Lillian Reeves Engaged Pedagogy, Student Success

Dynamic Duo: Using Blackboard Ultra Gradebook and Starfish Together

Image by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash As the semester kicks off, we’re met with an opportunity to consider the relationship between our gradebook and the Starfish early alert system. Fall of 2016 was the first time I used Blackboard Original to monitor and record students’ grades. I met with Blackboard support several times to get step-by-step guidance … Continue reading Dynamic Duo: Using Blackboard Ultra Gradebook and Starfish Together

Lillian Reeves Active Learning, Engaged Pedagogy, Student Success, Uncategorized

College is Just the Place for Transformative Experiences

Attending college, like other big moments of transition in our lives, is full of exciting and nerve-racking opportunities for learners everywhere to give an emphatic or shaky yes! to the newness of people, places, and ideas. But how do students get the most out of these opportunities? Mindset may have a lot to do with … Continue reading College is Just the Place for Transformative Experiences

A table with several chairs and a floral centerpiece
Celena Kusch Social and Emotional Learning, Student Success

Breaking Bread: Take a Student to Coffee or Lunch

When you sit down together at the Spartans Table, you belong. The Spartans Table program offers students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to interact in informal settings in the Spartan Cafe in the Sansbury Campus Life Center or the Perk Up Cafe in the Library. Have your lunch or afternoon coffee on us.  Belonging Matters … Continue reading Breaking Bread: Take a Student to Coffee or Lunch

Formative Assessment Cycle: Gather evidence in quizzes, observations, self-assessments; Evaluate Progress and interpret growth; Provide Feedback that is timely, specific, and meaningful; Adjust Process to update activities, add/remove checkpoints to improve the quality of evidence of progress
Lillian Reeves Active Learning, Engaged Pedagogy, Student Success, TILT

Formative Assessment and Success-Oriented Feedback

Formative assessment is often discussed in K-12 settings as a standard and expected part of curriculum delivery. In higher education, however, conversations about formative assessment have been somewhat more elusive. Traditionally, we rely on the high-stakes midterm, project, paper, final model which leaves little room for formative assessment that can foster growth. Using formative assessments … Continue reading Formative Assessment and Success-Oriented Feedback

SIX THINKING HATS Increase interaction in group work and discussions by asking students to investigate a situation from a different perspective. Hats represent roles for leader, thinking/logic, feeling, creativity, positivity, and cautious
Lillian Reeves Active Learning, Engaged Pedagogy, Student Success

Group Work and Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning is a well-established high-impact practice (HIPs). According to the Association of American Colleges and Universities, collaborative learning has two main goals: the first is to have students work together to solve problems or find solutions. And the second is for students to gain access to perspectives, experiences, and information they may have not … Continue reading Group Work and Collaborative Learning

Courses that speak to us, desk with laptop, coffee, and earbuds, person driving in a car with audio on
Celena Kusch Engaged Pedagogy, Student Success, Technology

Please Read It to Me: Read Aloud Options for Course Materials

There is a kind of warmth that comes from being read to--a sense that the reader is making a gesture of care. Perhaps this is the attraction of listening to audiobooks on our morning commute or asking Siri or Alexa to read us the news while we make dinner, walk the dog, or complete chores. … Continue reading Please Read It to Me: Read Aloud Options for Course Materials