by Daniel J. Levine, Political Science and Religious Studies This post outlines a set of group assignments developed while teaching The Israel/Palestine Conflict (PSC 344) remotely in Fall 2020. I start by outlining the challenges that typically attend teaching on this topic. I then take up the circumstances faced when planning for it late last
Category: Assessment
Using Gradescope to Give Detailed Feedback on Assignments
by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies/eTech Did you notice the “Gradescope” option under the “Build Content” option in your Blackboard courses in Fall 2020? Perhaps you also noticed the Gradescope resources posted by the Center for Instructional Technology? Thanks to the support of the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering, and
What to Do When Your Test Answers are Available Online: Create 1200-Question Test Banks!
by Deborah Keene, Associate Director, Blount Scholars Program How often do you check to see whether answers to your tests are available somewhere online? In the Department of Geological Sciences, several GEO 101 instructors decided that we needed to create our own test bank after we found several of our exams, with answers, online (e.g., Quizlet, StudyBlue, Koofers, CourseHero, StudySoup, etc.). Our goal was
Piloting ePortfolios in the First-Year Writing Program
by Jessica Fordham Kidd, Department of English On February 22, 2019, Natalie Loper, Brooke Champagne, and I participated in the Faculty Technology Showcase with a presentation on the First-Year Writing Program’s (FWP) ePortfolio Pilot program, which is in its second semester. This ePortfolio initiative was inspired by Dr. Kathleen Blake Yancey’s visit to UA in
Reflecting on Repetition for Student Success in Teaching and Learning
by Deborah Keene, Blount Scholars Program Thanks to Dean Olin, and the College of Arts and Sciences, I was able to attend the Teaching Professor Conference for the first time. There were a wide variety of sessions, but I found myself drawn to the sessions about metacognition: How to Develop Self-Directed Learners, Maria Flores-Harris Classroom
Reflections on Inclusion and Equity in Digitally Mediated Learning Spaces
by Heather Pleasants, Office of Institutional Effectiveness After returning from the Digital Pedagogy Lab Summer Institute (DPL)*, writing a post about “Assessing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Digital Classrooms” seemed to make sense. However, I encountered a few challenges right away: Challenge #1: Who wants to read a blog post that starts with “assessing?” (…crickets) Challenge
Critical Digital Pedagogy in the Modern Classroom: Expectations Vs. Reality
by Cherelle Young, Tuscaloosa City Schools What is Critical Digital Pedagogy? Kate Molloy, a learning technologist with the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at NUI Galway and a peer from the Digital Pedagogy Lab, gave a good, easy-to-understand definition of Critical Digital Pedagogy: “CDP is the practice of reflective, critical teaching in a digital space. We must remain conscious
Student ePortfolios in Spanish Conversation (SP 353)
by Connie Janiga-Perkins and Chris Coleman Spanish Conversation (SP 353) is a course that asks students to manage a broad spectrum of content, build vocabulary, work on pronunciation and fluency, and open themselves to cross-cultural communication, understanding, and self-growth. In short, Spanish Conversation is at once a collective and a very individual experience. Students find themselves learning
Suggestions to Make the First Day of Class Matter
“There is a lot to cover on the first day of class. You establish procedures and convey expectations. You review the syllabus and, if you’re teaching a lab, safety protocol. You also spend some time teaching some material. While you might not make an assignment on the first day, you still should use some time
Speed ∝ Quality ∝ Cost – Can Any Ed-Tech Idea Avoid the Iron Triangle?
by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies Learning might be the wicked problem in higher education. It’s inescapable. So when a headline like “Can Artificial Intelligence Make Grading Fairer and Faster?” is published in a leading ed-tech publication, people notice. The article was about a platform called Gradescope, whose tagline is “Grade Faster. Teach better.”