Resources

Long-term content aimed at supporting course design and teaching. 

Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning Bridge Training

This Bridge training provides instructions for increasing accessibility in digital programs (Microsoft Office and Canvas), file types, and videos.

Improve Scientific Writing Skills with Canvas Commons Module

This module is designed to be used as a free-standing review module for scientific writing or can be edited to fit the learning objectives and needs of an instructor’s course.

How to Design Effective Rubrics

Rubrics can be effective assessment tools when constructed using methods that incorporate four main criteria: validity, reliability, fairness, and efficiency.

Introduction to Rubrics

A rubric divides an assessment into smaller parts (criteria) and then provides details for different levels of performance possible for each part.

2022-2023 Teaching Planner

In this planner, you can organize some of your teaching-related responsibilities, debrief on classroom experiences with an eye toward iteration, journal on your own professional development experiences, and note any questions you might have about teaching throughout the year.

Classroom Climate and Culture

To cultivate a positive classroom climate, instructors need to build strong rapport with students by incorporating seven dimensions of classroom climate.

Teaching Support Network

Many faculty across our institution have put significant effort into reflecting on their teaching practices and the following individuals provide peer support for teaching.

Inclusive Course Checklist

This guide helps instructors make their courses more inclusive so they can better support the learning needs of all students.

Timely Tools for Student Success

Key ways to support student success at points of time during the term.

CTT-Recommended Peer Observation Process

The CTT recommends using a peer observation process to expand reviews of one's teaching beyond student course evaluations.

Experiential Education

Experiential learning encompasses a variety of activities to engage students with course content.

Developing a Teaching Portfolio

Created by CTT instructional designers, the Teaching Portfolio resource is available through Canvas.

Mid-term Course Evaluation

Mid-term course evaluations provide student feedback on the effectiveness of teaching strategies before the traditional end-of-term feedback is given.

Write a Question

Write a Question asks students to reflect on a topic and then write down at least one question they still have on the topic.

Minute Paper

Minute papers provide a short, written response to a question and allows students an opportunity to reflect on their learning while also providing feedback.

Exit Ticket/ Chat Waterfall

Exit tickets or slips are used by instructors to gage student understanding of topics covered in a class.

Using formative assessments to improve critical thinking & writing skills

Explore five formative assessment approaches focusing on improving writing skills and critical thinking.

Additional Classroom Assessment Resources

The following resources address assessment resources for both online and in-person classes.

UNL Classroom Assessment Examples

Articles describing how formative or summative classroom assessments have been carried out at UNL.

CTT Guide to Classroom Assessment

Use classroom assessment to investigate what students are learning and how well they are learning it.

Identifying, prioritizing, and aligning learning goals to assessments with the iTGI

The Interactive Teaching Goals Inventory tool provides instructors with a valuable resource to align their learning goals with various assessment techniques.

Make Assessments Authentic

An assignment is “authentic” if it resembles what a person might do with the knowledge and skills that you aim to teach students in your course.

The Importance of Practice

Assessments are often described as falling into two categories: formative and summative. Learn about both in this resource.

Proctoring and Academic Integrity

Maintaining high standards of academic integrity is an essential feature of any class - learn more in this section.

Canvas Commons: Modules for Instructors

Use high-quality instructional modules to supplement student support information in your course.

Assessment Begins with Learning Goals

Course creation begins by deciding what students will know and be able to do by the end of the course.

Reviewing and Comparing Lecture Notes

When students are given time to review and compare notes, students make significant learning gains by constructing context through collaboration.

Practice/Application Problems

Practice or application problems can help students understand and retain information on a topic longer than passively listening to a lecture.

Lecture Reaction

Lecture reaction is a strategy used to elicit deeper learning on a topic just covered in a lecture and is divided into four sections.

Backchannel Discussion

A backchannel discussion includes any conversation between students or between the students and instructor that are not the primary lecture.

Illustrative Quotations

Students are tasked with finding one or more quotes from a text or similar material that supports a specific claim about the reading.

Muddiest Point

Muddiest Point is a technique used to determine which topic is the most unclear to students at the end of a presentation or lecture. The students are usually given the prompt: “What aspect of the lecture material is still unclear or confusing?”.

Pause Principle

A simple method of making traditional lectures into more efficient learning opportunities by incorporating well timed pauses in the lecture.

Wait Time

Wait time is characterized by short pauses (10-30 seconds) when asking students to respond to questions or similar prompts given by the instructor.

Think-Pair-Share

Think-Pair-Share strategy allows students time to think about a topic, discuss their ideas with the person next to them, and share with the class.

Response technology (Clicker Questions)

Classroom response systems are designed to have students use specific devices to send responses to questions posed by the instructor during a lecture.

Interactive Lecture Demonstrations using PODS

Interactive lecture demonstrations incorporate student participation in the demonstration using the active learning technique PODS.

Interactive Lecture: Small Changes for Improved Engagement and Learning

Educational research has shown that students retain more course content when active learning techniques are correctly implemented in college courses.

Interactive Teaching Goals Inventory (iTGI)

Interactive Teaching Goals Inventory is designed to be used in conjunction with Classroom Assessment Techniques.

Place-Based Learning and Outdoor Experiences

Place-based learning is an instructional approach that focuses on developing students’ sense of place and learning through exploring their environment.

CTT Teaching Grants: Round 4

Learn more about the available grants to help further innovative teaching.

Backward Design Self-Guided Mini-Course

An asynchronous, self-paced introduction to the Backward Design model of course planning.

Database of formative assessment strategies

The strategies described in detail in Angelo and Cross (1993) are primarily designed for in-person classrooms but, most are easily adapted to online.

Accessibility and UDL Instructor Resource

Curated by several university departments and experts, the Accessibility and UDL Instructor Resource is available through Canvas.

Classroom Assessment Explorer

Use this tool to explore ways to assess different types of learning.

Use Yellowdig to Build Community

Jennifer Davidson facilitates learning with Yellowdig as students share connections between the course content and the world around them.

Humanize late policies for better learning

Humanize your teaching by implementing late policies that account for the complexity of students' lives.

Examples of effective online teaching strategies

This collection of online teaching examples shows how research-based instructional strategies have been implemented at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Strengthening human connection to improve online learning

A recent study found that the quality of interpersonal interactions was predictive of student grades.

Using Repeated Practice

Learn how repetition can help students master the basics with featured instructor Rebecca Roston.