It's week 5 of winter term!
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Supporting our students right now |
As we continue to process the recent violence in Minneapolis and here in our own community, you may notice that both you and your students are carrying a wide range of emotions into the classroom. Grief, anger, fear, numbness, distraction, or exhaustion can show up on different timelines and in different ways. These are normal human responses to traumatic events.
You are not expected to hold this alone in your teaching. Often, what helps most is a steady presence: acknowledging what’s happening, offering flexibility where possible, and creating moments that help people ground and settle. Small practices—pausing to breathe, writing quietly, or keeping routines clear and predictable—can make a meaningful difference.
Our workshop this Friday on Embodied Pedagogies, led by Neera Malhotra from University Studies, will offer mindfulness-based activities that faculty can explore adapting within their own disciplines and teaching practices.
Please know that you are part of a larger PSU community. Our resource below includes strategies for your classroom and campus resources that you can share with your students during this time. If you’d like to talk through classroom dynamics, get support navigating a difficult moment, or think together about what might help your students—or yourself—reach out to us.
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Classroom strategies for supporting students through traumatic events |
Our teaching guide includes sample scripts and examples of what we can say in class to acknowledge what is happening, extend grace, and support what students may be feeling—along with reflection prompts and activities to help students process and ground themselves.
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Prepare your course for the new Title II accessibility requirements—and earn a microcredential!
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The Digital Accessibility for Instructional Content microcredential offers a structured way to make the required Title II accessibility updates to your course, while getting personalized feedback and support along the way.
Through this process, you’ll review your real instructional content using established accessibility standards, then meet one-on-one with an accessibility specialist for targeted feedback. You’ll leave with clearer priorities, concrete improvements already made, and a microcredential that recognizes the work you’ve done.
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If you’re wondering how to start—or want reassurance that you’re focusing on the right changes—this microcredential provides structure, guidance, and support as you prepare for April’s compliance deadline.
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Meet Sam, PSU’s Digital Learning Environment Manager |
Sam manages PSU’s digital learning environment—the tools that support teaching and learning at PSU. She helps connect PSU instructors to tools and resources that make teaching easier. Sam is...
🚲 back to bike commuting (rain… not her favorite)
📚 a former librarian, always reading *at least* one book!
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Try these tech tips for this week |
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If you’ve ever recorded a lecture, only to later find one too many “Well….”s for your liking, our brand new Basic video editing in MediaSpace guide will walk you through the solution, step by step.
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| The start of term presents natural opportunities to engage with your students, and this brief guide will help you maintain and grow that connection throughout the term.
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| Whether you’d like to know if students read the syllabus or you simply want to see how they are feeling, sometimes you just need to check in with a quick survey. This step-by-step tutorial will guide you through doing just that in Canvas.
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Neera Malhotra on her journey to Embodied Pedagogy—and how we can support student safety, agency, and choice in learning |
Join Neera’s workshop for PSU faculty, Embodied Pedagogies, on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, from 12:10–1:30 PM, online via Zoom.
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Students arrive in our classrooms carrying far more than coursework—stress, lived experience, fatigue, curiosity, and hope all show up too. Embodied pedagogy asks a simple but powerful question: what happens when we pay attention to how learning is felt, not just how it is delivered?
In this conversation, PSU University Studies instructor Neera Malhotra shares how practices rooted in presence, somatic awareness, and choice can create classrooms where students feel safe enough to engage deeply and instructors feel grounded enough to teach with intention.
Her upcoming workshop on February 6th, 2026, Embodied Pedagogies, invites faculty to slow down, notice what’s already happening in the room, and explore practical ways presence can support both learning and well-being.
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Feedback, grading & assessment: Helpful tools and pedagogies |
Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, 12:00–1:00 PM | Online on Zoom
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Join us for a session devoted to assessing (and grading!) students and providing them with feedback—some of the most crucial components of course facilitation. We’ll focus our discussion on the features and tools that assist with these practices (so you gain comfort) as well as on related pedagogies and which strategies for feedback, grading, and assessment are of the most help to you as an instructor. There will be plenty of time for practice, as well as for asking questions and sharing your experiences.
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Feedback, grading, and assessment |
Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, 12:00–1:00 PM
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| Friday, Feb. 6, 2026 at 12:10–1:30 PM
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| Talking Community-Engaged Learning |
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 12:45 PM–1:45 PM
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The Office of Academic Innovation
Portland State University
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