By Emma-Björngard-Basayne As someone who both teaches introductory philosophy courses and works as an Academic Advisor in the UConn School of Business, I have always felt that there is a strong connection between teaching and advising. Early on, I realized that my experiences advising and teaching were informing each other. For example, from advising, I […]
Blog
Provocation Pedagogy
By Krista Dotzel “But who are we to judge whether a 15 year old Yanomami girl in the Amazon can marry a 35 year old?! That’s being ethnocentric!” This impassioned proclamation came from a previously quiet and checked-out student in the introductory cultural anthropology class I was teaching. Other students in the class weren’t having […]
Not Just Trigger Warnings: Supporting Survivors of Sexual & Domestic Violence in the Classroom
By Lynne Alexander Sitting here in the aftermath of the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings and swearing-in ceremony, I feel anguished and drained. Surviving in this fractured and divided nation and being bombarded with imagery and rhetoric from all sides that is potentially triggering and deeply upsetting has been a struggle. The past few weeks were particularly […]
Diversity for Beginners: Easy First Steps Toward More Inclusive Courses
By Cynthia DeRoma Diversity and inclusion matter not just for equal opportunity considerations, but also for academic outcomes. Scholars who feel the objectivity of their field preempts them from having to worry about issues of inclusion should be aware that recent research has been showing positive correlations between diversity and academic success. For example, Steffens […]
Keeping it Old School: Using a Binder Method to Organize Course Materials
By Robin Grenier When I began my graduate program, the internet was just beginning to gain popularity as a research tool in academia. Faculty still relied heavily on filing cabinets filled with copies of articles from paper journals that were painstakingly copied, resized, and retained for use in their classes. I remember the day my […]
The Intersection Between Acting and Teaching
Sign up to receive our monthly teaching newsletter! By Emma Björngard-Basayne As an Old Hollywood nerd and an introverted instructor who dislikes public speaking, I have come to wonder where the intersection between acting and teaching lies and what I can learn from it. Watching Marlon Brando appear so confident in A Streetcar Named Desire, […]
Whose (dis)comfort? Claiming, Naming, and Holding Pronouns in the Classroom
By Susan B. Marine Hi, my name is Susan, and my pronouns are she, her, and hers. So goes my standard introduction these days, at everything from faculty meetings, to church functions, to meeting the new barista at my local coffee shop/office. It rolls off my tongue quite naturally, but this was not always so. […]
How Providing Choice in Assignments Challenged my Assumptions About Students and Led to Meaningful Learning
By Cory Jubinville In my first few semesters as a Teaching Assistant, I came out of the gate hot. I was lively, engaging, and I led my class discussions with a certain level of fire that I was sure was going to ignite the same passion for genetics in my students that I had for […]
The Pedagogy of Podcasts
Sign up for our monthly teaching newsletter here! By Kristi Kaeppel & Emma Bjorngard-Basayne At various points in the last few years, a captivating, slightly unnerving, and we suspect not unique thought has gripped us: a great deal of our learning happens via podcasts. We say unnerving considering the effort, time, and money spent on […]
Let’s Get Physical: Improving Learning through Movement
By Brianna Rae Today, our society is more sedentary than ever. As we’ve all heard, long periods of inactivity are linked to heart disease, obesity, and depression, as well as decreased physical stamina and mental aptitude (Mahar et al. 2006; Walker 2011). This is especially problematic in school settings, where students spend most of their […]