In the Classroom – Teaching Hub

Student Belonging in the Classroom (a workshop update)

December 13, 2023

A quilted sign saying "you belong here."

by Nathan Loewen Since fall 2022, Lisa Dorr and I have hosted lunch-time faculty discussions focused on the topic of promoting “student belonging.” What’s that? I admit the term itself is vague. What might “student belonging” mean in useful practical or analytic terms? I think the category points to something that is indeed vague at the University of Alabama (not to mention on other college campuses). Our discussions are about whether and how students in our classrooms come to self-identify […]

Open Discussion & Classroom Participation: Fostering Academic Belonging

October 3, 2023

Young adults participating in a discussion.

By Matthew LaFevor, Geography. One of the ways I like to begin my classes is by asking students a very broad question: What’s going on in the world today? Such a broad question has strong potential to fail, especially if students are too concerned with answering ‘correctly’. Students often come to class having skimmed the readings. They may only tenuously hold information in their heads. Beginning with such a broad question forces students to zoom out for a […]

Teaching how to do college: do grades help students learn? Part 2 of 2.

February 27, 2023

A masculine-presenting person of color showing a big smile while sitting on a green lawn holding papers in both hands and a laptop on their lap.The person’s expression of glee is what I hope students in my courses feel about learning!

by Lisa Beck, Psychology Another option, especially after having the above “let’s get curious” conversation with students part 1 of my post, may be to creatively remove the grading fixation altogether. This leads us to the spectrum of possibilities commonly referred to as “ungrading,” which has become quite the buzz word and hot topic in higher education over the past few years. According to Amy Kenyon, the Assistant Director for Teaching Innovation at Duke University’s Center for Instructional Technology: Ungrading […]

Teaching how to do college: do grades help students learn? Part 1 of 2.

February 27, 2023

sculpture of a hand holding up a massive tree branch.

by Lisa Beck, Psychology. Do grades help students learn? As a professor, I find myself frequently asking my students some variation of “what is your intention with their work… … this sentence, your research methodology, this intervention, fill-in-the-blank with other activities of the academy?” In mentoring conversations, this may be “what is your goal, and how is what you are doing now helping you to get there?” I also find myself asking similar questions of my own pedagogy: “why am […]

Using Discord + GitHub to Organize Small Group Active Learning

March 29, 2021

by Nathan Loewen, Faculty Technology Liaison & Department of Religious Studies Based on an interview and materials shared by Dr. Traci M. Nathans-Kelly, College of Engineering at Cornell University I recently spoke to Dr. Traci Nathans-Kelly, who is a partner teacher for Games Design courses at Cornell University, where they have used Discord for Spring 2020 and 2021. This was a unique challenge for these courses that rely heavily on in-person teams and live playtesting. Dr. Walker White is the instructor […]

16 Community-Building Ice-Breakers for Zoom

January 13, 2021

by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies Among the many objectives for the first day of class, for some teachers, is to create a sense of community. Many of the strategies used face-to-face may be adapted to the online environment. Here are some ice-breakers that have worked in the past. They may be adapted to Zoom, too! These ideas work for seminars as well as larger courses (e.g. using breakout rooms). Two truths and a lie is a classic. Ask […]

Using Gradescope to Give Detailed Feedback on Assignments

December 2, 2020

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 the Office of Information Technology, UA provided Gradescope for everyone using Blackboard on campus. And, thanks to the positive feedback of instructors, it is renewed […]

Transition Multiple-Choice Exams Online: A Large-Enrollment Solution

October 8, 2020

empty notebook with pencil and pencil sharpener

by Diana Leung, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry In 2020 the changes brought about by COVID-19 forced me to transition my normally face-to-face classes to an online format. This fall semester I teach two sections of a freshman Introductory Chemistry class (CH 104), each with about ~200 students, and an Organic Chemistry II (CH 232) sophomore class with ~130 students. One of the worries I had when transitioning online was how to give exams to this large student population. Ultimately, […]

Electronic Whiteboard Options for Online Lectures: iPad & Zoom or Blackboard Collaborate Ultra

September 23, 2020

by Diana Leung, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of Alabama. After the need for social distancing due to COVID-19, I had to transition my face to face classes to an online format. My teaching style relies crucially on the use of a whiteboard to provide handwritten notes. I believe the use of handwritten notes allows students time to process the information as the instructor is […]

What to Do When Your Test Answers are Available Online: Create 1200-Question Test Banks!

January 27, 2020

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 to be able to create tests that asked for the same core information in different ways each semester, thereby ensuring that one would need to […]

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