TEACHING TIPS

Good morning and welcome back to the Fall 2026 semester! We hope everyone has a fantastic start to their semester. In that vein, here are a few tips to get us started:

• Get to know your students' names.  Learning names (and greeting students when they enter the class, even if you don't remember every name) will help foster a sense of community and belonging (Elliott et al, 2016). If you're teaching online, consider using icebreaker discussion boards and other activities to connect students with each other and yourself.
• Ask your students what they're interested in and what brings them to the course (which can be done in any class modality). A sense of common interest or common purpose can also solidify a classroom and a community (Elliott et al, 2016).
• Consider how you want to continue that sense of community throughout the semester. We can focus on getting to know our students and icebreakers in the first part of a course, but these efforts carry the most weight when carried throughout the semester. In addition, community building is possible in large classes as well. The University of Waterloo offers suggestions on connecting with students throughout the semester no matter what your class size.

Intentional work to connect with your students is a time and effort investment, but one that will create a better learning space for both you and your students.

Elliott, D., Gamino, M., & Jenkins, J. J. (2016). Creating community in the college classroom: Best practices for increased student success. International Journal of Education and Social Science, 3(6), 29-41.

NEW RESOURCES FOR YOU

The UTLC has new online resources available for you, including self-paced training options, resources for Generative AI, and teaching guides. We also have new syllabus resources up, including an updated syllabus template.

TEACHING EVALUATION PILOT

UNCG is pleased to be administering a pilot of a new teaching evaluation system, Anthology Evaluate. The pilot and the current system (Class Climate) are running in parallel; when the Class Climate contract expires, administration will make a decision about which (or neither) system to retain. Much of our feedback during the 2024/25 academic year was favorable, with users finding the system easy to use and the reporting to be accessible. 

Anthology uses research validated common questions, along with offering units the chance to add custom questions.  It’s mobile friendly and can be deployed in the classrooms, which raised response rates for instructors who opted to do so this past year. Instructors and their heads have access to reporting one to two days after the close of the administration and can access their reports anytime they like online.

We are recruiting more pilot participants for this academic year! If you are interested in participating in the Fall 2025 or Spring 2026 Cohorts, please click the button below to fill out the interest form. If you have already indicated interest, we will be in touch with details soon.

If you have questions, please email the UTLC at utlc@uncg.edu.

ITS RESOURCES

Information Technology Services is happy to share its Fall 2025 Canvas & Learning Technology Updates. In addition, the August and September training schedule has been set, with topics including Accessible Canvas Content and Building Community Online.

FACULTY ENGAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT

Check out these upcoming opportunities from the UTLC and other partners on campus. Additional training opportunities are available at workshops.uncg.edu.

Ongoing Opportunities

• Self-Paced Training Options| Online, research-based workshops cover a range of essential topics.
• UNCG Libraries Webinars | Research and Application Webinar Series (Spring 2024 recordings) | Zotero Webinar Series (recordings)
• New to Teaching | Access this Canvas site to learn about how students learn, preparing for class, grading, office hours, engagement, active learning, and more.
• Safe and Trans Zone Training on Canvas | Enroll in this self-paced online course to complete Safe Zone 1.0, 2.0, and Trans Zone if you cannot attend an in-person workshop.
• Web Accessibility 101 | This asynchronous, self-paced course focuses on the fundamentals of making online content accessible.

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