Reading the Remote Room: Surveying your students

It is always a good idea to collect feedback from your students about your teaching, but this importance is magnified while teaching remotely. if you’re teaching primarily synchronously (e.g., on Zoom) you might be getting a sense that things are going well, without realizing that some students are struggling with the content and/or their internet…

Utilizing Peer Feedback in Canvas

Peer feedback involves students providing feedback to each other on work, prior to a final or revised version being submitted to the instructor. This creates the opportunity for students to receive formative feedback, improve on their work, and then submit it to the instructor. The integration of peer feedback for assignments or other activities in…

Using Authentic Assessment to Integrate Current Events Into Courses

Authentic assessments are activities, whether for marks or not, that involve students addressing “real-world” problems in a way that reflects activities they might engage in as a professional in the discipline. Authentic assessments can provide several benefits to both students and instructors, including: Enabling students to actively engage with current issues to increase engagement in…

7 Tips for Using Group Work

Group work can be highly effective in the remote and in-person teaching context.  It is important to use strategies that require interaction among students.  In groups, they can check their understanding with peers and develop a sense of belonging that helps engage and motivate. Tip 1:  Be clear on purpose and process.  Make it crystal…

Academic Integrity ‘Talking Points’ for Instructors

In addition to pointing students to the USask academic misconduct policy (a minimum requirement as part of your syllabus), it’s important to talk about academic integrity and academic misconduct with students.  Students need to know that: You know about academic misconduct and the temptations students face; You respond to the suspected academic misconduct; You prevent…