Center for Excellence in TeachingCore principles of instruction
Foundational teaching principles, including course design, learning objectives, course alignment, assessment, and lesson structure.
Resources: Gen Ed courses
Challenging discussions 7: Evaluation of efforts
Methods of evaluating the effectiveness of academic discussions and increasing their impact on students.
Challenging discussions 6: Managing upset
Strategies for addressing students who become upset during academic discussions
Challenging discussions 5: Lead a challenging discussion
Techniques for leading academic discussions, including defining terms, including all voices, and warning signs that a discussion is becoming challenging.
Challenging discussions 4: Plan a challenging discussion
Strategies for planning class discussions, including a positive class atmosphere, discussion norms, grading discussions, and acceptable sources of information.
Challenging discussions 3: Speaking about race and gender
Strategies to consider when discussing topics such as race and gender in classes.
Challenging discussions 2: Inclusive course design
Inclusivity considerations when designing courses and syllabi, including discussions about controversial topics.
Challenging discussions 1: Welcome and introduction
An introduction to the CET Challenging Discussions series and the principles guiding its development.
Facilitating a norming session for peer review
A description of a norming session, and a recommended facilitation process for holding a norming session that prepares faculty to peer review their colleagues’ syllabi, teaching, and other instructional practices.
Types of assessment
This resource describes different categories of assessments and provides common examples of each. It also discusses the various roles assessment can play in teaching and learning, including options for providing feedback to students. The terms assessment and assignment may be used interchangeably.