Thirsty for a Strong Instructional Practice? Since time immemorial, instructors have battled to get students to come to class and participate. Responses to the attendance conundrum have ranged from positive reinforcement (assigning points for coming and/or participating) to the punitive (taking away points for missing). How can we best encourage fruitful attendance and participation in …
Category: SIP Post
Permanent link to this article: https://sites.msudenver.edu/sips/sip-3-4-integrated-attendance-and-participation-policies/
Feb 05 2016
SIP 3.3 Gallery Walks for Structured Small Group Discussions
Thirsty for Strong Instructional Practice? Have you ever planned a class discussion only to find just a few students participating? Small, structured group discussions often work much better than whole class discussions. But, how can you provide this structure in a way that gets every student actively involved? Take a SIP of this: Gallery Walks …
Permanent link to this article: https://sites.msudenver.edu/sips/sip-3-3-gallery-walks/
Jan 28 2016
SIP 3.2 Assignment Menus
Thirsty for Strong Instructional Practice? Do you notice the energy and motivation your students bring to class discussions and activities wane when it’s time for them to write an assignment? Do you get bored reading the same thing from student to student and even semester to semester? Using an assignment menu can reinvigorate both you …
Permanent link to this article: https://sites.msudenver.edu/sips/sip-3-2-assignment-menus/
Jan 21 2016
SIP 3.1 Graphic Syllabus
Thirsty for Strong Instructional Practice? Traditionally syllabi have been brief outlines that listed the scope and sequence of course topics, readings and assignments. Today however, the syllabus has become a quasi-legal contract between a course instructor and the students exacting in grueling detail the rules, regulations, and expectations for class – from policies on laptop …
Permanent link to this article: https://sites.msudenver.edu/sips/sip-3-1-graphic-syllabus/
Dec 03 2015
SIP 2.15 Learner-Centered Syllabus
Thirsty for Strong Instructional Practice? Typical syllabus content generally involves basic class information such as the name of the class, contact information for the professor, and the text and assignments. Unfortunately, syllabi do not typically guide learning or tell students what they need to know in order to derive maximum benefit from the class. In …
Permanent link to this article: https://sites.msudenver.edu/sips/sip-2-15-learner-centered-syllabus/
Nov 19 2015
SIP 2.14 Backward Design
Thirsty for Strong Instructional Practice? Backward Design (Wiggins & McTighe) provides a framework for course and lesson design that in which instructors begin by identifying course objectives and then determine acceptable evidence to determine whether students have met those objectives and only then plans instruction that will support students in meeting the desired objectives. Take …
Permanent link to this article: https://sites.msudenver.edu/sips/sip-2-14-backward-design/
Nov 12 2015
SIP 2.13 Tips for Successfully Engaging with First-Year Students
Thirsty for Strong Instructional Practice? While it may seem like freshmen students only land in First Year Success courses, the truth is that they are scattered throughout all disciplines and course levels. What does the population of freshmen look like at MSU Denver this fall? 50% are white, 50% are of other races/ethnicities. The average …
Permanent link to this article: https://sites.msudenver.edu/sips/sip-2-13-tips-for-successfully-engaging-with-first-year-students/
Nov 05 2015
SIP 2.12 Teaching Students to Embrace Uncertainty
Thirsty for Strong Instructional Practice? Students today too often are taught isolated, static “facts” that belie the complexity, interconnectedness, and rapidly changing nature of knowledge in the “real world”. If we are to successfully prepare our students for life after academia, where answers are seldom clear-cut or permanent, we much teach them to grapple with …
Permanent link to this article: https://sites.msudenver.edu/sips/sip-2-12-teaching-students-to-embrace-uncertainty/
Oct 29 2015
SIP 2.11 Student-to-Student Peer Evaluation
Thirsty for a Strong Instructional Practice Do you ever feel like you spend all your time grading or have grading piling up no matter how hard you try? What if assessing what students know and do not know in a class is not just up to the instructor? What if students could be involved in …
Permanent link to this article: https://sites.msudenver.edu/sips/sip-2-11-student-to-student-peer-evaluation/
Oct 22 2015
SIP 2.10: Just in Time Teaching
Thirsty for Strong Instructional Practice? If you ask instructors what their students could do to help their learning, many will lament that “students don’t prepare for class time.” Indeed there is a consistent (and long) record of studies showing that less than a third of students adequately prepare for class. In a fairly broad survey, …
Permanent link to this article: https://sites.msudenver.edu/sips/sip-2-10-just-in-time-teaching/