strategy that I know to stimulate classroom learning is to write with students at the beginning of class.

Consider your own pre-class ritual to see if writing with your students might profit you and them. In my classes, students funnel in to reach

Read More »
Professor smiling, students hands raised

Humor in the Classroom

Humor is one of my favorite teaching tools. I rely on it—when the room feels tense, when I sense learner drift, if I aspire to make a point more memorable. Humor doesn’t cause learning, but it does help create conditions conducive to it. It doesn’t

Read More »
chemistry student at blackboard

Let Students Summarize the Previous Lesson

Students often think of class sessions as isolated events—each containing a discrete chunk of content. Those who take notes during class will put the date along the top and then usually leave a space between each session, which visually reinforces their belief that the concepts

Read More »
Archives

Get the Latest Updates

Subscribe To Our Weekly Newsletter

Wellbeing Elixir
The Teaching Professor Conference 2024

June 7-9, 2024 • New Orleans

Connect with Fellow Educators at The Teaching Professor Conference!