Teaching Tips

• Tap into emotion. We can use the power of emotion to grasp student attention and increase the chance of information being retained in long-term memory. Using an “emotional hook” to tap into student interest before kicking off a lecture or introducing an assignment, for example, can stimulate engagement that lasts throughout the class period. It is also important to identify learning activities that are relevant to your students in the context of contemporary topics and issues. Again, the goal is not to add entertainment value but rather to create connections for new neural pathways to form so that students can remember and master the information at hand. We also recommend this podcast episode from Lecture Breakers if you're interested in continuing to explore this concept.
• Design for engagement. Incorporating universal design for learning into the design and delivery of your course allows students to engage with learning content in multiple ways. For example, you can design a course assignment with deliverable options ranging from a traditional essay to a podcast or video report. This allows students to exercise agency in choosing a format to represent their knowledge in a way that is authentic for them, which, in turn, translates into greater engagement with the material. Request a consultation to explore ways of incorporating multiple means of expression in your own course! Another example related to delivery is to utilize Google Slides auto-captioning feature to benefit students with or without hearing impairments in the process of note taking and engagement with the lecture.
• Break the mold. While it is important to maintain a rhythm and routine in aspects such as the course calendar, it can be just as critical to introduce nuance into the way in which content is presented and engaged with during the course. Tell a story. Introduce humor. Bring in a guest speaker. Get creative! Find ways that are authentic to your teaching style to disrupt a traditional lecture that will keep students engaged and motivated to learn more. Our goal here is not to entertain our students, but to capture student attention and create opportunities for them to discover personal connections and interests in the course content that will ultimately lead to their achievement of student learning outcomes.

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