Teaching Tips – Greatest Hits
With the darkest nights of winter solstice (December 21st) behind us, our Northern Hemisphere turns toward longer days and a semester of new relationships, beloved course content, and the eternal question of how to best engage our students. But as the days gradually lengthen, these dark, quiet nights offer a valuable opportunity to reflect on what went well last semester and what pedagogical choices you want to preserve or tweak. To help guide this reflective process, we’ve put together a few questions to contemplate and a few “greatest hits” in teaching tips to consider.
Reflection Process:
- OUTCOME: Every backwards planning session begins with setting your learning outcomes.
- Instructor Outcomes: What’s prompting your desire to make pedagogical revisions? What does success look like in your teaching practice for this semester?
- Student Outcomes: What do you want students to remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, or create by the end of the semester? When you imagine a student who “just gets it,” what have they demonstrated to you?
- SUCCESSES: Where did you and your students find joy last semester or last time you taught a similar course? Which activities sparked engagement? What moments felt most meaningful?
- CHALLENGES: What didn’t work as planned? Were there areas students struggled or suggestions students had for improvement? What aspects of the course felt a little “off” from your goals?
- PROVERBIAL BABY STEPS: What content are you ready to release? What new activities or projects do you want to lean into? Remember: small, intentional changes can yield rewarding results.
Greatest Teaching Tips, New & Old:
Once you’ve reflected on these questions, it’s time to turn your attention to crafting your course syllabus. The FDC website offers numerous resources to support this process.
- Templates: See FDC’s general syllabus template and the Spring 2026 syllabus template. Don’t forget to include a consent form if you’re open to some SoTL explorations.
- Self-Assess: Walk through the inclusive teaching strategies checklist or consider using a rubric to self-assess how learning-centered your syllabus is.
- Tune-Up on Material and Policies: As learning needs and technologies advance, take a moment to review your intentions around accessibility and AI.
- Prefer Watching Videos?: Our Learning by Design studios offer reviews of the suggestions above in the “Inclusive Syllabus Tune-Up” and “Converting Syllabi: An Overview of the Graphic Syllabus” short videos.
- More current research reinforces the benefits of small changes to make your syllabus more graphic. Kaur (2021) found that students responded positively to infographic-style syllabi, reporting that they read the syllabus more completely and experienced more comfort and less anxiety about course requirements. Even more compelling, Wickline, Middleton, and Appleby (2025) clarified that incorporating graphics into a syllabus has significant impact on students’ perceptions of the instructor’s care and course value (regardless of syllabus length). So go ahead and add that emoji, flow chart, or contact icon. The little change can pay off!
Re-Centering During Periods of Change:
As the days gradually lengthen and spring semester approaches, remember that thoughtful, incremental improvements to your teaching practice can create meaningful change for both you and your students. Take time to reflect, make intentional choices, and be kind to yourself in the process. Pedagogy is iterative work. Your colleagues and the FDC are here to support you through the ongoing journey.