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Recent Posts

How is my teaching evaluated?

  • Dec. 07, 2023

Aggie discusses the forms of evidence used in evaluating teaching effectiveness and offers some suggestions for reflecting on your teaching.

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Is active learning really better?

  • Oct. 26, 2023

Aggie reviews evidence that active learning supports all students in your classes, and provides resources for identifying effective active learning strategies.

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Are my students seeing my Canvas announcements?

  • Sep. 28, 2023

Aggie offers suggestions to make sure that students have all the information they need to be successful in your course, including upcoming deadlines.

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Do I always need to provide video captions?

  • Aug. 31, 2023

Just because you don't have formal accommodation requests for closed captioning doesn't mean you shouldn't still caption any class materials. As Aggie points out, there are many reasons that all students can benefit from closed captioning.

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How can I make it to the end of the semester?

  • May. 04, 2023

Aggie offers some tips to help a stressed-out reader make it to the end of semester. Read on to learn about Incomplete grades, determining the date of last attendance and more.

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What do I need to know about stereotype threat?

  • Apr. 20, 2023

A Dear Aggie reader wants to know a little more about stereotype threat and why it might be important to know about for their teaching.

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How can I use Canvas for TA coordination?

  • Apr. 06, 2023

Dear Aggie explains how non-academic courses in Canvas can be great resources for coordinating many TAs across many sections.

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How can I get all students to contribute to group work?

  • Mar. 23, 2023

A Dear Aggie reader has heard a lot of buzz about growth mindsets and wanted to learn more about them, and whether it is possible to help students develop a growth mindset.

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What is a growth mindset?

  • Mar. 09, 2023

A Dear Aggie reader has heard a lot of buzz about growth mindsets and wanted to learn more about them, and whether it is possible to help students develop a growth mindset.

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How can I help my students really master the material?

  • Feb. 23, 2023

As a follow-up to the Feb. 9 post about avoiding cramming, Aggie offers another suggestion for helping students really master the material. Interleaving is an approach that promotes problem-solving skills, long-term retention and transfer of skills and knowledge to new situations.

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How can I convince my students not to cram?

  • Feb. 09, 2023

While many students can pass exams by cramming hard the night before, cramming does not support long-term learning. There are things that you and your students can do to support long-term learning, including more testing (!). Aggie provides several suggestions for students and your course design.

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How can I establish an instructor presence, especially online?

  • Jan. 26, 2023

In the age of AI bots (we've all heard of ChatGPT by now), how can I make sure that my online students know that I am a real person? What can I do to make myself seem more present with my online courses? Aggie offers some ideas to establish your instructor presence.

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Is learning my students' names important in college?

  • Jan. 12, 2023

Have you ever wondered if it is important to learn your students’ names? And if you have a large class, have you wondered how you can do that? Aggie discusses some research around using students’ names and provides some tips for learning their names.

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