Faculty Focus Live

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From Concept to Practice: Implementing Liquid Syllabi in Higher Ed Jan 09, 2025

Show notes

Join us as we dive into an innovative approach to student engagement with Margie Pannell and Frank Plunkett from Peirce College. In this episode, they share their journey of implementing a liquid syllabus pilot program inspired by a previous podcast episode.

Discover how Pannell and Plunkett utilized Google Sites to create engaging, intuitive syllabi that fostered connections with students before the course even began. They outline the steps of their pilot program—from assembling a collaborative team and training faculty to creating consistent syllabi and gathering actionable student feedback.

Recommended Resources:

Canvas course about liquid syllabus: https://ccconlineed.instructure.com/courses/6771/pages/examples
Michelle Brocansky-Brock's liquid syllabus: https://brocansky.com/humanizing/liquidsyllabus
Podcast episode referencing liquid syllabi: A Thread Gone Viral: Last Night, A Professor Walking Into a Night Class...

Streamline Your Teaching and Workload with Artificial Intelligence May 01, 2024

Show notes

We are back on the conversation of artificial intelligence (AI) since we’re seeing AI being used more and more in our everyday lives. In this episode, we dive into how AI can offer assistance to faculty overwhelmed by escalating workloads. We’ll explore the practical applications of AI in higher education, from enhancing teaching practices, drafting course materials, and helping assess student learning. Additionally, don't forget to check out the recommended resources where you’ll find an array of AI programs, articles, and more to kickstart your AI journey in higher education.
Recommended Resources:

Wandering Minds: Improving Retention through Retrieval Practices, Interleaving, and Microactivities Apr 17, 2024

Show notes

Have you ever looked at your students and saw their eyes glaze over, knowing they most likely are not retaining anything you’re saying? So, what tools can you implement to help your students retain more of what you teach in class? Today, we’re going to go through study skills you can provide to your students to enhance their recall, and we’ll cover interleaving and microlectures. Research says you have 15 minutes of attention span before minds start to drift and wander. What can you do to increase long-term memory skills within your students?
Recommended Resources:

Unlocking Teaching Excellence: Strategies for Growth Apr 03, 2024

Show notes

What can you do to propel your teaching career, and what advice do some of our great higher ed instructors have for you? In this episode, you’ll be reminded of the importance of remaining open to learning, how to seek mentorship, and how to foster meaningful connections within your academic circle. Additionally, we’ll cover prioritizing work-life quality over monetary incentives, along with truly understanding your teaching methods and recognizing both your strengths and weaknesses. Through insightful anecdotes and practical advice, this episode offers a roadmap for those of you seeking to elevate your teaching practices and advance your careers.
Recommended Resources

This episode is sponsored by the Teaching Professor Conference. Join us in New Orleans from June 7-9 and share ideas, discuss strategies, and get the charge of inspiration from knowing you are not alone in tackling today's teaching!

Class Adjourned: The Importance of Ending Well Mar 20, 2024

Show notes

We always talk about the beginning of the course and setting the tone, but what about the end of the course? How can you make your course memorable? How can you make your end-of-course project meaningful? Today, we’ll look at it from multiple perspectives. First, we’ll look inward and outward and ask ourselves pertinent closing questions. Next, we’ll look at how an end-of-semester service learning project can make students feel empowered and feel as if the class work they are doing is meaningful. Last, I’ll read an article from Maryellen Weimer about a learning moment, and how it impacted her students from the first day until the last day. You may think that the first day is the most important day, but how students feel walking out of your classroom on the last day is just as important.
Recommended Resources:

Can I Create a Memorable Course Finale?
How Can I Create a Meaningful Service Learning Project for My Online Class?
Teaching Professor article: A Learning Moment
Teaching Professor article: The Art of Ending Well

The Art of Meaningful Assessment: From Choice Boards to AI-Driven Dialogues Mar 06, 2024

Show notes

Today, we’re going to explore innovative assessment strategies that enhance student learning. We’ll talk about reflection and how to use feedback as a tool for growth and knowledge, and then we’ll talk about asynchronous online teaching assessments such as a weekly choice board or brochure. Finally, we’ll talk about the integration of generative AI in assessment practices. Whether you teach in-person or online, these ideas offer new ways to reveal student understanding and better connect complex ideas for your students.
Recommended Resources:

A Quest for Knowledge: Making Learning Irresistible through Gamification Strategies Feb 21, 2024

Show notes

In this episode, we dive into the power of gamification in education, exploring how it can transform student engagement and motivation. We start by examining the role of failure as a motivating tool within gamified learning, proposing that challenges and setbacks can be reconfigured as stepping stones toward success. We also talk about strategies, such as playful openers, game-infused instruction, and storified assessments, to spark interest and sustain engagement among students, especially reluctant learners. Lastly, we'll delve into the importance of leveraging pop culture to create memorable learning experiences, from incorporating familiar characters (like Harry Potter) into case studies to embedding entire courses with engaging, fictional scenarios. So, how can you start gamifying your courses? Game on!
Recommended Resources:

This episode is sponsored by The Teaching Professor,a source of inspiration for more than 10,000 educators at universities and colleges worldwide.

Teaching Tomorrow: Unleashing the Synergy Between Humans and Robots Feb 07, 2024

Show notes

In this episode, we dive into the rapidly evolving landscape of generative AI tools in education. Dr. Jayne Lammers emphasizes the importance of collaborative exploration, urging teachers and colleagues to embark on a collective learning journey together. We also discuss specific AI tools such as Claude, Bing, Bard, TeachAI, Magic School, and more, and how educators can use these tools for brainstorming sessions, language translation, and lesson planning.

“We are all learning how to use these tools together. And I think that will go a long way to not keeping it as something we need to hide or feel like we’re cheating with but using it as a tool to make the things we don’t like to do or that are hard to do, easier. And this gives us the energy and space to be more creative and to do the things that humans are best at.”
Mentioned resources:

Other recommended resources:

My Classroom is a Safe Place: Empowering Trans-spectrum Students Jan 24, 2024

Show notes

Last summer, I attended our Teaching Professor Annual Conference, one of my favorite conferences that we host. If you haven’t been to it, I highly recommend attending it this year in New Orleans. You can check it out at www.TeachingProfessorConference.com. When I attended last year, I went to a session by Jonathan Howle about empowering trans-spectrum students. He said something that I’ll never forget. He said, “Your space and your class may be the only safe space that a student has. Your class being a safe space, could save lives.” So today, we’re going to talk about strategies that instructors can use to create safe spaces where transgender students feel as if they belong without fear or stress, and ultimately, help students grow personally and academically. Both instructors in this episode will share their own stories and explain how making small, inclusive adjustments will help students feel more comfortable, perform better academically, and grow personally.
Recommended Resources:

Social Media as a Gateway: Forging Connections and Enhancing Classroom Culture Jan 10, 2024

Show notes

Join Staci Gilpin and Courtney Plotts in their research on how social media impacts the educational journey and engagement of undergraduate students. They explore the transformative power of social media in bridging a genuine human connection, and discuss strategies to integrate social media into the educational journey, sharing insights on cultivating communities, empowering students, and enhancing the overall learning experience. Discover how social media is reshaping education, fostering lifelong connections, and preparing students for the interconnected world of tomorrow.
"Humaneness can transcend technology, it really can, and that's what it comes down to. And at the end of the day, we can't be everything for every student, but we can give them access to what they need in those psychological and social spaces for a relationship, for connection, for those other important pieces of learning, right? Because learning is not done alone. It's done in a community."
Recommended Resources:

Research article by Staci Gilpin and Courtney Plotts: From Likes to Learning: Enhancing Classroom Culture through Social Media Engagement

Other related articles:

This episode is sponsored by The Teaching Professor,a source of inspiration for more than 10,000 educators at universities and colleges worldwide.

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