Due Dates Provide a Structure for Spaced Learning
Every semester, a student hoping to "earn their desired grade" approaches me at the last minute, asking to make up all their missed assignments. I have a standard missed due…
Reviving Wonder: How a Sense of Awe Enhances Lifelong Learning in Online Higher Education
Creating engaging and stimulating learning experiences in online higher education can be challenging due to the lack of physical presence and the routine nature of digital interactions. However, integrating elements…
An illustration of the assessment flywheel towards achieving the idea of “assessment for learning” using LLM/GenAI (adapted from the author’s recent publication).
From Feedback to Feedforward: Using AI-Powered Assessment Flywheel to Drive Student Competency
A defining quality of student-centred teaching is effective assessments. In recent years, the discourse around effective assessment has steered towards incorporating the “assessment for learning” strategy into curriculum development. In…
Maximizing Student Engagement During Live Online Seminars
There are many approaches to designing an online course, and finding the right balance may depend on a variety of factors ranging from content topics to types of assessments. Students…
Supporting the Instructional Design Process: Stress-Testing Assignments with AI
While many of our conversations have focused on what generative AI means for student assignments and learning outcomes, there's another question faculty are asking—often individually and quietly: How can we…
Searching for the Optimal Class Design to Maximize Learning
Have you ever wondered what makes a course highly effective? If you had to focus on one, two, or three essential factors, what would they be? Would you emphasize a…
Course-Correcting Mid-Semester: A Three Question Feedback Survey
When students’ evaluations are viewed by instructors as a type of formative assessment to be used as a tool for instructional improvement, mid-semester feedback surveys allow instructors to immediately respond…
Supporting Non-Major Biology Students: Making the Classroom YOUnique
Supporting biology courses for non-majors involves addressing the diverse needs of students with little intrinsic motivation to study the subject. Many take these courses as part of general education, not…
Tired of Awkward Silences? Upgrade your Think-Pair-Share
I’ve tried a few different techniques for class discussions over the years, some that I’ve written about previously in Faculty Focus. In recent years, I’ve dialed in a 3-step process…
Reading, Writing, and Thinking in the Age of AI
Three years into the current Artificial Intelligence (AI) hype cycle, catalyzed by the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, AI continues to profoundly disrupt higher education. A recent survey of…