Teaching Commons

Best practices in teaching and learning.

Course Design & Planning

• Blackboard Help Site
  This site has details on how to use all the tools in Blackboard, and it is constantly updated with new information.
• Course Design Template – Basic
  This is a chart that helps you connect your learning outcomes to your content, your assignments, and your assessments.
• Design Your Course Around Learning Outcomes
  This handout walks you through the steps to create strong learning outcomes that meet the goals you have for your course.
• Syllabus Best Practices
  This handout gives best practices in syllabus design and provides additional resources to help you create a syllabus that is clear and engaging.

Student Engagement

• Active Learning Articles:
  • Active Learning Big Cards (PDF)
    This is a handout created by Eric Moore (see information about Moore here: https://innospire.org/).
  • Active Learning Continuum (PDF)
    This two-page handout gives explanations of the most common active learning techniques and where they land on a continuum of student thinking from simple to complex/deep thinking
  • Active Learning Increases Performance in STEM (PDF)
    This is an article reporting on a study that analyzed results of active learning versus traditional lecturing.
  • Collaborative Learning Techniques (PDF)
    This handout lists a variety of collaborative (active) learning.
  • Evidence of Active Learning (PDF)
    This is an article that summarizes the major research studies on active learning.
• Create Classroom Community
  This handout gives best practices on creating a strong classroom environment.
• Counseling Services' Faculty & Staff Guide
  This is the counseling center's site for helping faculty working with students who have mental/emotional needs.
• Engaged Learning Guide
  This handout explains levels of learning and provides strategies to deepen student learning in each level.
• Interactive Learning
  This is a handout on adding student learning engagement within your lectures. It also includes several helpful resources.

Academic Rigor & Accessibility

• Academic Rigor, Belonging, Conceptual Change Pedagogies
  This handout describes research-based strategies for these critical components of deep learning (including a list of references for further study).
• Inclusive Language & Pedagogy Resource Guide
  This is a handout created by the DEI Council for OWU faculty.