Faculty Focus Live

As we wind down in the month of December, I’m always in awe at how fast it goes by. I thought it would be a good reminder to slow down this month, to really practice our mindfulness muscles. It’s the season of giving, so let’s give ourselves a break and remind ourselves of what we can do to really live in the moment. 

Today, we will have Seena and Stuart Haines dive into mindfulness and offer strategies on how we can build our mindfulness muscles. Picture this: you're zipping through life on autopilot, not noticing the tension building in your body until you flop onto the couch at night. Sound familiar? Well, you're not alone! This episode dives headfirst into what mindfulness really means. It's a superpower that helps us pay attention to the here and now—our thoughts, feelings, and the world around us—without putting a "good" or "bad" label on it. Our brains can do amazing things, but sometimes they need a little nudge to calm down. Mindfulness isn't about shutting off our thoughts (because hello, ideas and creativity!), but it's about taming the internal chaos that can overcome us. 

Recommended Resources:

• Virtual Workshop: Mind Full to Mindful: Strategies to Enhance Teaching and Learning
• Wellbeing Elixir Community with resources: https://www.wellbeingelixir.org/
• Online Course: Wellbeing Elixir Course
• Book: Real Happiness: A 28-day program to realize the power of meditation

Join Michael Strawser as he explains how he maintains motivation in his teaching amidst the challenges of complacency and burnout. Strawser explores the power of professional development communities and the impact of public teaching on invigorating classroom dynamics. He uncovers the value of reaching out to former students, seeking recognition, remembering your why, and embracing rejection as part of the growth journey. Additionally, he explains how building relationships and advocating for students' needs are integral to sustaining motivation, and explores ways to support students in their journey toward discovering their passions and professional development.

As educators, you understand the need to captivate your students’ attention. So today we’re going to explore specific technology tools that can help reinvigorate your teaching methods – if you’re having fun with the content and technology, so are your students.

However, it's not enough to simply adopt technology; it must be thoughtfully chosen to align with specific pedagogical needs. We hope you can take a few technology tools that fit into your course to help you better assess and better engage your students. From self-reflection to interactive instructions to Loom and a digital foldable, let's explore the intersection of technology and pedagogy. 

Recommend Resources

• 20-Minute Mentor: What Are 5 Ways H5P Tools Can Help Students Retain Course Content?
• 20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Use Technology Platforms to Engage Students in Active Learning?
• 20-Minute Mentor: What Are 5 Easy-To-Use Technologies That Have A Big Impact on Learning in the Online Classroom?

This episode is sponsored by The Teaching Professor, a resource for more than 10,000 educators at universities and colleges worldwide. Choose from a monthly or yearly subscription. 

Communication in the classroom matters. Whether it’s verbal communication or non-verbal, how and what you say - or don’t say - in the classroom directly impacts your teaching and your students’ learning. For instance, something as simple as the placement of a pause can completely alter your intended message. If you say, “Let’s eat Grandpa,” or “Let’s eat, Grandpa," those have two totally different meanings. Now, this is a more humorous example, but communication mishaps aren’t always funny.

So today, we’re going to provide you with techniques to help strengthen your communication in the classroom and with your students. We’ll explore what students consider as communication “misfires” in the classroom, different forms of communication that can help facilitate student learning, and then we’ll dive into communication techniques for the online classroom, because we’ve definitely learned these past few years that online communication is not easy. Get ready to communicate because your words matter!

Recommended Resources:

• 20-Minute Mentor: What is the Role of Communication in Teaching Excellence?
• 20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Avoid Communication "Misfires" with Students?
• 20-Minute Mentor: What are the Communication Musts in an Online Class?

According to research, less than half of students complete assigned readings. So, how do you get your students to complete the reading so they are better prepared to complete assignments, to participate in discussions, and are just more engaged with the content?

Today, we’ll talk about how changing the term “reading assignment” to a “task” can give students more agency and break down the wall of resisting reading. We’ll talk about different strategies to encourage active reading and to help strengthen student reading techniques. And lastly, we’ll cover reading assignments that help students discover how much more they learn when they actually do the reading. 

Recommended Resources:

• 20-Mintue Mentor: How Do I Get Students to Complete Reading Assignments?
• 20-Minute Mentor: What Interventions Help Students Master Deep Reading and Engage with Assignments?
• 20-Minute Mentor: How Do I Get Students to Read Their Assignments Before Class?

Today we’re going to dive into some of the challenges that faculty are currently facing and explore strategies to re-engage faculty in their roles. We’re tackling the issue of faculty disengagement.

We’ll be discussing strategies to overcome disengagement stemming from workload, stress, technology, and self-worth. In this series of programs, Russell Carpenter and Kevin Dvorak will offer practical insights that can empower both educators and administrators to foster a more supportive academic environment. From celebrating faculty success to addressing self-worth, we’re here to equip you with the knowledge and tools to help overcome faculty disengagement.

Recommended Resources:
20-Minute Mentor: What are Proven Strategies to Overcome Faculty Disengagement Due to Professional Self-Worth
20-Minute Mentor: What are Proven Strategies to Overcome Faculty Disengagement Due to Technology
20-Minute Mentor: What are Proven Strategies to Overcome Faculty Disengagement Due to Workload
COMING SOON: What are Proven Strategies to Overcome Faculty Disengagement Due to Stress?

This episode is sponsored by the Teaching Professor Online Conference. Learn teaching practices you need to help your students succeed in the comfort of your own space! 

Get a notepad or your laptop ready for this episode, because you’ll want to write down some of these AI tools we’re about to dive into. From using AI to design course materials, to supporting students with AI writing and editing, to creating multimedia teaching materials, this episode has something for you! You’ll discover how AI can help with translation, image creation, slideshows, and audio or video support. Get ready to unlock the potential of AI in education and take your teaching and learning to the next level with Jeremy Caplan’s three AI-featured programs.

Recommended resources:

• 20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Use AI to Draft Course Materials?
• 20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Use AI as a Student Writing and Editing Coach?
• 20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Use AI to Create Multimedia Teaching Materials?
• On-demand Seminar: From Fear to Fluency: Educators Discuss Integrating ChatGPT to Foster Online Student Learning
• On-demand Seminar: Facing the Future: Educators Discuss Teaching in the Era of ChatGPT

Today, we’re going to dive into the world of critical thinking – a skill that’s often misunderstood and rarely mastered. We’ll explore how this skill can transform students into astute thinkers who question the world with curiosity and creativity. By the end of this episode, you’ll have the tools to craft lessons that invigorate curiosity, evaluate learning, and inspire the minds of your students.

Recommended resources:

• Magna Online Seminar:Teaching Critical Thinking to Students: How to Design Courses That Include Applicable Learning Experiences, Outcomes, and Assessments
• Magna Online Seminar: Creating Critical Thinkers in the Information Age
• Magna Online Seminar: Foster Creative and Critical Thinking Through Intrinsic Motivation

Other resources:

• How We Can Help Our Students Become Better Critical Thinkers, and Why It Matters
• Infusing Critical Thinking into Your Course
• How Can I Assess Critical Thinking with Student-Created Work?
• How Can I Design Critical Thinking into My Course?
• What Activities and Assignments Promote Critical Thinking?

Do you know the difference between virtual reality, mixed realities, augmented reality, and extended reality? In this episode, Juanita J. (JJ) Wallace will start by explaining the differences between these realities, and then dive into specific tools that instructors can use in their own courses. Wallace will also go through design aspects when creating assignments and assessments that utilize virtual reality. This will help instructors impact student learning outcomes more effectively and use best practices while creating assignments.

Recommended resources:

• Magna Online Seminar: Extended Reality (XR) As A Tool for Impactful and Engaged Learning
• 20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Apply Virtual Reality to Create Meaningful Assignments and Assessments
• 20-Minute Mentor: How Can I Use Virtual Reality to Impact Classroom Learning?
• 20-Minute Mentor: How Do I Start Using Virtual Reality as a Tool for Instruction? 

Mentioned resources:

• Anne Frank House: Secret Annex
• SketchAR
• VirtualSpeech
• Human Anatomy 3D Atlas
• Google Earth
• Felix and Paul Studios
• STEAM

Today we’re going to look at ways we can increase human motivation and give faculty a sense of autonomy. We’ll talk about the Motivation Hygiene Theory, where although someone can be highly motivated they can also be highly dissatisfied. We’ll also discuss the Job Characteristics Theory, where skill variety, task identity, test significance, autonomy and feedback all help in the meaningfulness of work – we’ll specifically relate this to faculty development. 

Lastly, we’ll go over recognizing intervention points to promote health and wellness. We dig deeper into looking at the structures of work, how to shape people’s daily working lives, and how to make choices that improve people’s health. Katherine Sanders will be guiding us in creating a healthier academic environment.

Recommended Resources:

• 20-Minute Mentor: How Can Faculty Development Increase Faculty Engagement?
• 20-Minute Mentor: How Can Shifting from Symptoms Thinking to Systems Thinking Make Your Campus Healthier?
• 20-Minute Mentor: How Can Systems Thinking Strengthen Faculty Development?
• Publication Subscription: Supporting Faculty

This episode is sponsored by the Teaching Professor Online Conference. Learn teaching practices you need to help your students succeed in the comfort of your own space!