Research-based teaching

Why this is important: When well-designed, online discussion boards and wikis can foster student interaction, build class community, and improve critical thinking and academic performance.

How to do it:

• Ask thought-provoking, open-ended questions designed to generate discussion. These might include questions that prompt students to draw on their own experiences, respond to a case study, role play, post their own questions, contribute resources, critique something, or extend in-class discussion.

• Create clear guidelines for posting and responding. Explain and model or provide examples for how to create substantial posts and replies.

• Facilitate the discussion like you would a class discussion. Post questions and comments to guide the overall discussion without responding to every post. You can also prepare students to lead online discussions.

• In addition to text, students can post attachments, images, and videos. Giving students options about how to engage is an inclusive teaching practice that can increase motivation and engagement.

Supporting research:

Aloni, & Harrington, C. (2018). Research based practices for improving the effectiveness of asynchronous online discussion boards. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 4(4), 271–289. https://doi.org/10.1037/stl0000121

Sheen, Yekani, H. A. K., & Jordan, T. R. (2019). Further evidence for using online discussion boards in the classroom. Teaching of Psychology, 46(2), 158–163. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628319834215

Why this is important: Undergraduates often have limited exposure to primary research literature. Introducing them to reading, discussing, and writing about research articles increases their content knowledge, critical thinking and analysis skills, scientific literacy, and their enthusiasm for the discipline.

How to do it:

• Select the research papers that you want students to review for your course with consideration for students’ level of preparation and course content.

• For students with little experience reading primary research, begin by teaching them about the sections of a journal article and the purposes they serve. Create opportunities for students to practice reading and summarizing key aspects of articles like hypotheses, methodologies, results, and conclusions. Annotation exercises and tools like Perusall may be helpful.

• Once students can accurately summarize, you can move on to teaching analysis by giving them questions for consideration as they review an article independently or in groups.

Supporting research:

Hartman, A.K., Borchardt, J.N., Harris Bozer, A.L. (2017). Making primary literature come alive in the classroom. J Undergrad Neurosci Educ, 15(2). PMID: 28690446; PMCID: PMC5480853.

Mitra, S., & Wagner, E. (2021). Introducing undergraduates to primary research literature. J. Chem. Educ., 98(7), 2262-2271. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c01439

Sloane, J.D. (2021). Primary literature in undergraduate science courses: What are the outcomes? Journal of College Science Teaching, 50(3). https://www.nsta.org/journal-college-science-teaching/journal-college-science-teaching-januaryfebruary-2021/primary

Why this is important: Students arrive in higher education with a wide range of metacognitive and study skills. For less experienced test-takers, taking an exam and receiving a score does not provide the practice or feedback necessarily to help them improve. Reviewing practice exams and examples with solutions teaches students how to prepare for tests, promotes better retention, and can help them identify and address their knowledge gaps effectively.

How to do it:

• Provide students with old versions of exams to study with prior to a test. In addition to acting as a study tool, this can help students familiarize themselves with exam format.

• Incorporate reviewing examples (ideally, multiple different examples reinforcing the same knowledge or skill) into class sessions and homework. Explain (during class or by annotating examples) common errors and misconceptions associated with the example or prompt students to share and explain their answers.

• Encourage students, independently or in study groups, to build their own practice exams using tools like Quizlet. If students add a few practice questions after each class session, they can gradually build a pool of questions to review before taking a test.

Supporting research:

Adesope, O. O., Trevisan, D. A., & Sundararajan, N. (2017). Rethinking the use of tests: A meta-analysis of practice testing. Review of Educational Research, 87(3), 659–701. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654316689306

Naujoks, N. Harder, B., & Handel, M. (2022). Testing pays off twice: Potential of practice tests and feedback regarding exam performance and judgment accuracy. Metacognition and Learning, 17, 479-498. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-022-09295-x

Why this is important: The use of simulations and digital materials helps students see the application of theories and concepts and can promote better understanding and retention than reviewing text on the same concepts alone. Simulations can also support students' empathetic response and relational competence as they move through upper-level psychology courses.

How to do it:

• Carefully curate materials that relates to course content.

• Determine how you would like to students to engage with materials (e.g. taking notes, answering questions, discussion, as part of an assessment). Consider how students can best interact with and express their understanding of the simulation, animation, or video.

• Clearly articulate the purpose of using the material to students. Consider posing questions before students view materials to help them focus on key ideas or aspects and/or pausing at significant points to allow for critical thinking or reflection.

• If possible and beneficial, create opportunities for students to discuss the materials as a class or in groups so that they can benefit from other perspectives and so that you can provide feedback.

Supporting research:

Chernikova, O., Heitzmann, N., Stadler, M., Holzberger, D., Seidel, T., & Fischer, F. (2020). Simulation-based learning in higher education: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 90(4), 499-541. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654320933544

Noetel, M., Griffith, S., Delaney, O., Sanders, T., Parker, P., del Pozo Cruz, B., & Lonsdale, C. (2021). Video improves learning in higher education: A systematic review. Review of Educational Research, 91(2), 204–236. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654321990713

Why this is important: Creating opportunities for students to work together in small groups provides students chances to form networks of support and learning relationships. Cultivating good communication and teamwork skills benefit students in their coursework and beyond. Group work has also been shown to increase knowledge acquisition, retention, and problem solving more than independent learning alone.

How to do it:

• Think about how to structure groups to advance teaching and learning goals. Consider group sizes, whether groups should remain consistent throughout the semester or change, whether members should be selected intentionally, randomly, or by forming their own groups. Determine whether group work will be evaluated formally or not.

• Design group activities so that students can get to know group members. Give groups a time frame, clear instructions, and expected outcomes. It may be helpful to assign or ask students to volunteer for specific roles within the group (e.g. leader, recorder).

• For long-term group work, tell students how to mitigate group conflict. For example, you might ask students to create a contract that describes group members' roles, responsibilities, and accountability measures. You could also instruct students to reach out to you.

• If group work is evaluated, determine and communicate whether you plan to assess students individually, as a group, or both.

Supporting research:

Hodges, L.C. (2018). Contemporary issues in group learning in undergraduate science classrooms: A perspective from student engagement. CBE - Life Sciences Education, 17(2). https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.17-11-0239

Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Smith, K. A. (2014). Cooperative learning: Improving university instruction by basing practice on validated theory. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 25(3&4), 85-118. ERIC Number: EJ1041374

Why this is important: Learning experiences that relate to students’ lives, cultures, and interests or to real-world events and contexts can help students see the value of what they are learning and forge neural connections that foster the activation of long-term memory. Connecting new material to what students already know and what matters to them is a valuable method for helping them process and absorb that material.

How to do it:

• Gauge what your students care about, and what they already know about your subject, through a pre-course survey administered via Qualtrics. Include questions that ask students about their learning or career goals for a particular course or subject. What do they want to learn and why?

• Take the time to get to know your students on a more informal basis, through casual conversations before or after class or through low-stakes writing assignments that invite students to discuss their goals, interests, and cultural backgrounds. Knit what you learn into assignments, activities, and lectures.

• Carefully establish, through lectures, discussion, or other content, how new material connects to your discipline or profession. Link theory to practice by explicitly answering the old question, “When am I actually going to use this?”

• Self-disclose, within reason, to develop more personal connections with students by addressing the question of why content matters to you.

Supporting research:

Belet, M. (2017). The importance of relevance to student lives: The impact of content and media in Introduction to Sociology. Teaching Sociology 46(3), 208-24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X17730113.

Kember, D., Ho, A., and Hong, C. (2008). The importance of establishing relevance in motivating student learning. Active Learning in Higher Education 9(3), 249-63. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787408095849.

Why this is important: Frequent opportunities for students to assess their own performance independently can teach students important metacognitive skills that will help them develop into more independent learners. Students who can perceive opportunities for improving their work and who can make the necessary adjustments to attain that goal are more likely to exhibit higher levels of subject-area mastery. Those students also experience increased levels of interest and motivation.

How to do it:

• Expose students to examples of mastery through anonymous samples of papers, posters, portfolios, or other student-created artifacts. Assign these materials and critical analyses of them as low-stakes homework, leading to guided classroom discussions that will define the features of the works that demonstrate mastery. Students can benefit from practicing assessing samples of varying quality; this helps them distinguish between performance levels.

• Develop a shared vocabulary of terms that students can use in analyzing and critiquing an exemplar or samples of their own work. Brainstorming sessions to generate sets of students’ own terminology can be just as effective as vocabulary lists and quizzes on canonical definitions and terms.

• Invest time in training students how to critique work fairly and productively. Consider developing a shared rubric that defines what features of work to examine can be worthwhile, and practice time spent on norming and comparing assessments–by individuals, by peers, and by an instructor–can ensure greater objectivity in assessment.

Supporting research:

Andrade, H. L. (2019). A critical review of research on student self-assessment. Systematic Review 4(87), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00087.

Sharma, R., Jain, A., Gupta, N., Garg, S., Batta, M., & Dhir, S. K. (2016). Impact of self-assessment by students on their learning. International Journal of Applied Basic Medical Research 6(3), 226-29. https://doi.org/10.4103/2229-516X.186961.

Why this is important: Response systems are quick and easy ways to incorporate active learning into any course, regardless of discipline or class size. Asking an audience response question can provide the instructor with an instant snapshot of student perception or understanding and the opportunity to dispel misconceptions. Response questions give students the chance to test their own understanding in a less anxiety-provoking way than volunteering to answer a question.

How to do it:

• Determine when and how to implement response questions. Poll questions can provide a helpful starting point for lecture or discussion, whereas other question types can be used to assess student understanding after teaching a complex topic. If you plan to ask a low stakes question that is not of a sensitive nature in a smaller class, asking for a simple show of hands may suffice. If teaching a large class or asking a question that is controversial or may make students reluctant to respond publicly, using an anonymous audience response tool like Top Hat may be beneficial.

• Incorporate your response questions into class sessions. Emphasize that students should not be embarrassed if they answered a question incorrectly; this is part of the learning process.

• Note and discuss the trends in students’ responses. You may ask students to discuss their responses with one another in pairs or small groups or share how they arrived at answers. If a significant percentage of students selected an incorrect answer, use that as an opportunity to review or reteach that concept.

Supporting research:

Walklet, E., Davis, S., Farrelly, D., & Muse, K. (2016). The impact of student response systems on the learning experience of undergraduate psychology students. Psychology Teaching Review, 22(1). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1146590.pdf

Wood, R. & Shirazi, S. (2020). A systematic review of audience response systems for teaching and learning in higher education: The student experience. Computers and Education, 153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103896

Why this is important: Regularly assigning an appropriate workload of homework tasks that students perceive as authentic and valuable provides students with more opportunities to practice applying their knowledge and to receive feedback on their work. Students can regularly assess their progress in the course and better identify strengths and areas for improvement when preparing for summative assessments.

How to do it:

• Avoid busywork. Students should be able to see, perhaps even with an explicit statement on the assignment, the practical and authentic benefit to completing the assigned task.

• Consider giving smaller assignments more regularly. For example, require weekly one-page papers instead of one, two, or several longer papers over the span of an entire semester, or offer short weekly Canvas quizzes to monitor mastery instead of higher-stakes midterm and final exams.

• Keep feedback brief and targeted. Don’t assign so much that you can’t promptly provide meaningful guidance for improvement. You should be able to articulate for each assignment, homework, or project the one or two key skills that students will practice while doing the work, as well as how you will briefly comment on student efforts to attain mastery. Simple rubrics or checklists can help you maximize feedback and grading efficiency.

Supporting research:

Bembenutty, H. & White, M. C. (2013). Academic performance and satisfaction with homework completion among college students. Learning and Individual Differences 24, 83-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2012.10.013.

Why this is important: Giving students choices on assignment topics allows them to contribute their own voices and perspectives to the learning process. This can be an inclusive teaching practice because it gives students the agency to pursue the topics that are most interesting and relevant to them.

How to do it:

• Determine whether to give students choices of topic, choices of artifacts to create, or both. Also consider how flexible to be about student choice. For example, you could give students a list of topics to choose from or you could allow them to propose their own topics. Offering more student choice gives students the ability to determine how to express their learning, but they may also need more explanation of the assignment and support choosing a topic.

• When introducing assignments and activities that students will have a choice, be explicit in the purpose of the assignment.

• Since students may have not had opportunities to develop their scholarly perspectives, it is important to provide boundaries and/or examples around possible topics to empower students to choose appropriately and successfully. Consider offering to meet with students about their topics or assignment choices or creating a low stakes assignment so that they can propose and receive feedback on topics.

• Consider modeling or facilitating activities around how to brainstorm and narrow down topics, tasks that students often struggle with.

Supporting research:

Hanewicz, C., Platt, A., & Arendt, A. (2017). Creating a learner-centered teaching environment using student choice in assignments. Distance Education, 38(3), 273-287. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2017.1369349

Killpack, T. L., & Melón, L. C. (2016). Toward inclusive STEM classrooms: what personal role do faculty play?. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 15(3), es3. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-01-0020

Why this is important: Collaborative learning is a teaching strategy that brings multiple learners together to complete a task or assignment. Collaborative learning has social and academic benefits and can foster a sense of responsibility for learning. It also prepares students for future work they may do as part of a team.

How to do it:

• Offer different collaborative experiences to students early on in the semester before they work on a longer-term assignment.

• Select collaborative learning tasks that are challenging and relevant to the course goals.

• Model varied modes of leadership and encourage students to find modes collaboration that work best for their groups. Communicate that modes of collaboration should be consistent with the goals of the learning task, meaning that if students splitting up tasks and tackling them individually, for instance, undermines teaching and learning goals, instruct students to work together and provide a rationale.

• Encourage students to create ground rules for collaboration.

• Consider plotting out the stages of the project in advance to help guide the group and providing flexibility in how students connect with each other (virtually or face-to-face)

• Connect with the group at multiple points during long-term collaborative projects and offer students self-reflective prompts to encourage them to reflect on their own emerging collaborative skills.

Supporting research:

Laal, M., & Ghodsi, S. M. (2012). Benefits of collaborative learning. Procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 31, 486-490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.12.091

Scager, K., Boonstra, J., Peeters, T., Vulperhorst, J., & Wiegant, F. (2016). Collaborative learning in higher education: Evoking positive interdependence. CBE Life Sciences Education, 15(4), ar69. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-07-0219

Why this is important: Giving students opportunities and resources to improve their work incentivizes process-based learning and revision and can reduce students’ anxiety about completing assessments. Providing specific, improvement-focused feedback can clarify instructor expectations, address student knowledge gaps, and improve the quality of final drafts.

How to do it:

• Determine when it would be beneficial and feasible to ask students to submit drafts or provide opportunities for redos. Asking for a draft of a long-term or particularly challenging assignment can help prevent procrastination and plagiarism, in addition to providing students with feedback to improve their work. When considering feasibility, think about class size, whether drafts/redos should be required or optional, the nature and length of assignments, and the course schedule.

• If you decide to assign drafts or accept redos, determine the parameters and criteria for this work. When should students submit it? What should they submit? How will you evaluate a draft or redo versus a final draft or original submission? The workload and timeline needs to be reasonable for you and your students.

• Offer substantial, timely feedback that includes specific suggestions for improvement.

• Incentivize applying feedback. For example, you can allocate class time for students to strategize or work on revisions or include improvement as an evaluation criterion for the final grade.

Supporting research:

Stellmack, M.A., Sandidge, R. R., Sippl, A. L., & Miller, D. J. (2015). Incentivizing multiple revisions improves student writing without increasing instructor workload. Teaching of Psychology, 42(4), 293–298. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628315603060

Wisniewski, B., Zierer, K., & Hattie, J. (2020). The power of feedback revisited: A meta-analysis of educational feedback research. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03087

Why this is important: Although summative assessments are used primarily for evaluation, students can still benefit from feedback to help them determine what they did well and where they need to make improvements. Some faculty are hesitant to mark high-stakes assessments, particularly exams, for fear that this will lead to cheating. However, there are ways to mitigate academic integrity issues while still giving students the feedback they need to improve their work.

How to do it:

• Consider the characteristics of your course, including class size, course schedule/pacing, and course level, to help you determine how to approach explaining grading and offering feedback. For example, it may be feasible to invite students in a small class to attend office hours for more detailed feedback, but not realistic to do the same in a large lecture.

• If you do not feel comfortable posting a complete answer key, you can mark incorrect answers, then offer more detailed feedback during class or office hours.

• Offer explanations on class performance trends. For instance, you could review exam psychometrics to identify questions that the majority of the class missed, then either review those questions and answers in class or post annotated answers to those questions in Canvas.

• If you would like to incentivise using feedback to improve, you can use class time or offer credit for students to correct their work or complete activities like exam wrappers to reflect on their assessment preparation and performance.

Supporting research:

Sato, B.K., Dinh-Dang, D., Cruz-Hinojoza, E., Denaro, K., Hill, C.F.C., & Williams, A. (2018). The impact of instructor exam feedback on student understanding in a large-enrollment biology course. Bioscience, 68(8), 601-611. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biy058

Why this is important: Using multiple exams rather than just a midterm and final gives students more opportunities to practice applying their knowledge, which improves retention, understanding, and students' abilities to accurately self-assess their own knowledge. Using more lower-stakes assessments can also reduce student stereotype threat and anxiety. Giving students multiple chances to demonstrate proficiency can also increase the reliability of assessment data.

How to do it:

• Review your course objectives and exams. Identify the concepts and skills that students need to practice to be successful on summative assessments. Think about course sequencing, class size, and delivery to determine where and how you might integrate lower-stakes assessments to allow students to practice applying their knowledge and skills.

• Consider redistributing exam questions across multiple, lower-stakes exams. You can also scale back high-stakes exams and add formative assessments like in-class audience response questions, scaffolded learning tasks, homework, or short writing assignments.

• Decide how to evaluate any new formative assessments and revise assessment weighting.

Supporting research:

Kenney, K.L. & Bailey, H. (2021). Low-stakes quizzes improve learning and reduce overconfidence in college students. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 21(2), 79-92. https://doi.org/10.14434/josotl.v21i2.28650

Why this is important: Learning students' names communicates that you value their presence in your course and contributes to an inclusive classroom climate.

How to do it:

• Introduce yourself at the beginning of class. This is also an opportunity to model sharing your pronouns, which can help make students who would like to share their pronouns more comfortable doing so. Note: Students should never be forced to share their pronouns.

• Ask students to introduce themselves at the beginning of class and be intentional in making sure you learn the correct pronunciation and maintain the correct pronunciation, including modeling an apology when mistakes are made.

• Consider having students create name tents in larger face-to-face classes. In Zoom sessions, you can also prompt students to adjust their username to the name they prefer to be called.

• Encourage students to share their names at the beginning of small group activities.

• Create opportunities to get to know students individually. This could include greeting or speaking with students as they enter or exit class, visiting small groups as they collaborate, or encouraging students to attend office hours.

Supporting research:

Cooper, K. M., Haney, B., Krieg, A., & Brownell, S. E. (2017). What’s in a name? The importance of students perceiving that an instructor knows their names in a high-enrollment biology classroom. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-08-0265

Marrun, N. A. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching across PK-20: Honoring the historical naming practices of students of color. Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education, 17(3), 4. https://doi.org/10.31390/taboo.17.3.04

Why this is important: Conducting pre/post tests is a value added measure that allows faculty to evaluate learning growth over time. A pre-test can also act as a diagnostic assessment. Faculty can use pre-test data to identify students' strengths and areas for improvement and make adjustments to their course and teaching accordingly.

How to do it:

• Determine when to conduct pre/post tests. Although pre/post tests are commonly used at the beginning and end of courses or programs, you can also use them before and after specific units or activities in your course.

• Design test questions to align with learning objectives. Consider whether you want questions on the pre and post test to be the same or comparable. Using the same question makes comparing results easy, but also creates the possibility that students will remember questions and answers. If you plan to use different question sets for each test, questions on the post-test should address comparable topics and require the same cognitive level as questions on pre-tests.

• Students should not earn points for correct answers on pre-tests, although you may choose to offer some points for completing it. Post-tests can be graded for correctness, completeness, or both.

• Analyze results by comparing pre and post test scores. In addition to overall differences in scores, examine which questions students did or did not improve on. Although you can't control for all variables that might affect a student's performance on the post-test, if students did not demonstrate improvement on specific questions or questions related to specific topics, it can help you identify where to potentially revise curriculum or teaching.

Supporting research:

Stark-Wroblewski, K., Ahlering, R.F., & Brill, F.M. Toward a more comprehensive approach to evaluating teaching effectiveness: Supplementing student evaluations of teaching with pre/post learning measures. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 32(4). https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930600898536

Why this is important: Sharing personal stories or self-disclosure by instructors has been shown to be an effective and inclusive teaching tool. Students have reported that sharing personal stories increases their engagement and the perceived approachability of and rapport with the instructor, as well as helping them develop positive relationships with other students. Offering a personal story related to a course concept can help students better contextualize a topic or envision practical ways in which that concept is actualized in the world. It can also increase students' interest in a topic.

How to do it:

• Plan in advance. Think about your boundaries to determine when it will be appropriate and relevant to share a story and which details to share. Ask yourself how the story would enhance student understanding or engagement. Consider your positionality and how that affects the story, your telling of it, and students' potential understandings and reactions.

• Consider using a personal story to model approaches or behaviors to students. For example, you could talk about mistakes that you made as a student in the discipline and how you learned from them to model productive failure.

• Invite students to share their personal stories when it is relevant and feasible to do so. If you ask students to share stories, offer a specific prompt and communicate that sharing is voluntary. Connect the storytelling to course content.

Supporting research:

Brakke, K., & Houska, J. A. (Eds.). (2015). Telling stories: The art and science of storytelling as an instructional strategy. Society for the Teaching of Psychology. https://teachpsych.org/ebooks/tellingstories.html

Why this is important: TAs can provide valuable information on student learning because undergraduates often feel more comfortable sharing questions or concerns with a TA than they do the instructor. As students with less expertise (and potential expert blindness) than instructors, TAs can also help identify common misconceptions and challenges students might experience. Additionally, talking to TAs about teaching and learning provides them with valuable pedagogically development and mentoring.

How to do it: According to Pitt's guide, Working with Your TA:

• Start by meeting with your TA/UTA to discuss and clarify instructional goals, expectations, roles, and the frequency and means of communication. Plan to meet with your TA on a regular basis to discuss the course, student progress, and to help the TA prepare to assist in upcoming class sessions.

• Encourage your TA to note common student questions, concerns, strengths, and areas where students need improvement. Discuss this during meetings. It may also be helpful to discuss student feedback data from sources like midterm surveys.

• When the TA's perception of student learning is different than yours, ask questions to determine why. If you believe that the TA's assessment is inaccurate, explain why.

Supporting research:

Luckie, D.B., Mancini, B.W., Abdallah, N., Kadouh, A.K., Ungkuldee, A.C.P., & Hare, A.A. (2019). Undergraduate teaching assistants can provide support for reformed practices to raise student learning. Advances in Physiology Education, 44, 32-38. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00090.2019

Why this is important: Collecting student feedback during the term allows faculty to make immediate adjustments to improve teaching and learning. Students perceive faculty who collect their feedback during the term as more caring and research indicates that faculty who use measures like midterm course surveys receive higher end-of-term student opinion of teaching survey ratings.

How to do it:

• Consider what feedback would be most beneficial to you and your students. Determine when, how often, and how to collect student feedback. For example, if you want to know what students think of a new assignment you have planned, you can ask for their comments before or after they complete it, whereas if you want data on their overall course experience, you may prefer to use a midterm survey.

• Plan what questions you intend to ask. Questions may vary in specificity depending upon the type of feedback you hope to collect. Use broad, open-ended questions to solicit qualitative feedback on overall experiences. Use more targeted questions to pinpoint students' perceptions of or responses to specific course materials or tools, teaching techniques, class activities, or assignments.

• Talk to your students about the use and purpose of collecting feedback beforehand. Express that you value their feedback.

• Interpret feedback by searching for trends in results. Look for trends that you can use to make changes that are potentially beneficial and feasible for you and your students.

• After you have collected feedback, share overall results or trends (without including identifying information) and discuss which trends you intend to act on vs. not act on, why, and how. If your students have make suggestions that you do not plan to implement, you should still address this feedback and explain your rationale.

• Make changes based on your student feedback. You may want to use end-of-term OMETs to assess the success of these changes.

Supporting research:

Harris, G. L. & Stevens, D. D. (2013). The value of midterm student feedback in cross-disciplinary graduate programs. Journal of Public Administration Education, 19(3) 537-558. https://doi.org/10.1080/15236803.2013.12001750

Payette, P.R. & Brown, M.K. (2018). Gathering mid-semester feedback: Three variations to improve instruction. IDEA Paper #67. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED588349.pdf

Why this is important: Reaching out to students who are struggling has been proven to improve student retention and academic outcomes. Minoritized students experience opportunity and equity gaps throughout their educations, so providing proactive support can also be an impactful inclusive teaching practice.

How to do it:

• Start by listing support resources on your syllabus and in your Canvas course shell. You can copy/paste from the Teaching Center’s syllabus checklist, which is updated annually to include contact information for student support units. Call students’ attention to these resources on the first day of class when you review your syllabus.

• Normalize struggle and be approachable. Let your students know that it is normal to experience challenges or to find college difficult, but that they can talk to you if they need help.

• Although it is not always possible to identify students who are struggling early in the term, plan to check-in with those who appear to be having difficulty after the first major assessment. Intervening earlier allows students to make changes or seek support while there is still time to improve their grade in the course.

• Throughout the term, pay attention to student performance and behavior over time, especially sudden changes. If students stop attending class, submitting work, or the quality of their work drops, reach out. For large or online classes, you can use Canvas’ grade center and reports to track changes in academic performance or other analytics like the last time the student logged into a course shell.

• When you identify a student who is experiencing challenges, talk to them to determine the type of support that they need. If the student needs academic support, you can suggest supplementary resources, meet with them during office hours, or direct them to academic support services. For other issues, connect students to the relevant campus resources. For students experiencing distress or in need of immediate help, consult Pitt’s Faculty and Staff Guide for Helping Distressed Students.

Supporting research:

Guzzardo, M.T., Khosla, N., Adams, A.L., Bussman, J.D., Engelman, A., Ingraham, N., Gamba, R., Jones-Bey, A., Moore, M.D., Toosi, N.R., & Taylor, S. (2021). “The ones that care make all the difference”: Perspectives on student-faculty relationships. Innovative Higher Education, 46, 41–58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-020-09522-w

Why this is important: Office hours are a valuable and often underutilized venue for supporting student learning, particularly for minoritized students. Regularly attending office hours has been shown to improve student academic performance, especially on high stakes assessments like exams.

How to do it:

• Some students, especially first generation students, may not know the purpose of office hours or may feel intimidated attending. Explain the purpose and benefits of office hours during the first week of class. Describe how to optimize office hours. For example, you might instruct students to come to office hours with specific questions to discuss. Encourage attending office hours throughout the semester.

• Consider accessibility. Giving students multiple means of participation (in-person or virtually on Zoom, for example), may make it easier for them to take advantage of office hours. You may consider offering office hours by appointment for students who cannot attend during regularly scheduled times.

Supporting research:

Griffin, W., Cohen, S. D., Berndtson, R., Burson, K. M., Camper, K. M., Chen, Y., & Smith, M. A. (2014). Starting the conversation: An exploratory study of factors that influence student office hour use. College Teaching, 62(3), 94-99. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2014.896777

Guerrero, M. & Rod, A.B. (2013). Engaging in office hours: A study of student-faculty interaction and academic performance. Journal of Political Science Education, 4. https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2013.835554