Assignments and Activities

The Power of Multimodal Engagement to Encourage Expression

You’ve prepared a fabulous, interactive class. You’ve designed engaging activities, developed meaningful discussion questions, and cultivated an inviting atmosphere for dialogue. You ask a wonderful open-ended question, anticipating a flurry of discussion and critical thinking—only to be met with silence. Your students stare back at

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Reeling Them In: Video Text Introductions to Support Comprehension

My course is literally about teaching reading to young children, a challenge given that research suggests that college students complete only 20–30 percent of assigned readings, a behavior inversely related to academic performance and engagement (Kerr & Frese, 2017; Deale & Lee, 2021). Further exacerbating

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Tired of TED Talks? Try Commencement Addresses

Would it be weird for someone to listen to graduation speeches while she commuted, cleaned, or walked her goldendoodle? To regularly read transcripts of them, just for fun? Or to play her favorites so many times, she could almost recite them from memory?

I’m a

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Your OER Tool Kit: A Starter List for Educators

Faculty are increasingly using open educational resources (OER) to reduce textbook costs for students. But many faculty limit themselves to textbooks when in reality there are OER in nearly all formats, including videos, images, and complete lesson plans. Here are some of the best places

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When the Scaffold Falls Apart: Troubleshooting Common Pitfalls

Faculty know that today’s students require different levels of support to be successful. Not all college students have experience planning a research paper, taking lecture notes, or creating a class presentation from scratch. A student’s weak executive functioning or time management skills may prohibit them

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Incorporating AI in Project-Based Learning

Many faculty members are focused on keeping AI out of the classroom. However, the real focus should be teaching students how to use it productively. Technology has always relieved humans of menial tasks to free them for higher-level ones. The calculator did not end the

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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Audiobooks

I didn’t always offer full-throated endorsements of audiobooks in my literature courses. Maybe that’s because I’m not really an audiobook person. Call me old-fashioned, but I’ve always preferred to engage in real reading than outsource the job to some random celebrity voice actor.

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Centering Student Literacy: Facing Reading Challenges Head-On

If we’re to believe the conversations around higher education’s proverbial water cooler, our students are coming to us with poorly developed reading skills and are less prepared and willing to tackle college-level reading assignments than perhaps ever before. The Chronicle of Higher Education has published

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RAFTing to an Engaging Assignment

An abundance of literature exists indicating that students are disengaged, unmotivated, and potentially downright bored in classes. Part of this disengagement may come from the seemingly unending essays and presentations students must complete to demonstrate their achievement of course and program learning outcomes. Incorporating fun

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Assignments for Preparing Your Students for the AI Present

While many academics are still focused on keeping students away from artificial intelligence, others are preparing students to use AI in their current and future work. This means thinking about how IA is and will be used by our students, and crafting assignments that teach

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