In January 2020, faculty from Waubonsee Community College participated on a panel to discuss their experiences learning together in ACUE’s course in Effective Teaching Practices. The faculty were among a cohort of 30, 15 adjunct and 15 full-time, who began the course in 2019 to better their teaching practice. You can see a video of the panel on the Waubonsee website. 

Waubonsee panelists included Dani Fischer, associate professor of biology; Amy Chaaban, assistant professor of information systems; and Jason Chatman, instructor of sociology.

Waubonsee facilitators Robin Luxton, adjunct faculty and Dave Voorhees, professor of earth science and geology, as well as Carmen Macharaschwili, regional director of academic programs at ACUE, also joined the conversation

Here are some of the highlights from the panel discussion. Some of the responses have been edited for clarity and length.

How is the ACUE program beneficial to faculty and students?

Chatman: I’ve been teaching for nine years, so I’m not new to it, but I wanted to learn how to teach better. With this course we have the opportunity to sit in a class where it’s all about that. This first semester when I was in the class and simultaneously trying some of the methods in my sociology classes, I noticed a difference. It makes the class more enjoyable for me, and it makes it more enjoyable for the students. The ACUE material can really empower you to build a much more enriching and rewarding classroom experience.

Chaaban: I’ve been teaching for a long time—I’ll be starting my 20^th year in the fall—and I felt like I needed a revamp to refresh myself. Also, you get to learn more about your students because there are some very quiet people in the class who have unique perspectives. These new methods help me to relate better to those students and figure out ways that I can approach them and design the exercises with them.

Fischer: I think it is really good for my students to realize that I am a student too—that we are learning together. Doing some of the ACUE activities made me learn that some of my students were not coming to class with prior knowledge I thought they had. So now I know to add it to my arsenal of things that I’ll do all the time.

What is the ACUE experience like?

Chatman: When you’re in one of the modules they introduce a technique to you. You watch several videos that show you some examples of people doing it well. Then they show you an example of a person not doing it well and the class going really badly. You then talk about it with your colleagues who are taking the course with you. You decide to either implement it in your classroom yourself, or you plan to do it in the future, and you do a write up on it.

Chaaban: This written reflection allows you to go deeper into what you learned—what worked, what didn’t work, and how you’re going to implement it. It takes time and dedication to plan those things out, but I look forward to doing it. It is certainly doable and you’re going to get out what you put into it.

Chatman: I’ve never found the class itself to be overwhelming or burdensome. It takes you out of your routine, but the more you do it the more natural it becomes.

How have you applied some of the new practices in your classes?

Fischer: I implemented a peer-review activity in my biology class. I originally assumed there wasn’t a whole lot of opportunity in my type of classes for peer review, but I did it for a formal lab. I was really surprised at how completely the students filled out the document. They got to see what other people’s work looked like, which otherwise they wouldn’t, and I think they got the opportunity to make themselves better and make their partner’s work better. It was very successful.

Chaaban: I used the fishbowl method in my computer ethics class. The students had a week to prepare—reading a scenario and doing their research. When they came into class on the discussion day, three people sat in the middle of the circle and started talking. When one of them would mention a fact, you would see all the others working to see if the fact was true. It was phenomenal how engaged all of them were. I just took notes—I didn’t have to give them any prompts or assistance. It was fascinating from my standpoint to watch them do this. Afterward, I had the students do an evaluation of the activity and they all loved it. They thought it was very worthwhile and wanted to do it again.

Chatman: The activity that I thought was most effective was when we did the jigsaw in my class. There are three primary sociological theories that get used. Prior to trying this I would normally give some lecture material on it and have students discuss. But when you do the jigsaw activity, you have groups specialize in one aspect of what you’re learning, so I had groups working on each of the three theories. They studied it and learned it for 30 minutes by themselves and then started interacting with each other and teaching the other groups what they learned. By the end, the class as a whole had a better understanding of all the different theoretical perspectives. It opened up and established what we call the “sociological imagination” so deeply and broadly in all of them. It’s the only way I’m going to do it now.

What motivated you to take the course, and what continues to intrigue you?

Fischer: The number one driving factor in my taking this class was that you can get graduate credit. The second would be interacting with other faculty. Since there was a split between adjunct and full-time faculty, I got to meet new people I haven’t interacted with before.

Chaaban: The online resources are phenomenal. First thing I did is download all the PDFs, put them in a folder and keep them, because I want to be able to have those afterwards. And what I love too is that you can go back into past modules and review. They’re not closed to you.

Fischer: And you don’t have to come up with all this content on your own. There are a lot of supportive documents that you can utilize for any activity in your class. You don’t have to build from scratch. I also love that there are a lot of options in each module, so you don’t have to do the same thing.

Closing Remarks

Chaaban: I don’t love this class; I adore this class. It’s absolutely phenomenal and I can’t say enough about it. This has really changed my teaching dramatically.

Fischer: When you’re collaborating with faculty from all over the country—teachers from UCLA or University of Michigan—it almost feels intimidating, but you realize they’re all dealing with the same thing you are, which is nice.

Luxton: I have been impressed at every level…I have been nothing but pleased by the experience so far.

Voorhees: This is the real deal—this is where you can truly get a good exposure to how to be a teacher. Most of us are content experts, but we don’t really know how to be teachers. This class excels at giving you a quality product on how to be the most effective teacher you can be.

Related Video

Meet Dr. Laura Ortiz, Dean for Faculty Development and Engagement at Waubonsee Community College. In this short video, Dr. Ortiz discusses working with ACUE to help faculty develop inclusive and supportive teaching practices.

The work of faculty and students—teaching and learning together—is the very essence of higher education. With dorms now vacant, stadiums and courts silent, libraries and parking lots empty, teaching and learning continues.

In the coming weeks, we’re honored to share stories of your colleagues nationwide, the #ResilientFaculty who are making an impact on higher education, and most notably students, that will far outlast this current crisis.

We kick off this series with our own version of “One Shining Moment,” the annual video montage of the NCAA basketball tournament, or “March Madness,” which captures the best moments of the tournament. We wanted to celebrate the extraordinary efforts of faculty over the past few weeks, but even more importantly we want to inspire you with a preview of the impactful stories to come.

Classrooms may be closed, but faculty ensure class is still in session. 

Call for Stories

We’re inspired—but in no way surprised—by the countless stories of faculty going above and beyond to help one another and ensure students keep learning.

At Cal Poly Pomona, instructional technology experts re-routed support calls to their personal phones to ensure uninterrupted support from “Studio 6,” their technology training lab. At San Antonio College, teaching and learning experts have trained over 1,300 faculty online in one week, working around the clock to support faculty across the Alamos Colleges district. At Broward College, ACUE-credentialed biology faculty are using virtual lab tools. And, virtual communities like the Online Learning Collective are being created by faculty for faculty to provide platforms for expertise, collaboration and collegiality that exemplifies the best of the professoriate.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be highlighting the extraordinary leadership of educators from every region in the country, to honor and celebrate the amazing work of #ResilientFaculty.

We want to hear from you! Send in your stories on social media with the hashtag #ResilientFaculty or tag @ACUE_HQ. You can also email us at [email protected]. Or, directly contact a member of the ACUE team.

You, the instructor, play an important role in shaping your students’ learning experience. As courses across the world move online in light of the coronavirus pandemic, prompting discussions and engaging and encouraging students become all the more challenging. How do you support your students and foster learning in a virtual setting?

Northern Arizona University’s Flower Darby, Delta State University’s April E. Mondy, and Grand View University’s Kevin Gannon set out to address this question in Managing Your Online Presence, the second in ACUE’s series of Effective Online Instruction seminars. In partnership with The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), The American Council on Education (ACE), The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), and The National Association of System Heads (NASH), the series addresses a variety of topics to help instructors effectively transition to remove learning environments. This webinar was moderated by Kim Middleton, academic director at ACUE.

Mondy stressed the need for effective communication during these tumultuous times. “We’re in survival mode,” she said. “Communication should be transparent, empathetic, proactive, and consistent.”

She also reminded participants of the importance of flexibility during periods of uncertainty. “We need to be flexible, patient, and understanding with students, and they need to be flexible, patient, and understanding with us.”

To that end, she encouraged faculty to convey understanding and a willingness to work with, not against, their students. This, she said, includes anticipating and proactively addressing questions and concerns from students before they arise. It also means being consistent, such as sending emails and announcements at the same time every week.

Darby, too, pointed to the need for communication. “Emphasize ‘one-to-many’ communication instead of one-to-one,” she said.

She presented the Community of Inquiry framework, noting three presences necessary, including cognitive, social, and teaching. The presences all intersect at deep learning and include such factors supporting discourse, setting climate, and selecting content. “Emotional presence should suffuse the whole thing,” she concluded.

Darby urged faculty to ask students to share challenges they might be experiencing outside of class with them through a survey or other means.

Gannon, too, believes check-ins and surveys can be effective. “It’s important to signal we’re aware that these are weird times for everybody,” he said.

He also proposed creating a “parking lot” to post items that may not come up in class discussions but need to be addressed. Via a discussion board or other channels, instructors can post topics, and students can ask questions. Gannon simply posed the prompt, “Got a question?” to encourage students to chime in.

Creating a low-to-no-stake space, he said, is essential, as is showing transparency and empathy.

During the Q&A portion, participants wondered how the experts might address a situation in which students weren’t willing to cut their instructor some slack.

“Sometimes, students have a tendency to put us on a pedestal,” Mondy said. “They need to be reminded that this is something we’re all dealing with. Say, ‘I’m trying to be flexible with you, and I need you to be flexible with me.’”

“Our students may be communicating less skillfully than they usually would with us,” Gannon added. “Give them the benefit of the doubt.”

“The more we’re willing to be vulnerable and let students into our lives, the more forgiving they’ll be,” Darby suggested.

Other participants asked for suggestions on communicating with students who had limited technology access.

“Don’t compromise the integrity of their learning, but be more flexible at this time,” Mondy said. As an example, she told an anecdote about a student who was unable to complete an assignment because he only had access to a tablet, not a computer.

“Ask yourself, ‘Could I do this on my cell phone?’” Gannon proposed. “That helps you think of ways to create alternate means of completing assignments. Are there ways to limit materials we want them to access?”

“Most students have some kind of smartphone,” Darby said. “Offer ways to communicate, whether it’s one-to-one with you, in a small group, or to the whole class.”

“We need to work through challenges together,” said Mondy.

To ask a question, add your own thoughts, watch the webinar or read a transcript, or access plenty of online teaching and learning resources, visit the Managing Your Online Presence webinar page.

In January 2020, faculty from Waubonsee Community College participated on a panel to discuss their experiences learning together in ACUE’s course in Effective Teaching Practices. The faculty were among a cohort of 30, 15 adjunct and 15 full-time, who began the course in 2019 to better their teaching practice. You can see a video of the panel on the Waubonsee website. 

Waubonsee panelists included Dani Fischer, associate professor of biology; Amy Chaaban, assistant professor of information systems; and Jason Chatman, instructor of sociology.

Waubonsee facilitators Robin Luxton, adjunct faculty and Dave Voorhees, professor of earth science and geology, as well as Carmen Macharaschwili, regional director of academic programs at ACUE, also joined the conversation

Here are some of the highlights from the panel discussion. Some of the responses have been edited for clarity and length.

How is the ACUE program beneficial to faculty and students?

Chatman: I’ve been teaching for nine years, so I’m not new to it, but I wanted to learn how to teach better. With this course we have the opportunity to sit in a class where it’s all about that. This first semester when I was in the class and simultaneously trying some of the methods in my sociology classes, I noticed a difference. It makes the class more enjoyable for me, and it makes it more enjoyable for the students. The ACUE material can really empower you to build a much more enriching and rewarding classroom experience.

Chaaban: I’ve been teaching for a long time—I’ll be starting my 20^th year in the fall—and I felt like I needed a revamp to refresh myself. Also, you get to learn more about your students because there are some very quiet people in the class who have unique perspectives. These new methods help me to relate better to those students and figure out ways that I can approach them and design the exercises with them.

Fischer: I think it is really good for my students to realize that I am a student too—that we are learning together. Doing some of the ACUE activities made me learn that some of my students were not coming to class with prior knowledge I thought they had. So now I know to add it to my arsenal of things that I’ll do all the time.

What is the ACUE experience like?

Chatman: When you’re in one of the modules they introduce a technique to you. You watch several videos that show you some examples of people doing it well. Then they show you an example of a person not doing it well and the class going really badly. You then talk about it with your colleagues who are taking the course with you. You decide to either implement it in your classroom yourself, or you plan to do it in the future, and you do a write up on it.

Chaaban: This written reflection allows you to go deeper into what you learned—what worked, what didn’t work, and how you’re going to implement it. It takes time and dedication to plan those things out, but I look forward to doing it. It is certainly doable and you’re going to get out what you put into it.

Chatman: I’ve never found the class itself to be overwhelming or burdensome. It takes you out of your routine, but the more you do it the more natural it becomes.

How have you applied some of the new practices in your classes?

Fischer: I implemented a peer-review activity in my biology class. I originally assumed there wasn’t a whole lot of opportunity in my type of classes for peer review, but I did it for a formal lab. I was really surprised at how completely the students filled out the document. They got to see what other people’s work looked like, which otherwise they wouldn’t, and I think they got the opportunity to make themselves better and make their partner’s work better. It was very successful.

Chaaban: I used the fishbowl method in my computer ethics class. The students had a week to prepare—reading a scenario and doing their research. When they came into class on the discussion day, three people sat in the middle of the circle and started talking. When one of them would mention a fact, you would see all the others working to see if the fact was true. It was phenomenal how engaged all of them were. I just took notes—I didn’t have to give them any prompts or assistance. It was fascinating from my standpoint to watch them do this. Afterward, I had the students do an evaluation of the activity and they all loved it. They thought it was very worthwhile and wanted to do it again.

Chatman: The activity that I thought was most effective was when we did the jigsaw in my class. There are three primary sociological theories that get used. Prior to trying this I would normally give some lecture material on it and have students discuss. But when you do the jigsaw activity, you have groups specialize in one aspect of what you’re learning, so I had groups working on each of the three theories. They studied it and learned it for 30 minutes by themselves and then started interacting with each other and teaching the other groups what they learned. By the end, the class as a whole had a better understanding of all the different theoretical perspectives. It opened up and established what we call the “sociological imagination” so deeply and broadly in all of them. It’s the only way I’m going to do it now.

What motivated you to take the course, and what continues to intrigue you?

Fischer: The number one driving factor in my taking this class was that you can get graduate credit. The second would be interacting with other faculty. Since there was a split between adjunct and full-time faculty, I got to meet new people I haven’t interacted with before.

Chaaban: The online resources are phenomenal. First thing I did is download all the PDFs, put them in a folder and keep them, because I want to be able to have those afterwards. And what I love too is that you can go back into past modules and review. They’re not closed to you.

Fischer: And you don’t have to come up with all this content on your own. There are a lot of supportive documents that you can utilize for any activity in your class. You don’t have to build from scratch. I also love that there are a lot of options in each module, so you don’t have to do the same thing.

Closing Remarks

Chaaban: I don’t love this class; I adore this class. It’s absolutely phenomenal and I can’t say enough about it. This has really changed my teaching dramatically.

Fischer: When you’re collaborating with faculty from all over the country—teachers from UCLA or University of Michigan—it almost feels intimidating, but you realize they’re all dealing with the same thing you are, which is nice.

Luxton: I have been impressed at every level…I have been nothing but pleased by the experience so far.

Voorhees: This is the real deal—this is where you can truly get a good exposure to how to be a teacher. Most of us are content experts, but we don’t really know how to be teachers. This class excels at giving you a quality product on how to be the most effective teacher you can be.

Dr. Carol Rolheiser is clear: her passion for teaching is at the core of her professional work. A professor with the University of Toronto’s Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning, Dr. Rolheiser also serves as the university’s director of the Center for Teaching Support & Innovation (CTSI). ACUE recently spoke with Dr. Rolheiser and her colleague Megan Burnett, associate director of the CTSI.

After looking for a faculty development experience that Rolheiser says would “support the building of teaching culture across the University of Toronto,” they found ACUE. They launched the Effective Teaching Practices course with 45 faculty members in mid-2019.

The duo’s insights several months into the experience? 

“Our biggest worry was that the basics would feel like the basics or it would feel foundational. It doesn’t because they [faculty course-takers] are applying new ideas they haven’t thought about or ideas that they have been using are now more intentional. And they’re also affirmed because there are things that they now are thinking about in a new way,” said Rolheiser.

“And the level of discussion that we have seen on the discussion boards is amazing. They’re sharing ideas. They’re cross-pollinating. And it’s a very diverse group. Lots of different disciplines represented. And they’re learning from each other, which is one of the key factors that we wanted in place for this experience,” added Burnett.

This video features guest Dr. Kathryn Morris, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Butler University.

Dr. Morris spoke with the American Council on Education’s Assistant Vice President of Professional Learning Sherri Hughes about creating value through instructional excellence and career readiness at Butler.

Dr. Morris discusses Butler’s experience in the CIC Consortium for Instructional Excellence and Career Guidance and shares findings of faculty and student impact. Through this collaboration between the Council of Independent Colleges and ACUE, funded by the Strada Education Network, nearly 500 faculty members at 26 institutions, including Butler, continued to elevate the student experience by embedding evidence-based teaching practices, career guidance, and skill development into their courses. The result is a more valuable experience for students.

“If you look at the traditional measures of student success, things like retention rate and graduation rate, we do very well and we’re higher than the national averages both for our students overall and for students and each various demographic group,” said Morris.

“But we want to do better. And we know that there are certain subgroups of students who don’t perform quite as well as the rest of the student body as a whole. We feel obliged to make sure that we’re doing everything possible to have all of our students have as much success as they can.”

This series offers an informal opportunity to learn from a range of leaders and experts on timely topics relevant to students’ success. A Conversation on Student Success is collaboratively produced by ACE and ACUE. 

Watch the introductory clip, and then create a complimentary account on ACE Engage® to watch the full video and weigh in.

In this first clip, Dr. Morris introduces Butler and the university’s commitment to student success.

In this second clip, Dr Morris shares a story about a faculty member’s experience with the ACUE Effective Teaching Practices course.

Watch the Full Video

Create a complimentary account on ACE Engage® to watch the full video and weigh in. ACE Engage is ACE’s peer-to-peer online community and learning platform for higher education executives.

When you click to watch the full video, you will be asked to first Log In or Sign Up.

Can teaching be a driver of institutional transformation? We explored the question with Amy Chasteen Miller, executive vice provost at the University of Southern Mississippi, Farah Ward, provost and vice chancellor at Elizabeth City State University, and Scott Furlong, provost and vice president at SUNY Oswego. In this recap of a session at AASCU’s winter academic affairs meeting, their insights suggest that the answer is an unequivocal “yes!”

Q: What’s necessary to make teaching a driver of institutional transformation?

Chasteen: First, you have to think about what sort of transformation you want. For Southern Miss, it was to shift paradigms of our faculty members in regard to their role in student success. We needed our faculty to see their role in not just a student’s performance in the classroom, but also their sense of belonging. To do this, our professors need different teaching skills, but also want a community to talk about teaching and how changes in class make a difference in students’ lives. We see this happening, getting us to a critical mass of faculty, in different disciplines, having this conversation. That becomes institutional transformation.

Furlong: As a faculty member, teaching was essential to what I did, and my connection with students was always extremely important to me–and hopefully to them, as well. But as an administrator, I need to have a mechanism to allow teaching to be an institutional priority. SUNY-Oswego did hundreds of professional development programs a year, but it needed a focus—especially around evidence-based teaching practices. Creating a community, where faculty can discuss their successes and failures is important, too.

Ward: For Elizabeth City, in a rural and poor part of North Carolina, a student connecting with a professor is a real catalyst for upward mobility. To make these connections, faculty need sustained support. It’s not a brown bag lunch. It’s not a one-hour session. The administration has to be invested, too.

Q: What drove your university to look into new ways to improve instruction?

Ward: We had a decline in enrollment, and one thing we’ve seen that elevates enrollment is a commitment to student success initiatives, like curriculum reform and advising. But I realized that the one thing every single one of our students has in common is that they have to go to class. They have to interact with their professors. So while we’ve seen success with student initiatives on the fringes, to make a longstanding impact, it’s imperative that we address the classroom. That’s what drove us to make invest in our faculty, even in tough economic times.

Q: How do you engage faculty in this work?

Chasteen: Some faculty can be skeptical, so there has to be trust that a positive change can happen, as well as some tools they can try. But another key part is that there needs to be affirmation at the upper administration. Faculty need to hear that we appreciate they are taking the time to improve their teaching and that if they take risks in the classroom, we won’t hold it against them. It’s critically important to have that administrative support so that they try new things and watch the positive outcomes come in.

Ward: One thing I did to get faculty involved was to make sure they understand that our goal is to get students engaged. And call me an optimist, but I think if students are engaged, everything else will work out. Faculty also want to learn practices that are relevant. This alone will continue to keep them engaged.

Q: Why did your university choose to partner with ACUE?

Furlong: SUNY-Oswego had already made strides in other student success interventions. The next piece of the puzzle was for instruction to be even more student-oriented. What intrigued me was ACUE’s focus on the role faculty can and should play in student success.

Chasteen: Around 2015, we became interested in finding ways to really transform our teaching by looking in the classroom to extend student success around teaching–beyond early alerts, outreach to students and advising reform. We decided to pilot a program with two cohorts of faculty to see what kind of impact it could make. It was wildly successful. We’ve continued since then and built a really strong culture of transforming teaching on campus.

Q: What’s been key to your success, lessons learned, or any surprises?

Furlong: The first faculty to get involved are very much evangelizers of the program. 100% of them earned their ACUE-credential. And they continue to have meetings to discuss what they’re doing in the classrooms.

Chasteen: We made it an honor to be selected to participate in the program. Faculty can apply or be nominated. We developed what we call our ACUE Faculty Development Professional Institute. We give them a lot of accolades throughout the program. At the end, not only does ACUE come in for a certificate ceremony, we also designate them as an ACUE Distinguished Teaching Scholar, which goes on their signature, a website, and they get a custom-designed medallion they can wear at graduation. We’re an R1 institution, and our faculty is extremely research-focused. Our Institute is a space where we help faculty align the two, so that they can be more effective in the classroom in a way that doesn’t take away from the time they devote to research.

Furlough: We’ve had a number of our faculty write on their course syllabus and tell their students in class that they’re doing an ACUE course and that they’ll be trying some new things—some of which might not work so they asked for pre-forgiveness—collecting data, and writing reflection papers. The students seemed to like that the faculty member was also going through a learning process.

Q: How do you know transformation when you see it?

Ward: We just got our first ACUE progress report . Faculty finds the program very relevant. Our faculty are learning, on average, about three new practices in every learning module, and their implementing at least one of those practices.

Furlough: When we started the program, I was very clear with my faculty that this is not just about taking ACUE’s course—it’s  about implementing the recommended practices. My faculty has taken that to heart. Across the board, we see that they’re trying new things and believe these new practices have a positive effect in their classrooms.

Chasteen: We’ve seen those same patterns, and we’ve also noticed change in several of our major gateway classes. Faculty are implementing active learning practices with a fully flipped classroom, and getting much better student outcomes and positive student feedback. There’s also a culture shift where more faculty are more engaged in professional development.

(This Q&A is based on remarks delivered at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Academic Affairs Meeting in February 2020. It was edited for clarity.)

ACUE’s Consortium for Instructional Excellence and Career Guidance, launched in 2017 with the Council of Independent Colleges, is featured as a “Highlighted Initiative” in a new  paper by the American Council on Education, “Beyond Classroom Borders, Linking Learning and Work Through Career-Relevant Instruction.”

With support from Strada Education Network, nearly 500 faculty earned ACUE’s certificate in effective college instruction with a concentration in career guidance and readiness. Faculty developed instructional practices shown to improve student outcomes and close equity gaps. They also acquired approaches to make courses more relevant to students’ career aspirations and how to create assignments that develop students’ career-related skills.

“There is a hunger to improve teaching in ways that will help students engage more deeply in their studies while simultaneously guiding them toward career pathways that will lead to success after graduation,” said David Brailow, CIC vice president for development.

Across the Consortium, 95 percent of participating faculty find the experience relevant, are implementing dozens of evidence-based teaching practices, and are more confident in connecting their courses to careers. Over 80 percent of students reported that their instructor helped them develop career-related skills. In related research, such leading indicators are associated with closed achievement gaps, higher rates of course completion, and deeper levels of learning among students taught by ACUE-credentialed faculty.

Download the whitepaper.