Sarah Dalrymple, PhD Our guest blogger this week is Dr. Sarah Dalrymple. Sarah got her Ph.D. in Population Biology, but is currently a postdoctoral scholar in Biology Education at the University of Tennessee. This summer she will join the SoLS faculty at ASU as an Academic Professional. Her primary interest is in teaching and exploring new ways to make learning more fun and effective. She also works with grad students and faculty to help them improve their teaching and is interested in the factors that determine whether or not instructors adopt evidence-based teaching practices. Clicker systems are an interactive technology used by many instructors in large lecture courses to get immediate feedback on student understanding. When used properly, clickers can increase student engagement and learning in a course. However, instructors have the ability to enhance or impede these effects by the way they deliver and review clicker questions. The following three tips on how to use ...

Different formats for Web-conferencing During last week's TeachT@lk webinar on Web-Conferencing: Engaging Your Students in Real Time ,  Peter van Leusen, PhD  and Amy Pate discussed best practices and "demoed" how to engage students in active learning exercises. We focused on Adobe Connect , as it is available to all ASU faculty for free, and fully supported by UTO. Among other educational applications, web-conferencing allows for: Class discussions Virtual office hours Screen/software demonstration Group work Guest presentations Supplementary course materials Lecture Recordings Mini lessons with audio and visuals Student-created content Assessment Overview of Web-Conferecing tools at ASU Below are some of the resources mentioned during the webinar, along with the slides and recording.  If you have questions, or are interested in trying out web-conferencing for your class, please contact me at  amy.pate@asu.edu . Webinar Reco...

Last week we had a small workshop on how to create videos for your class. There are a variety of technologies available to use, but before you start make sure to know what your objective is in creating a video. We talked about 3 types of videos as: Spontaneous - videos with content that won't be kept more than 1 semester, used for feedback to the class, calling on specific students, or deadlines. They are instantly available to students. Step-by-Steps - screen captures that show a student a process, software, steps to complete a lab, etc. These are instantly available to students. Core Content - "rich" videos that are meant to be used multiple times, or in multiple courses. The production is more intensive, but the quality is better, and more professional. They may take 1-3 weeks to produce, but can include interviews, groups, special graphics and videos. For instant "at home" videos, technologies include Adobe Connect , Blackboard and Camtasia Relay ...

Most faculty hate the end of the semester, when students start asking them if they could come in and “discuss” their grades. We all know this usually means “Can you give me a better grade?” Many faculty will flat out say that they “Don't negotiate”. Others add bolded, underlined, red statements in their syllabi in order to set expectations about grade changes. With that said, we know that students today are being brought up in a world where everything is negotiable, some cultures encourage it, and it doesn't hurt to ask. I’ve found that using some best practices from the business industry, help me get through these difficult situations. In its most simple form, a negotiation is a bargain, where both parties take a side, sometimes meet in the middle, and usually leave the table frustrated. Bargaining in a class means that a student does C level work, but asks for an A. You get frustrated, and to agree to give them a B just to get them out of your office. But it doesn...

In our latest Teach T@lk webinar, we focused on student-centered Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs). These popular and quick activities allow instructors to receive feedback about lesson effectiveness and student understanding. While CATs were developed by Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross (1993) with face-to-face teaching in mind, these easy-to-use and often non-graded techniques can be easily adapted to the online or hybrid setting. You might have heard about CATs, such as Minute-Paper, Muddiest Point, or Pro-Con Grids, but did you know these are just three of 50 CATs which instructors can use to gauge student understanding? Check out the following helpful resources to get started with CATs. Please do not hesitate to contact us for . Webinar Materials: recording (56 min.) webinar slides (PDF) ASU TeachOnline Blog: Gauging Student Understanding: CATs are puuuuur-fect Are my students really getting it? CATs will show you the way . Books: Angelo, T. A., & C...