Techniques Video Library
Our teaching techniques are practical to use and address many dimensions of learning. Videos are continually in production—please feel free to send us a message if you have feedback or suggestions for topics that you'd like us to cover!
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Digital Story
Students use computer-based tools, such as video, audio, graphics, and web publishing, to tell personal...
3-2-1
In the 3-2-1 technique, students write about 3 things they learned in the lecture, 2 things they found...
Contemporary Issues Journal
Students look for recent events or developments in the real world that are related to their coursework,...
Jigsaw
In Jigsaw, students work in small groups to develop knowledge about a given topic before teaching what...
Group Grid
In Group Grid, group members are given pieces of information and asked to place them in the blank cells...
Analytic Teams
In Analytic Teams, each team member assumes a different role with specific responsibilities to perform...
Team Jeopardy
Team Jeopardy is a game in which student teams take turns selecting a square from a grid that is organized ...
Paper Seminar
Paper Seminar provides a framework for meaningful discussion centered on student work....
Three-Minute Message
3-Minute Messages are modeled on the Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) academic competition, in which students...
Quick Write
Quick Write is a learning assessment technique where learners respond to an open-ended prompt....
Active Reading Documents
Active Reading Documents are carefully prepared forms that guide students through the process of critical...
Fact or Opinion
Fact or Opinion encourages students to critically evaluate information by questioning what they read....
Sketch Notes
For Sketch Notes, students use handwritten words and visual elements such as drawings, boxes, lines, and...
Update Your Classmate
Update Your Classmate is a short writing activity where students explain what they learned in a previous...
Translate That!
In Translate That!, you pause your lecture and call on a student at random to “translate” the information...
Guided Notes
In Guided Notes, the instructor provides a set of partial notes that students complete during the...
Lecture Engagement Log
Lecture Engagement Logs are records that students keep to document the various academic activities they...
Support a Statement
The instructor provides students with a provocative statement and prompts them to locate details,...
Personal Learning Environment
A PLE is a set of people and digital resources an individual can access for the specific intent of...
Lecture Wrapper
A Lecture Wrapper is a tool for teaching students self-monitoring behavior as they identify key points...
Post-Test Analysis
A Post-Test Analysis is a two-stage process that is divided into several steps designed to help students...
Test-Taking Teams
In Test-Taking Teams, students work in groups to prepare for a test. They then take the test, first...
Role Play
A Role Play is a created situation in which students deliberately act out or assume characters or...
Case Studies
With Case Studies, student teams review a real-life problem scenario in depth. Team members apply course...
Triple Jump
A Triple-Jump is a three-step technique that requires students to think through and attempt to solve a...
Dyadic Essays
In Dyadic Essays, students: 1). complete a content unit, identify a central question, and draft an answer...
Variations
In Variations, students create an altered version of the original, such as rewriting the ending of a...
Dyadic Interviews
In Dyadic Interviews, student pairs take turns asking each other questions that tap into values,...
Advance Organizers
An Advance Organizer is a tool that professors can present to students prior to a lecture to help them...
IRAs
When using IRA’s, students complete a written response to a reading assignment that includes three...
Background Knowledge Probe
A Background Knowledge Probe is a short, simple, focused questionnaire that students fill out at the...
Online Resource Scavenger Hunt
In an Online Resource Scavenger Hunt, students use the Internet to engage in fact-finding and information...
Frames
A Frame is a template of sentence stems that provides the shape of a short essay, but not the content....
Invent the Quiz
In Invent the Quiz, students write a limited number of test questions related to a recent learning module...
Letters
In Letters, students assume the identity of an important person in your discipline and write a letter...
Class Book
For a Class Book, individual students work together to plan and ultimately submit a scholarly essay or...
Think-Pair-Share
In a Think-Pair-Share, the instructor poses a question, gives students a few minutes to think about a...
Affinity Grouping
In Affinity Grouping, individual students generate ideas and identify common themes. Then, students form...
Comprehensive Factors List
In Comprehensive Factors List, students write all the relevant factors they can think of about a specific...
Crib Cards
Crib Cards are three-by-five inch index cards that students create to use on exams, on which they write...
Cued Notes
In Cued Notes, students use a template to prompt them to record a cue that you provide and to take notes...
Note-Taking Pairs
In Note-Taking Pairs, student partners work together to improve their individual notes....
Punctuated Lecture
During a Punctuated Lecture, students listen to the lecture for approximately 15 to 20 minutes. At the...
Fishbowl
In Fishbowl, students form concentric circles with a small group inside and a larger group outside....
Individual Readiness Assurance Tests
Individual Readiness Assurance Tests are closed-book quizzes that students complete after an out-of-class...
Quotation Summaries
In Quotation Summaries, students comment on a series of quotes from their assigned reading using a...
What? So What? Now What? Journals
In What? So What? Now What? Journals, students reflect on their recent course-related activities as they...
Think-Aloud-Pair Problem Solving
In Think-Aloud-Pair Problem Solving (or TAPPS for short), students take turns solving problems aloud...
Briefing Paper
In a Briefing Paper, students research a current problem of their choice, summarize the main issues, and...
Sentence Stem Predictions
In Sentence Stem Predictions (SSP), the professor presents a partial sentence that is structured to...