Author: Erin Bell

A term first coined by psychologist Carol Dweck, someone with a “fixed mindset” believes that their intelligence and abilities are fixed and cannot change (i.e. “I’m just bad at math. I’ll never get any better at it.”) Students with a fixed mindset may believe that talent alone creates success — without effort. A fixed mindset can […]

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Diagnostic assessments are typically low (or no) stakes assignments that grant an instructor an opportunity to gauge students’ current levels of knowledge about subject matter in a course. Such assessments might include pre-tests, short essays, quizzes, journal entries, and more. Photo courtesy of Kat Stokes on Unsplash. […]

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This process allows instructors to reverse engineer assignments/course curriculum by considering the learning outcomes for an assignment (or course) first and then planning accordingly around those objectives. In short, one builds a course by focusing on the skills and outcomes students will learn first and then creating formative assessments and assignments that will help student […]

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In this mode of assessment, instructors provided creative learning experiences and scenarios to measure students’ skills and knowledge in realistic situations; instructors may gauge students’ knowledge in real-life (professional) and hands-on scenarios (rather than through a written examination). Photo courtesy of Martin Splitt on Unsplash. […]

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In online settings, asynchronous instruction allows students to engage with course content and assignments on their own schedule from week to week, unlike the synchronous mode, in which students and instructors meet on a set schedule. In asynchronous classes, students may access class materials during different hours and from different locations rather than in one […]

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A classification system used to distinguish different levels (domains) of learning. These domains include: Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating. Understanding how students process and internalize knowledge and concepts can allow for more efficient course design. […]

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Active learning is an umbrella term for any instructional method that encourages student engagement in the learning process, typically via thinking, discussing, investigating, creating and through other methods and activities. The approach suggests that students actively engage in the meaning-making process rather than passively taking in information. […]

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