CIS staff delight in the small things: the simple adjustments that make faculty work more efficient, the right timing on task reminders, or the slight reframing of communications. The Chronicle of Higher Education series Small Changes in Teaching, argues that simple changes in things like course design, classroom practices, and communication with students can have a powerful impact on student learning.
As we have shared in previous issues of Inspired Instruction, CIS offers a wide range of services to support faculty in the essential efforts of development, design, delivery and demonstration of learning. But most of our faculty support services are applied one small change at a time, not through grand ambitions.
Here are a few ideas that CIS can help with:
Do your students know their feedback is valuable to you?
- Engaging students to explain how past survey feedback has had an impact on your teaching practice will let them know their input is important and useful. This can directly improve your response rates and quality of feedback. In addition, teaching feedback surveys, placed cooperatively by CIS colleagues, can inform practice while there is still time to ‘turn the ship’ before the end of the term.
Quizzes and exams take up quite a bit of classroom time. Is there another way?
- Flip quizzes and exams into Blackboard in a secure test environment by using Respondus Lockdown Browser with Respondus Monitor (requires both a computer and webcam). Park Library has computers with the appropriate software and webcams installed so main campus students can conveniently complete assessments outside of class time.
Do your students’ Blackboard discussion board posts lack originality?
- With the default Standard view, all users may read other students’ posts before making a post of their own. If you would like to restrict students from reading other posts first, select “Participants must create a thread in order to view a thread in this forum”. This can be easily changed by adjusting the default standard view when setting up your discussion board forum (see Step 5.1).
Are your students missing deadlines in their online courses?
- An Online Ally might be able to help! The Online Student Allies are CMU students who have been trained to help students with time management skills, study tactics, and the creation of course calendars. If you encounter students who are struggling with deadlines or need some assistance in getting organized for their online course, encourage them to email onlineally@cmich.edu.
CIS is here to help you impact student learning with your own small move. Visit us in Park Library 413, call us at 989-774-3615, or email us at cis@cmich.edu.