Professional Development

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 […]

“Inclusive College Classrooms: Teaching Methods for Diverse Learners” offers 200 examples for your classrooms

December 13, 2022

Book cover of Inclusive College Classrooms: Teaching Methods for Diverse Learners.

UA English professor Lauren Cardon published a book co-authored with Dr. Anne-Marie Womack of Rice University. It will be published on on December 27, 2022. Here is what Dr. Cardon has to say about it: Our book emerged from a series of conversations Anne-Marie and I have had over the years about teaching––what has worked for us, what we wish we had known when we started teaching, and perhaps most importantly, how we have worked to make our teaching more […]

What’s Best for Students? How Do You Know?

December 7, 2020

by Kaleb Heinrich, Biological Sciences Remember the WWJD bracelets from the 1990s? They were popular among U.S. Christians, who used them to prompt ethical mindfulness. I’ve got the next best thing for college and university faculty, staff, and administration. WBFS – What’s best for students? This question should be at the root of every decision made in higher ed. I wish we all had WBFS bracelets this past year. It could serve to remind us why we are here and […]

Supporting Successful Graduate Thesis and Dissertation Projects

December 13, 2019

by Delores M. Robinson, Geological Sciences How do we best help our graduate students graduate on time? This is a question the Department of Geological Sciences asked ourselves in 2013. We had quality graduate students, but the time needed for them to reach graduation seemed excessive. The Graduate Program Committee identified the problems and began to change the graduate program to address the problems. Another post is required to outline the problems; however, one specific problem was that the MS […]

2019 System Scholars Institute Recap

May 20, 2019

Dr. Charles Nash opens the 2019 system scholars institute

The 2019 System Scholars Institute covered a variety of topics, including Alabama demographics, collaboration, academic integrity, online services, and diversity.

2019 Online Learning Innovation Summit – the Notes are in the (UA) Box!

February 7, 2019

keynote speaker from Air Force University

by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies I am happy to write that for a third year now OLIS brought together a cross-campus group of faculty, staff, and administrators. A record-setting 143 people attended the event supported by eight UA divisions (listed below). The objective of OLIS is to spark conversations about online teaching and learning through good surroundings, informal breakout sessions, and keynote presentations. A combination of good food and coffee, along with the Bryant Conference Center, had everyone feeling […]

Three Kinds of Unknowns You MightShould Know… (Or, Cracking Open Some Johari Windows)

August 20, 2018

by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies You mightshould. While strolling through the Kentuck Festival in 2013, I saw these words printed on a postcard made by the Southern Letter Press. I thought the phrase was odd. I thought the phrase did not exist. I asked a friend what it meant, and she said people say it all the time. Technically speaking, the sentence above contains a stacked or double modal. The word is typically heard in the Southern United States. People say […]

Teaching Café

July 26, 2018

by James Mixson, Department of History Ask most any faculty member, and they will tell you in one way or another that they care deeply about their teaching. Most will also tell you that they are always looking for or thinking of ways to improve and to address many of the common problems we all face. In my experience, most of these kinds of conversations happen incidentally or informally. We might go to the occasional workshop, but most of our […]

Reflections on the Teaching Professor Conference

June 20, 2018

by Bryce Speed, Department of Art and Art History As an art professor, I find that most of my teaching experiences involve active and experiential learning, mainly due to the hands-on nature of making and critiquing art. Simply through the sheer nature of creative practices students are experiencing and solving problems unique to their conceptual vision. So, when I attend a conference such as the Teaching Professor (June 1-3, 2018 in Atlanta, GA), I am seeking knowledge about best practices in […]

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Category: Professional Development