This is Teaching and Learning Matters, and I am Dr. Garvey Pyke.  One of the principles for classroom success is for students to have regular interaction with their instructors both in and out of the classroom.  And like it or not, students will often choose to interact with you via email.  So what are some tips for managing email to keep it under control?

First of all, I recommend that everyone creates an email policy, and print this in your course syllabus.  Let students know what the boundaries are and what they can expect from you.  For example, “I answer email Monday through Thursday from 10 to 4, and it usually takes me 48 hours—or two business days—to answer your email.”  Or whatever your policy is…  

The key is to create a policy and then let them know what it is.  This will curtail the overzealous student who emails you five minutes after sending you another email to ask why you haven’t answered the first one yet.  It also encourages shyer students to send email or interact with you, since a policy shows boundaries and implies that it is not an imposition or impoliteness of any kind to email you.

Secondly, I believe in using the power of your email program to its fullest.  Email is a wonderful creation, but most of us fail to use the timesaving, organizational features that are built into the email program.  Whether you use Outlook or another program, you can create “rules” or “filters” that sort your email messages as they come in.  

Personally, I use color coding, which makes email in my inbox appear in different colors.  Dark green means messages sent to me only; light green means it was sent to me and a group; brown means mailing list.  I also use folders: in other words, email can be automatically sorted into folders.  Then I can deal with them according to their importance and urgency.

The easiest way to sort incoming email from your students is to require that they include the section number or some such identifier in the subject line.  Thus, when you create your email rule or filter, you can base it on this identifier.  Then the student emails can be sorted and tracked into folders automatically, allowing you to handle them when you choose.  This will help keep your inbox free—or at least not so cluttered.  

Some people wonder how long they should keep student email and the email we send to students.  Some faculty keep it forever, so to speak.  Others say one year, and others say three years.  I have no simple rule for this, but if you have the storage space, it may be useful to keep especially those emails where difficult situations or issues have been documented.  It is always nice to have written records to help us refresh our memories when students ask for recommendations, or heaven forbid, make unfounded accusations.

I heard another tip during a teleconference years ago.  The presenter (her name escapes me now) suggested that our email policies with our students include what can and cannot be asked about in email.  For example, they cannot ask about such things such as due dates, et cetera, that are already on the syllabus.  Some faculty simply do not answer such emails, while others tell students they will take a point off their next test grade for sending such an inquiry.

Where you may fall on that continuum is up to you, but just beware that students will ask all kinds of things that you wish they wouldn’t.  Along those lines, students will ask you for tech support, library assistance, you name it!  Again, let them know what you will and won’t answer in email, and point them in the right direction from the start by including in your syllabus the relevant phone numbers, locations, and so forth of the departments who handle such things.

I want to reiterate that email is a wonderful tool, as long as you can keep it under control.  I hope these tips work for you, and if you have some suggestions for me, I would love to hear them.  Or if you have any questions for me, feel free to email me at…well…maybe it’s better if you just stop by sometime.  Come on over to the Center for Teaching and Learning at UNC Charlotte, and we will talk about this or other strategies that fit your style, your students’ needs, and your subject area.   

Thanks for listening, and please tune in next time. Until then, so long, and remember: Teaching and Learning Matters.

Welcome to Teaching and Learning Matters.  I’m Dr. Maria Yon from the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  The topic for this episode is cooperative learning.  While there is a lot to know to set up effective cooperative learning groups in the classroom, this session is an introduction to the basic elements of cooperative learning.

First of all, it’s important to explain that cooperative learning comes from a new paradigm of teaching.  In this paradigm, learning is seen as a social process that occurs as individuals work together to construct knowledge.  The teacher structures learning situations so that students work together cooperatively to ensure each other’s success.  David and Roger Johnson have done extensive research that has revealed three important findings: higher achievement, more positive relationships among students, and better psychological adjustment.

Putting students into groups to learn is not the same thing as structuring cooperation among students.  Cooperation is much more than sitting near someone discussing material with other students.  In order for a lesson to be cooperative, five elements are essential according to Johnson and Johnson.

The first element of a cooperative lesson is positive interdependence.  This means that students are linked with others in a way that one cannot succeed unless the other members of the group do their part.  This is accomplished by assigning each student a role within the group.  Each role is important to meeting the group goal.

The second element of a cooperative lesson is face-to-face promotive interaction.  This means that students help, encourage, and support each others efforts to learn.  They explain to each other how to solve problems, discuss strategies, teach knowledge and explain concepts to each other.

The third element is individual accountability.  This exists when the performance of each student is assessed and the results given back to the group and to the individual.  Group members need to know who needs more assistance and that no one can “hitch hike” on the work of others.  Some use the test results of one student to represent the learning of the group.  This makes students responsible for helping each other learn.

The fourth element is social skills.  Groups cannot function effectively if students do not have the leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communication, and conflict management skills needed.  Many students have never worked cooperatively, so these skills have to be taught to them.  These are important skills in just about any workplace, therefore they are valuable goals to set in the college classroom.

The fifth element is group process.  The teacher must ensure that students are achieving their goals and maintaining effective working relationships.  At the end of a working session the groups process their functioning by answering two questions:  (1) What is something each member did that was helpful to the group and (2) What is something each member could do to make it even better next time?

These five elements are what differentiate a cooperative learning group from traditional discussion groups.  They also provide guidance in developing a well-structured cooperative learning lesson.  For more on cooperative learning in the college classroom, I advise you to read the work of David and Roger Johnson and their colleagues. 

Thanks for listening.  Tune in again for Teaching and Learning Matters.
 

Hello, good listener, and thank you for coming to this edition of Teaching & Learning Matters.  My name is Dr. Garvey Pyke, and for the next three minutes, I am going to show you how to set up a very quick and easy active learning technique called “Think-Write-Pair-Share.”  It takes little time to set up and will get all students involved immediately.  If you want, you will be able to use this technique in your very next class. 

I have been using Think-Write-Pair-Share for probably a decade now, but I had no idea who first came up with the idea.  That is how many of our teaching techniques tend to go.  Sure, Socrates is famous enough that we remember the Socratic method, but most other methods are practically considered anonymous through popular use. 

That being said, I do want to give credit where credit is due: it was F. T. Lyman in 1981 who created Think-Pair-Share, and there have been many variations since.  In fact, the one I am discussing today is my favorite variant and the one I rely on most: Think-Write-Pair-Share. 

First, let’s examine the procedure itself.  Here is how it goes:

Begin by giving your students a question, problem, concept, idea, et cetera. Tell the students to think about the problem and write down an answer. (i.e., this is the Think-Write portion).  Give them enough time to do this, based on the complexity of the question you have posed.

Next, ask the students to pair with a partner to share and discuss what they have written (i.e., the Pair-Share portion of the exercise).  Usually this is someone seated nearby or perhaps a cooperative teammate.  Or you can have them get up and walk across the room to partner with someone they have never spoken to before.  Give the students enough time to share their answers, perhaps discussing such things as why they believe their answer is correct, how they arrived at that answer, etc.

Finally, you can then ask a few students to share their own answers, their partner’s answers, or their group’s discussion with the whole class.  This may lead to larger class discussion and interesting insights.

Like I said, it is simple to set up to get going right away.  Your students will have a lot of interaction with each other, which is one of the principles of student success in the college classroom.  It will also give you a chance to circulate around the room and listen and give feedback with smaller groups.

You can do this at any point during a class session.  You can start off a class by asking about a difficult concept or maybe something from their reading.  You can end class the same way.  Or ask what they are still unclear about.  Another use is to find a natural stopping point partway through a lecture to do the Think-Write-Pair-Share.  Student attention during a lecture peaks at 10 minutes.  Therefore, use Think-Write-Pair-Share to break up a lecture and to get students involved.  You could even have them generate questions for class discussion through this method.

Think-Write-Pair-Share is a wonderful active learning technique that gets everyone involved.  It costs nothing, has very little setup, and can really energize a class.  I hope you try it out in your next class, and see how your students respond.

If you have any questions or want to learn more—or if you want to let me know how well it went when you tried it—come on over to the Center for Teaching and Learning at UNC Charlotte, and we will talk about this or other strategies that fit your style, your students’ needs, and your subject area.  

Thanks for listening, and please tune in next time, where we will discuss another short and simple technique for immediate use in your classroom.
 
Until then, so long, and remember: Teaching and Learning Matters.

Footnote:
Lyman, F. T. (1981). The responsive classroom discussion: The inclusion of all students. In A. Anderson (Ed.), Mainstreaming Digest (pp. 109-113). College Park: University of Maryland Press
 

Welcome to Teaching and Learning Matters.  I’m Dr. Maria Yon from the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  The purpose of this episode is to help you think about how you are using in-class time. Do you feel that your teaching is as effective as it can be and that students are learning?  Will students leave class feeling that their time there has been worthwhile?

A trap that many of us fall into is that we end up lecturing the entire class period.  One of the reasons is that students haven’t prepared ahead of time.  Engaging them in in-class activities is futile.  So, we feel that we have to pass on the information that is already in the text.  They end up taking notes on the content that is already in the text.  Think about your typical class session.  What is happening there?  What are you doing?  What are students doing?  Do you feel you need to make any changes?

I would like to recommend a three-step procedure that should work for most class sessions.  The three steps are:  first exposure, processing, and assessment.  The first exposure step is where we require students to prepare ahead of time for in-class learning.  This is where students encounter new information, vocabulary, and concepts.

First exposure can be done by having students read the text individually, maybe writing a response to the readings, or interacting with the content on-line in some way.  Short lectures done on-line, perhaps as podcasts, that focus on the key points can be effective in preparing students for class.  The key in this first step is to hold them accountable for the first-exposure part of learning.  Once they realize that you have expectations for their being  prepared and that class activities depend on it, they will more than likely come to class ready to engage in the next step—processing the content.

You may choose to begin class with a follow-up to their preparation by giving a short lecture or review.  The purpose is to highlight the key points or teach the more difficult content to which they have already been exposed.  You might hold a discussion around questions that students have.  But, at least half of the class time is spent in the second step—processing by actively engaging students in learning and practicing the content.  You develop activities where students are required to apply, synthesize, compare and contrast, or solve problems based on the material to which they have been exposed.  These activities can be done either individually or in groups.  Brain research tells us that learners must be engaged with the content at a deeper level in order for learning to take place.

Let me give you an example.  Let’s say students were required to read a chapter on segregation in the South before coming to class.  Both sides of the argument are presented in the text.  What will you do in class?  Do you need to lecture or perhaps expand on the text?  What will you do to help students process what they have read?  One way might be to have students plan a defense for one side of the issue and defend it in class.    Another idea is to give them a problem-solving scenario that involves a segregation issue. Or ask them what our country would be like if our society was still forcibly segregated by race.  These are good small group assignments. Be prepared to ask them questions to expand their thinking when they report back to the large group.

The third part of the lesson is the assessment piece.  I am referring here to an assessment of the day’s lesson.  What can you do to determine if they met the goal of the lesson?  This should be something that doesn’t take long to complete and is not necessarily for a grade.  It might be as simple as asking students, “What did you learn today that you didn’t know before?” or “Is segregation ever justified?”

I hope that you have found this helpful in rethinking your use of class time.  So try these three steps:  first exposure, processing, and assessment of learning.  I think that both you and your students will find class more interesting and that the processing step will help students learn more and at a deeper level.

Thanks for listening.  Tune in again.  And remember--teaching and learning matters.
 

Hey, got a minute?  Welcome to the this quick edition of Teaching & Learning Matters.  I am Dr. Garvey Pyke, and I call this a quick edition because we are talking about something called the Minute Paper.  While I do not think I can tell it all in one minute, exactly, I will do my best to be fleet.

In the 1993 book, Classroom Assessment Techniques, Angelo and Cross describe a quick and easy way to get a ton of feedback from your students.  Although this is an assessment technique, it is also an active learning technique in the sense that it gets everyone involved and can be expressly used for this purpose. 

Just as the name implies, you are asking your students to get out a pen and a sheet of paper and to write for 60 seconds on a given topic.  Voila, the Minute Paper!  You can do this at the beginning of class, the end of class, or somewhere in the middle.  It can be anonymous, or not.  You can ask about course content, difficult concepts, or how the class is going for them.  You can ask what they hope is not on the test, or what they hope is.  You are only limited by your imagination.

Even if you have large classes, you can easily whip through these papers in no time at all.  Look for trends or themes to emerge, and you can address them either individually or with the class as a whole during the next class session.

Think you have got it? Simple to set up, minimal time cost, almost zero monetary cost.  The results?  Tons of feedback.  It will give you insights into your class that you had never dreamed of, or it may confirm what you have already suspected.  Either way, give it a try and see what happens. 

If you have any questions or want to learn more about this or other teaching techniques, please stop by the Center for Teaching and Learning at UNC Charlotte, and we will talk about strategies that fit your style, your students’ needs, and your subject area.  

Thanks for listening, and please tune in next time.
 
Until then, so long, and remember: Teaching and Learning Matters.
 

Welcome to this episode of Teaching and Learning Matters. This is Dr. Maria Yon from the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  Today we are going to take a self-reflective approach to examine the question, “How is my teaching?”

Most instructors, both experienced and novice, ask themselves this question many times.  I would like to lead you through a few questions to guide your self-reflection.  I will provide a set of questions, then pause, giving you some time to think.  So, get into a reflective mood and let’s begin.

First, let’s think about how you project yourself as a teacher.  Do you show students that you enjoy teaching?   How do you portray that?  By being well-prepared?  By showing enthusiasm, using innovative teaching practices, being considerate of students and their ideas?  You may now pause the recording for some think time.  You may want to jot down some thoughts and ideas.

Now let’s think about the attitudes and behaviors you expect of your students.  Do they look forward to coming to class?  Do they come prepared to learn?  Do they participate?  Do they listen to you and to their peers? Do they put effort into what they do in class?  How do your attitudes and behaviors influence them?  Pause the recording now if you wish.

Next, ask yourself, do students learn in my class?  Do students feel like their time spent there has been worthwhile?  Were they intellectually stimulated?  Did they leave class having gained a new perspective or new appreciation of the content?  How do you know if transformation has taken place?   Pause the recording for some think time.

Finally, what would you like students to say about you to other students?  “Take Dr. X.  I learned so much.”  “He’s really hard, but he’ll help you.”  “She makes class so interesting.  I think I am going to change my major.”  What do you want them to say? Are you already there?   If not, what do you need to do to move in that direction?  Pause and think.

I hope that you have found this exercise useful in reflecting about your teaching.  An occasional period of reflection session is a useful activity for enhancing teaching.  It’s sometimes difficult to do on a hurried schedule, but you will reap the rewards.

Thanks for listening and remember—teaching and learning matters.

Welcome to Teaching & Learning Matters, and thank you for listening.  I am Dr. Garvey Pyke, and today we are going to talk about an overlooked instructional tool: the seating chart.

I know, I know, students grumble when they realize there will be a seating chart, and some faculty grumble at the idea, too.  That’s OK.  But let’s take a closer look at how to set up a seating chart and what it can help you achieve in the classroom.

First of all, whether you have small classes or large ones, you can start off by creating a blank seating chart.  Think about the layout of the room—the number of rows, the number of seats per row, et cetera.  Unless you have a great memory, you will likely need to visit the physical space and perform a manual count.  Draw up your chart with enough room to write the names in each one and also leave a space around each name for other notations.  Make a photocopy of the blank chart, in case you need to redo it or if you use the same classroom next semester.

Once you have created your blank chart, you now have a couple options for filling in the names.  One method is to bring it to class and announce to the students that where they are currently sitting is their seat for the semester, and then pass around the blank chart and a pencil, asking them to print their names neatly in the corresponding spot.  Another way is to put students in alphabetical order and fill out the chart yourself. 

The third way is to create a seating chart yourself that blends different student personalities and styles to make the most instructionally conducive classroom environment.  This last method is most often used when you can anticipate off-task behaviors from students—such as talking with friends—that can be remediated through a creative seating chart.  Usually, there are only a few personalities that need to be separated, and then you can just fill in the other names randomly.  It is a good idea to pay attention to who sits in front—and back.  Thus, the seating chart is an excellent tool for classroom management. 

Whatever the method you use for getting the students assigned to the seating chart, one of the fruits of your labor will be learning your students’ names more rapidly.  A seating chart is immensely useful in learning all the names: when students ask questions in class, answer your questions, or have discussions, you will be able to easily glance at the chart to see who is talking.

Likewise, you can use the chart to call students by name.  You will find that soon the names stick in your mind without needing the chart every time.  When we know our students’ names, and use them, students feel more connected to us and the classroom community, which increase student success and retention. 

A seating chart is also used for managing classroom participation, to ensure that all students are actively involved.  I keep the seating chart handy during classroom discussions, lectures, and Q&A sessions.  Every time a student asks a question, answers a question, or otherwise participates, I put a little hash mark in their space on the seating chart.  Then I can quickly assess who has participated that day, and I know who to call on—or who not to call on—to ensure that everyone is involved. 

The natural tendency is to stress coverage: we try to cover as much as possible in a given class session.  This is perfectly normal.  However, this can cause us to call on one or two students too frequently, as if they are a “shill in the audience,” planted there by us to answer all of our questions.  Therefore, using a hash mark method can be quite revealing.  I change pen color every class session—blue, black, red, back to blue, et cetera—so I can keep track of participation not just for the semester but also on a class by class basis, too.

In summation, I hope you got a few practical tips today on how to set up and use a seating chart.  If you have any questions or want to learn more, come on over to the Center for Teaching and Learning at UNC Charlotte, and we will talk about some strategies that fit your style, your students’ needs, and your subject area.  

Thanks for listening, and please tune in next time, when we will discuss a short and simple active learning technique for immediate use in your classroom. Until then, so long, and remember: Teaching and Learning Matters.

Welcome to this episode of Teaching and Learning Matters. I’m Maria Yon, faculty member at UNC Charlotte. In this episode, Setting the Tone: The First Day of Class, we’re going to talk about some of the important things that need to happen on that very first class session in the semester.

For most of us whether we are experienced instructors or not, the first day of class can be both exciting and anxiety producing — maybe it’s a new course, a new format, you are going to try out a new strategy — and of course all the new faces. It’s the same for students.  They are wondering what to expect — what is the teacher like?  What will be expected of me?  Can I handle it?  Will it be interesting?  They are waiting in anticipation — and they’re sizing you up on that first day.  So first impressions count!

What you do on your first day of class will affect your students for the rest of the term.  So, think in advance what behaviors and expectations you want to establish in your classroom.  No doubt you want to establish a serious, professional classroom atmosphere where learning will take place.  You can communicate this in several ways:

First is to have a comprehensive, well-structure syllabus ready to distribute.  It tells the class that you have planned ahead — you’ve thought carefully about the goals of the course, about course content, about assessments, and about grading policies.  The syllabus should also address expectations for behavior such as attendance, tardiness, missed assignments, class participation, use of cell phones and other expectations of in-class conduct that you feel are necessary to address. 

A comprehensive syllabus shows that you are conscientious, well-organized and serious about teaching and learning.  Go over the syllabus carefully on the first day highlighting the points you want to elaborate or emphasize.  Answer any questions that students might have about the course or about the syllabus.

Second is to motivate students about the course.  This can be done in two ways.  First is to show your enthusiasm about the course and about teaching.  Enthusiasm is contagious and will motivate your students’ interest in learning the subject matter.  And sometimes, just because of your enthusiasm, some students might be inspired to pursue the field as a career!  That would be a nice tribute to you.

A second way to motivate students about the course is to make it relevant.  Explain to them how the course fits into their program of study—whether it is a course in their major or a general education requirement.  How is this course relevant to their program, and even more importantly, how is this course relevant to their lives today?  Plan some real-life, current examples to share on that first day.  And students love to hear personal stories, too, about how your work in the field applies to their lives.

Finally, make good use of the entire class period on that first day.  Don’t treat it as a throw away day or dismiss it early.  Only if you treat class time as a precious commodity will students see it in that way.  In reality, by the time you cover your syllabus, introduce the class with a motivating presentation, answer students’ questions, have them introduce themselves to each other,  the class time has been filled.

One last note, good planning is the key to effective teaching, even on day one — plan this first day as carefully as you would plan for any other class session. 

I hope this has been helpful. Have a great semester.

Thanks for listening and tune in again for the next Teaching and Learning Matters.

Hello, hello.  Thank you for listening.  I am Dr. Garvey Pyke, and I hope when we are done today, you will have learned something.  In this episode of Teaching & Learning Matters, we are going to talk about how we can respect diverse talents and ways of learning, which is the final principle of Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.” 

If you have not yet heard my podcasts on the other principles, I encourage you to do so after we finish here today.  They are short and sweet and should provide you with some practical tips for making your classes more engaging and helping your students succeed.

OK, so what do Chickering and Gamson mean by respecting diverse talents and ways of learning?  They say that faculty should create learning opportunities that appeal to the different ways students will process and attend to information; varying presentation style and assignment requirements will allow students to showcase their unique talents and learn in ways that work for them.

To put it another way, if we always do the same teaching practices in our course—lecture, quiz, lecture, quiz, lecture, quiz, final exam—with little variation, we are not giving students an opportunity to shine in different formats or learning modalities. 

Some people refer to learning styles, a belief that students approach learning differently from one another with different preferences, such as some students learning better by listening, some better by doing, some better by reading or seeing information.  Whether or not you subscribe to a belief in learning styles, research shows that when content is provided in a variety of different ways, and students are asked to interact with that content in a variety of different ways, then they will learn better and succeed in your class.  That’s the concept behind this principle of respecting diverse talents and ways of learning, that we should balance classroom activities for all styles.

One way to implement this in your classroom is to vary your presentation style.  Lecturing, using PowerPoint, having whole class discussions, breaking students into small groups for assignments or discussions—a good blend of these methods, and more, is recommended … even during the same class session!  Student attention peaks at 10 minutes during a lecture, so why not mix it up a bit, and ask students to pair off to answer a set of questions, share it with the whole group for a quick discussion, and then resume lecturing if need be?

You could do a multimedia presentation or have students do them.  And when students do presentations in groups, let students pick the various roles they will fill in their groups.  A student who is good at graphical design could create the visuals such as the PowerPoint slides.  Another student could lead the data analysis, and another could do the speaking during the actual presentation.

This way, all students can use their diverse talents to make the presentation outstanding. One bonus for those of us grading them is that we do not have to endure as many poor public speakers and instead hear from only the good ones!

Another important way to respect diverse talents and ways of learning is to provide students with choices.  Give them choices on a test or essay—such as “answer three of the following five questions.”  That way, they answer the questions that are most meaningful to them, and the assessment lets them extend their learning by proving how well they’ve learned it.  Or you can design multiple project types that students can complete, and they can choose which one they will do.  One student could do a presentation, another an essay, and another lead a whole class discussion. 

I suppose you could say that this whole podcast is just a longwinded way of saying, “Hey, mix it up a little!”  Well, that’s true—mix it up a little, or a lot!, and your students will do better.  And if you feel like you have been stuck in a rut of doing the same old thing, week in and week out, mixing it up will make your teaching more enjoyable for you, too.

Want to learn more about respecting diverse talents and ways of learning?  Come on over to the Center for Teaching and Learning at UNC Charlotte, and we will talk about some strategies that fit your style, your students’ needs, and your subject area.  

Thanks for listening, and please tune in next time, where we will talk about…something else besides one of the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education… 

Until then, so long, and remember: Teaching and Learning Matters.

Welcome to this episode of "Teaching and Learning Matters." I’m Maria Yon, faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The purpose of this session is to share some ideas about bringing closure to that all important last day of class.

The last day of class has arrived. A semester has ended. Do you realize that the students have reached another milestone in their lives? Do you realize that you have been an important part of them reaching that milestone? Over the semester you have developed a relationship with a group of students—teaching them, guiding them, motivating them, moving them forward both academically and personally.

Milestones are often a time for reflection and celebration. Perhaps it can be so with your class as a way to bring closure to the course and to honor this time of having been together.

Of course there are the usual activities that take place in the last days. Conducting a review session is generally expected by the students. It prepares the students for the final exam by pulling together the main themes or issues that will be covered. It can be done in a brief lecture. And it’s important to leave time for students’ questions so that they feel confident about the content.

Instead you might consider giving a simulated exam to then be checked and discussed as a group. Another possibility is for students to design the exam although you are responsible for the final product. Students will also want to know how long the exam will be and how best to prepare for it. These activities relieve students of the stress they may feel about how or what to study. Also, they will be more motivated to study if they know what to expect.

Student course evaluation forms are traditionally administered at the end of the term to elicit student feedback about a course and the instructor. It is helpful to stress to students the purpose of the questionnaire and how it will be used by your department and how you personally will use the results. And, of course, you will need to follow your department guidelines for administering the course evaluations.

But let’s get back to bringing closure to this important milestone. You can have students reflect on and discuss how the class has changed their beliefs or understandings about a topic. Or how they will take this information into their lives outside of class and use it.

An activity I find most useful is having students write a letter to a future class about the course. They seem to take it more seriously and are very thoughtful when writing for a real audience. Some of their letters are more philosophical, others give more practical guidelines about how to approach the course. Their insights have been useful to me in preparing the course for the next semester—sometimes even more than end-of-course evaluations.

Finally, it’s a time to show acknowledgement and appreciation. Students can acknowledge each other publically for their contributions during the semester. It is a time for you to acknowledge the group, and perhaps some individuals, for their efforts and participation. Emphasize specifically how they have affected you, what you have learned from them.

Wish them luck and offer your assistance to them in the future if they should every need it. And remember, some of them might be graduating now. Make sure that somehow their accomplishment is highlighted on that last day. I always like to offer some words of wisdom and best wishes for the future to all of them, but especially to the graduates.

Thanks for listening. Tune in again for more "Teaching and Learning Matters.