Other – Teaching Hub

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 […]

How might students develop academic identities? Undergraduate Research in 100-Level Courses

September 14, 2023

By Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies. The challenge Decisions to attend the University of Alabama are based numerous reasons. A perusal of the University’s homepage suggests some of those reasons. At the time of writing this post, the byline for the homepage is that UA is a place “where legends are made.” The decision to come to UA might include an interest to participate in legendary moments that involve large-scale, highly-publicized events. This makes sense, since most individuals are […]

Carry on Teaching with UA’s Artificial Intelligence Teaching Enhancement Initiative

June 28, 2023

A mug with the saying "Keep calm and carry on teaching."

How might your teaching be amplified by generative artificial intelligence? Katherine Chiou (Anthropology) and Lawrence Cappello (History) lead the Artificial Intelligence Teaching Enhancement Initiative, which answers this question. The initiative provides ready-to-use AI resources to be used to augment your teaching and assignments. Professors Capello and Chiou are curating an array of resources on the ethical, responsible, and inclusive use of AI in the classroom, too. Their aim is to harness AI to stimulate student engagement, and to better prepare […]

Teaching Students How to Do College: making the syllabus available

May 10, 2023

A lighthouse shining in twilight as a metaphor for how a syllabus may guide students.

The syllabus is a useful tool for teaching and learning. If you search for ‘syllabus’ on the Teaching Hub (see the ‘magnifying glass’ in the upper-right corner?), you can find useful insights. Several faculty have already written on topics related to creating and using a syllabus. The University of Alabama now uses a syllabus database tool called “Simple Syllabus.” The Center for Instructional Technology has created a must-see page with instructor resources to make good use of the Simple Syllabus […]

The Rise of ChatGPT Can Make Student Writing Better

March 8, 2023

The 5-speed gearshift pattern, which may indicate the metaphor for "shifting gears."

by Amy Dayton and Amber Buck, English On campuses across the US, faculty, administrators, and students alike are talking about ChatGPT. If you haven’t heard, ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence tool that mimics human conversation and writing using predictive text. It can expound on almost any topic, from climate change to literary criticism. It can write emails, sonnets, stories, and brochures. It can suggest revisions to specific sentences and phrases (such as resume bullet points). And it can write academic […]

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 […]

Notes from an Introductory Immersion into ChatGPT

February 6, 2023

by Jeffrey Melton, Department of American Studies Here is a basic fact for anyone interested in student learning: artificial intelligence is and will be involved. How teachers and students respond to rapidly developing AI technologies remains uncertain, but it is clear that we all must grapple with a seismic shift in education. Many teachers are rightfully concerned about the use of AI technology to subvert the development of critical thinking skills gained as students research and compose analytical essays, a […]

Teaching how to do college: helping students read for learning

January 31, 2023

old desk with feather pen in an inkwell beside a tattered notebook.

Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies Learning to read is a crucial skill for higher education. Student reading has changed due to the shift, and back, from going entirely online. When you order textbooks for your courses, are they mostly digital? (e.g. Access granted) Or, to make your course affordable and expose students to cutting-edge scholarship, do you forgo textbooks and post all your readings in Blackboard? When your students do research, are they using the Libraries e-book holdings or journal […]

Teaching how to do college: helping students schedule for success

January 17, 2023

A desk with a laptop, pen, glasses, and an open daytimer.

By Xabier Granja, Modern Languages Over the past fifteen years teaching higher education, I have been struck by the same recurrent issue coming up with new students arriving at university: the great majority of them struggle to organize time efficiently. Here is what I tell my students… It is an undeniable reality that once you start your college studies, your life makes a massive change from high school years: Your time is no longer as rigidly scheduled The requirements of […]

Teaching how to do college: effective reading with the SQ5R strategy

January 10, 2023

Woman reading while sitting on a couch, with bookshelves filling the background.

By Kaleb Heinrich, Biological Sciences. I didn’t learn to read until I was in graduate school. It wasn’t until then that I learned effective reading strategies that improved my understanding. Reading comprehension was not always a strength for me, especially when reading for school, my mind would often wander. Even though I would read every word on the page I would still have no idea what I had just read. Even when I would focus, I wasn’t always the best […]

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