Inspirational resources

Incorporating Rubrics Into Your Feedback and Grading Practices

This resource provides an overview of the benefits of rubrics, includes strategies for incorporating them into teaching practice, and lists several tools from Columbia University that support the design and use of rubrics.

What is Reflective Teaching? Why is Reflection Important in Teaching?

This text explores the concept of reflective teaching. In reflective teaching, educators assess their own teaching methods, examine their instructional decisions, analyze student feedback, and make adjustments to support student engagement and learning. This process includes gathering information, interpreting data, and planning future improvements. Reflective teaching involves examining personal beliefs about teaching and learning and ensuring alignment with teaching practices before, during, and after the course.

Getting started with Reflective Practice

This article introduces the concept of reflective practice. It highlights the importance of this method, explains its principles based on research, and provides practical examples. Click to gain insight into what reflective teaching is and how to apply it effectively in teaching.

Critical Reflection

The article discusses the concept of critical reflection. It provides guidelines for integrating reflection into courses, offering practical suggestions such as breaking down assignments or creating a safe environment. Furthermore, it presents various types of reflection, including process reflection, inward-looking reflection, outward-looking reflection, forward-looking reflection, and backward-looking reflection, with associated prompts and models to facilitate deep thinking and connection-making. Additionally, the text includes links to examples of critical reflection assignments and rubrics for reference.

Intercultural Reflection on Teaching

The Intercultural Reflection on Teaching (IntRef) project connects educators from various countries who wish to reflect on their teaching together. The project's aim is to improve teaching quality and boost teachers' confidence in their own abilities. Funded by the Erasmus+ program, the participating universities are from the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy. The project offers three intercultural reflection activities, and its outcomes include a technological toolkit, walk-through manual for each method, and case studies.

Solve a Teaching Problem

This site provides practical strategies to address teaching problems across the disciplines. These strategies are firmly grounded in educational research and learning principles. How does it work? Step 1: Identify a PROBLEM you encounter in your teaching. Step 2: Identify possible REASONS for the problem. Step 3: Explore STRATEGIES to address the problem.

Developing a Positive Classroom Climate

While there is substantial research on the impact of classroom atmosphere on student outcomes at the secondary level, such studies are relatively scarce at the post-secondary level. However, most existing research indicates that students’ perceptions of the classroom atmosphere at the post-secondary level significantly affect learning, motivation, satisfaction, and results. This article, therefore, provides strategies to help instructors foster positive interpersonal relationships in the classroom, enhancing students' sense of connection and, consequently, improving the classroom atmosphere. Instructors should always consider how students might interpret their behavior and keep classroom climate in mind when designing courses and lesson plans.

Flipped classroom

The flipped classroom is a modern approach that reverses the traditional teaching structure. In this model, students first independently study learning materials or lectures at home and work on various tasks and exercises. After preparing, they come to class, where instructors can help them achieve a deeper understanding of the content, address specific problems, and foster critical thinking. The flipped classroom gives students more autonomy and allows instructors to engage more and provide individual support during class. This approach is often used to promote active learning and emphasizes the application of knowledge in real-life situations.

Using Roles in Group Work

While collaborative learning through group work has been proven to have the potential to produce stronger academic achievement than other kinds of learning environments (Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 2006), it can be challenging to implement successfully because many students come to college without the tools they need to automatically succeed in collaborative learning contexts. One way of providing supportive structures to students in a collaborative learning environment is through assigning roles within group work.

UNESCO’s guidance for generative AI in education and research

This website features UNESCO's first global guidelines on the use of generative AI in education. The guidelines assess potential risks that generative AI may pose to human values, such as inclusion, equality, and cultural diversity. They propose key steps for regulating AI usage, including data privacy protection and consideration of age restrictions. The document provides recommendations for the ethical and effective use of AI in education and calls on the international community to reflect on the long-term implications for knowledge, teaching, and assessment.

Teaching and Learning STEM

This website focuses on STEM education. This concept targets four fields—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The authors highlight ineffective teaching methods that lack research support and proven efficacy. Fortunately, there are techniques that can significantly enhance teaching effectiveness. This site provides guidance on these effective teaching techniques and offers tips and resources for practical application. It is based on information and resources from Dr. Richard Felder, a professor of chemical engineering at NC State University, who has conducted long-term research on teaching in scientific and technical fields.

Designing an Inclusive Syllabus

This website helps instructors design inclusive course syllabi. The syllabus is the first impression that students receive, and it can influence the course atmosphere. If the syllabus is inclusive and transparent, it provides students with clear information on what they will learn and shows that diverse experiences and perspectives are welcomed. The site offers strategies for creating inclusive syllabi and allows instructors to revise existing syllabi with a focus on inclusivity.

Designing a Course: Developing Learning Outcomes

In the following video, Janet Rankin from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) conducts a class entitles "Designing a Course: Developing Learning Outcomes". As Director of TLL, Dr. Rankin works with faculty and departments to integrate efforts to promote better learning at MIT with departmental needs and constraints. Her interests include evidence-based teaching, applying the science of learning, improving learning in large-classes, interdisciplinary learning and teaching, and working with departments to support the professional development of TAs.

IDEA Papers

IDEA Papers are a national forum for the publication of peer-reviewed articles pertaining to the general areas of teaching and learning, faculty evaluation, curriculum design, assessment, and administration in higher education.

Inspiration Catalogue – University of Copenhagen

As inspiration for the integration of research and teaching in the planning of teaching and research activities, you can here find specific examples from teaching staff, describing how they integrate research and teaching at the University of Copenhagen. This is an inspiration catalogue in which researchers/lectures can share their experiences regarding projects, teaching or methods that can bring research into teaching activities and vice versa.