Center for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching

Teaching Tips and Strategies

Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) has collected resources on teaching in higher education for you to use in your teaching. Some have been developed by your colleagues specifically for Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) faculty. If you find a resource that you think would be useful to IPFW faculty, please email CELT.

Teaching Problem Solver

Got a teaching problem to solve? Not sure why it's occurring? Need some suggestions? Give the Carnegie Mellon Eberly Center's "Solving a Teaching Problem" Web site a try. A variety of commonly encountered problems are described and explained. Pedagogical principles behind suggested remedies are offered. Call CELT if you would like to follow up on anything you see at the site.

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CELT Library

The CELT Library has books that you may borrow on most of the teaching topics listed below.

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Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning

Using Classroom Assessment Techniques

Prepared by the CELT Teaching Fellows

Test development resources can be found at the Kansas State "IDEA" Web site, or visit the CELT Library in KT 234, where you may read hard copy versions of these papers.

Improving Multiple Choice Tests, IDEA Paper 16 (PDF)
Improving Essay Tests, IDEA Paper 17 (PDF)
Matching Instructional Objectives, Subject Matter, Tests, and Score Interpretation, IDEA Paper 18 (PDF)

Evaluating Your Assessment Instrument

Prepared by the CELT Teaching Fellows

How to Calculate Rubric Points for Accurate Grading of Writing

Rubistar

Rubistar, a free rubric creation tool for "Project-Based Learning Activities" in a variety of subjects, including Art and Math. It's a good tool to get you started. You can customize any aspect of your rubric, too.

Staying on Solid Ground with Rubrics

Resources from the CELT Fall 2007 Teaching Conference.

Sample Rubrics for Multimedia Assignments (PDF)

Multimedia Assignments (PDF)

Prepared by Ann Wysocki, Michigan Technical University, Fall 2006 keynote speaker

Holistic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric (PDF)

Critical Thinking Rubric

The Washington State University (WSU) Critical Thinking Project developed a rubric for critical thinking which faculty from a variety of disciplines from History to Physics adapted. Click on "Resource Guide" to obtain a copy of WSU's excellent critical thinking rubric and examples of how faculty from disciplines as different as physics and history adapted it.

Improving College Grading, IDEA Paper 19 (PDF)

From the Kansas State "IDEA" Web site, or visit the CELT Library in KT 234, where you may read a hard copy version.

Grading: Making it Fair, Time Efficient, and Conducive to Learning

A self-guided tutorial based on a seminar by Barbara Valvoord, Director Emerita of the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning, Coordinator for the North Central Association Accreditation Self-Study, Concurrent Professor of English, and Fellow of the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.

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Copyright Guidelines for Teaching Materials

Helmke Library

The Helmke Library has assembled extensive resources on obtaining permissions, fair use, the TEACH act (distance education) and more.

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Critical Thinking

Resources for teaching critical thinking at all levels are available at the Web site of the Foundation for Critical Thinking under the Library/Articles > Higher Education menu items.

Critical Thinking Rubric

The Washington State University Critical Thinking Project developed a rubric for critical thinking which faculty from a variety of disciplines from History to Physics adapted. Click on "Resource Guide" to obtain a copy of WSU's excellent critical thinking rubric and examples of how faculty from disciplines as different as physics and history adapted it.

Holistic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric (PDF)

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Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness

Constructing a Useful Student Evaluation Instrument

Prepared by the CELT Teaching Fellows  This guide can also be used to critique and enhance existing ratings instruments.

Using Student Ratings to Assess Teaching Effectiveness

Prepared by CELT Teaching Fellows  A short guide to interpreting student ratings of your teaching that can be used in interpreting survey results.

Myths About Student Ratings of Teaching

Prepared by CELT Teaching Fellows  A quiz on the most persistent myths with answers that may (or may not) surprise you.

Research on Student Evaluation of Teaching

Algozzine, B., Beattie, J., Bray, M., Flowers, C., Gretes, J., Howley, L., Mohanty,G., and Spooner, F. (2004). Student Evaluation of College Teaching: A practice in search of principles. College Teaching, 52(4), 134-141. Retrieved Sept. 25, 2006 from EBSCO host at the Helmke Library.

Multiple Methods of Evaluating Teaching

W. J. McKeachie and Matthew Kaplan explain, “Student ratings, classroom observations, portfolios, appraisal interviews . . . . they all could, and should, be used more effectively.” Retrieved July 17, 2008.

Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness

Research articles on use of student ratings and peer review to evaluate teaching effectiveness as well as articles on creating an evaluation plan. From the University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. Retrieved July 17, 2008.

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Motivating Students

2007 Fall Teaching Conference with Todd Zakrajsek

Todd Zakrajsek, Director, Faculty Center for Innovative Teaching, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, spoke to IPFW faculty in Fall 2007 on the topic of using psychological principles to overcome apathy in the classroom. Download materials from the sessions. A video of the conference is available for check-out from the CELT Library.

Teaching Effectiveness Program - University of Oregon

Straightforward answers to the most frequently asked questions about motivating students are available from the Teaching Effectiveness Program at University of Oregon.

Teaching strategies for Motivating Students from the University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching.

Tips for motivating students to do their best work from the UC Berkeley Compendium of teaching tips.

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Online Teaching

Designing and Teaching Online Courses

See the Online Teaching page.

Self-Guided Tutorials

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system has prepared excellent self-guided tutorials on the following subjects:

The Online Classroom

The Online Classroom is a newsletter published bi-monthly filled with tips and tactics to enhance your students’ learning and make your life easier. Follow this link to the Helmke library holdings. Articles are available in PDF format.

Journals and Professional Associations pertaining to Online Teaching are listed in this document offered by CELT (Word).

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Preventing Plagiarism

Designing Plagiarism-Proof Assignments: Deterring Scholarly Dishonesty

A self-guided tutorial based on a seminar given by Christopher M. Anson, Ph.D., Professor of English, Director, Campus Writing and Speaking Program, North Carolina State University.

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Reflective Practice

Learning the Art of Reflection

Prepared by CELT Teaching Fellows. A detailed guide to reflection useful to teachers and peer consultants.

The Process of Reflection

Prepared by the CELT Teaching Fellows. A step-by-step guide to recording and interpreting reflections.

Are You a Reflective Practitioner?

A self-guided tutorial based on the work of Daniel D. Pratt, Professor of Adult and Higher Education, University of British Columbia. A rich set of resources and activities designed to rev your capacity for productive reflection.

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Syllabus and Course Design

If you will be teaching a course where students meet in a bricks-and-mortar classroom on campus, you will find helpful suggestions in the Model Syllabus for Classroom Courses (Word). CELT's Peer Review Committee also provides you with this Syllabus Example (Word) showing how one faculty member has customized the model in developing a syllabus for her classroom course (Word). If you will be teaching an online course, you will find it more helpful to use the Model Syllabus for an Online Course (Word). If you want to develop a syllabus for a hybrid course, with part classroom and part online learning, you may want to use elements of both models.

Especially useful in both of these are the links to campus resources that you may use, and prepared statements on diversity, civility, classroom research, and special needs that you are welcome to include in your syllabus. These models have been created in web accessible Microsoft Word styles so that you may save them, rename them, enter your own content in place over the headings and text therein, and remove unneeded sections.

General Education Learning Objectives  (Baccalaureate Framework)

You are encouraged to incorporate general education learning objectives into your syllabi, when appropriate. Click here for a list of general education objectives by area. For more information about the general education requirements see the document entitled “Goals and Objectives of the IPFW Baccalaureate Degree Learning Outcomes and Examples of Evidence”.

"The Purposes of a Syllabus" by Jay Parkes and Mary Harris explores the syllabus as contract, as learning tool and documentation. This 2002 article was published in College Teaching and may be downloaded from Jstor at http://www.jstor.org/stable/27559083 .

Cheryl Albers, and early Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) practitioner at Buffalo State University, provides another perspective on uses of the syllabus in "Using the Syllabus to Document the Scholarship of Teaching" in the January 2003 issue of Teaching Sociology.

A study of how students actually use a syllabus, conducted by IU Kokomo faculty members (PDF).

Integrated Course Design IDEA Paper #42 (PDF) by Dee Fink. A pioneer in professional development in higher education, Dee Fink explains his very accessible systematic approach to designing university courses. The Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development of the University of Kansas, Manhattan, has produced IDEA Papers on a variety of teaching topics in higher education. All papers are also available in hard copy versions in the CELT Library.

The Writing Center can also assist you in developing writing assignments and grading rubrics. 481-6028.

Course Map (Word)

Prepared by Ludy Goodson, CELT Instructional Consultant/Designer

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Miscellaneous Topics

Active Learning

Active Learning in Diverse Classrooms

A self-guided tutorial based on a common scenario, available from the Minnesota Colleges and Universities Center for Teaching and Learning.

It's Not What You Tell Them That Counts: Getting Started With Active Teaching

A self-guided tutorial based on the work of Mel Silberman, a psychologist known internationally as a pioneer in the areas of interpersonal intelligence, active learning, and facilitation/consultation.

Classroom Management

Creating Active Learners through Classroom Management Strategies

A self-guided tutorial based on a seminar presented by Dr. Joyce Weinsheimer, Director for the Center for Teaching and Learning Services at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Scenes from a Classroom: Managing Conflict

A free set of videos that can help you learn to handle some of the most frequently experienced conflict situations that you will face in your classroom. Watch the conflict situation unfold and then listen to two different perspectives on what happened and what you could do about it if it happened to you. From the University of Minnesota Center for Teaching and Learning web site and designed for graduate assistants and first-time college teachers.

Cooperative Learning (Using Small Groups Effectively)

Prepared by the CELT Teaching Fellows

Diversity

"I Hear You, Do You Hear Me?" Teaching in Racially Diverse Classrooms

A self-guided tutorial based on a seminar presented by Franklin A. Tuitt, Ed. D., Assistant Professor, Higher Education, College of Education, University of Denver. Dr. Tuitt was a Cabot Post-doctoral Research Fellow at Harvard

My Story, Your Story: Building Respect for Diversity in the Classroom

A self-guided tutorial based on a seminar presented by Suzanne Bunkers, whose teaching specialties include courses such as "Survivors' Stories: Cross-cultural Narratives" and "Coming of Age: Gendered and Culturally Diverse Perspectives," and Sheryl Dowlin, Professor Emerita of Speech Communication, Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Online Communities of Educators

Learning Times is an open community for education-minded people. Members have free access to a wide range of opportunities to interact and network with peers from across the globe – “live” online, asynchronously and face-to-face. A list of the organization’s past Webcasts. You must register to get access to the webcasts, but registration is free. Topics include: use of student portfolios, information literacy, online mentoring and many other topics related to teaching with technology.

Problem-based Learning

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning is an open access journal published by Purdue University. The latest issue is immediately available online. Published two times a year.

Theories of Learning and Teaching

Explorations in Learning & Instruction: The Theory Into Practice (TIP) Database

TIP is a tool intended to make learning and instructional theory more accessible to educators. The database contains brief summaries of 50 major theories of learning and instruction. These theories can also be accessed by learning domains and concepts.

Writing across the curriculum

Learning to Write in All Fields

A self-guided tutorial from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

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