Online teaching has become more popular and accessible for students. As such, more instructors are teaching online courses. Asynchronous online courses can create barriers for instructors to connect with students, but instructors can implement small and significant changes to their online courses that can help build community, connection, and relationships. Ideas for manageable connection principles […]

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This article first appeared in the Teaching Professor on May 1, 2013. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved.  Being a college professor sometimes feels lonely. Yes, we have colleagues in our departments and elsewhere on campus, students in our classrooms, and administrators who support us, but we also spend a lot of time working by ourselves. As new […]

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In a world where the need for social and emotional learning is of utmost importance, it is imperative for college and university faculty to get to know, connect with, and understand their own students.  Building “community” is a phrase that we may have heard in many educational and professional settings.  Whether it is used to […]

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In November 2019, I was fortunate to take about 20 of our physics students to the Physics Congress (PhysCon) in Providence, Rhode Island. The conference was a hoot, and I have many fond memories including a late-night conversation in the hotel lobby with several of my students. They eagerly told me everything they learned throughout […]

The post Building Back a Sense of Community and Togetherness with Faculty and Students appeared first on Teach Strats | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning.

Principle #1: Build community to foster engagement online A sense of community fosters a sense of belongingness and is critical to student engagement.  Building a sense of community is a first step in ensuring that students are engaged in their classes, especially for historically minoritized students (Pacansky-Brock et. al 2020; Plotts 2019; Brown and Burdsal; […]

The post How to Structure Your Online Class for Inclusion: Two Principles for Fostering Engagement, Part 2 appeared first on Teach Strats | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning.

One of the biggest challenges I have as an educator in interior design is to prepare all of my students for success in an industry with no shortage of inherent biases. Interior design has a narrow funnel to success, and plenty of people on the margins face challenges being successful in this industry. Black design […]

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The pandemic took us all by surprise, and it completely turned our education world upside down. Without many options, instructors had to make extreme adaptations to their instruction to continue learning online. Now that we have all had a moment to wrap our heads around the changes that have taken place, it is crucial that […]

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“What is one of your pet peeves?” That question is among those I might ask my students at the start of nearly every class session as a way of taking attendance. Asking about pet peeves always elicits a lively, engaged discussion. Faces light up, and everyone wants to share their own personal irritants. This engagement never happens when taking attendance is nothing more than reading names from the roster with an answer of “Here” or “Present.”

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