Active Learning Cards and Online Resource

Posted on November 4, 2025 by abrusini

On Monday, October 6, 2025, the Center for Teaching Excellence and Integration (CTEI) hosted a Brown Bag Lunch and Learn featuring the release of the Center’s Active Learning Cards and Online Resource. Caroline Egan, Teaching Academy Program Manager and Lecturer in the University Writing Program, developed the content and authored the cards. Beth Hals, Senior Instructional Technologist in the CTEI, created the online resource as well as the extension elements for each of the strategies. Both Caroline Egan and Beth Hals facilitated the session, which was hybrid, with both in-person and online participants.

Egan and Hals began the presentation by asking audience members why they might consider using active learning, which at a basic level is an evidence-based instructional approach that engages students directly in the learning process (Cavanagh, 2023). Audience responses included: engaging students, making classes more fun, and encouraging students to drive their own learning. Egan shared additional research about active learning, including how it improves learning and grades, reduces equity gaps, and lowers drop, fail, and withdraw (DFW) rates in STEM classes. She also noted that active learning can be used in any class modality (online, hybrid, in-person, etc.) and with any class size.

The session was very interactive, with Egan and Hals demonstrating the use of several active learning strategies throughout the workshop, pointing out the strategies used and explaining how they had been modified for a hybrid delivery format. For example, at one point, audience members were asked to think of a favorite active learning activity from a course, workshop, or training and post their responses to Padlet, an online collaboration tool used to creatively display visual content. This led to a lively share-out among audience members who were interested in hearing about their peers’ experiences with the strategies they shared, as well as interest in Padlet. Audience responses included: a gallery walk, think-pair-share, group work, brainstorming, case studies, peer instruction, stations, and a jigsaw activity.

Despite evidence-based support for active learning, Egan and Hals acknowledged that faculty sometimes face barriers during implementation. Using an online survey in Microsoft Forms, Hals asked audience members to select the top three barriers to using active learning. Survey results and suggestions for overcoming those barriers were then shared:

Time constraints: Depending on the activity, active learning can sometimes take more time to plan and implement than a traditional lecture. A suggestion was made to start small; try incorporating one strategy into one lesson and build from there.
Lecture/content heavy course: Faculty often feel pressured to cover vast amounts of content and feel that they won’t be able to cover everything if they implement active learning. Suggestions include using strategies to encourage reflection, rehearsal, or application of concepts and/or short knowledge checks throughout the semester to check for understanding.
Predeveloped course: Faculty sometimes inherit a predeveloped course and don’t always feel comfortable making changes. A suggestion was made to have a conversation with others in the department or program, including their teaching and learning center, about how active learning might be integrated into the course and where there might be room for customization.

The second half of the session was dedicated to introducing the active learning cards and the corresponding online resource. The set of cards includes sixteen strategies, each with a description of an activity that can be used immediately or planned over a longer period of time. Each card also includes information about preparation time, student engagement time, debrief time, and whether the activity is best suited for individuals, pairs, or groups. The interactive online resource includes the information from each of the cards, as well as additional information about how to implement these strategies in different modalities, helpful tips, potential extensions or modifications, and recommended technology tools to support these strategies. Audience members were given plenty of time to review the cards and explore the online component before taking part in a few activities including a think-pair-share exercise and a small group activity.

The workshop concluded with the presenters sharing information on how to access the cards and online resource which are both available online from the CTEI website. The cards can be downloaded as a PDF or printed professionally in bulk by an external printing service (for a fee). If you are a JHU instructor or graduate student with teaching responsibilities, please feel free to drop by our center for a free set of cards or contact us at ctei@jhu.edu if you would like them mailed to you.

Amy Brusini, Senior Instructional Designer
Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation

Image source: Lunch and Learn logo, Padlet, MS Forms, CTEI website

References:

Cavanagh, S. R. (2023, September 18). How to make your teaching more engaging. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-make-your-teaching-more-engaging/

The Importance of Course Design: Beyond a Blank Canvas

Posted on October 15, 2025 by abrusini

[Guest post by Beth Hals, Senior Instructional Technologist in the Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation (CTEI), Johns Hopkins University]

Thoughtful course design plays a critical role in shaping the student learning experience, regardless of whether a class is taught online or in person. Fully online asynchronous courses typically have an intense, front-loaded design process to ensure that they are accessible, easy to navigate, and designed in a comprehensive manner. These courses often come with instructional design support as well. For instructors delivering synchronous courses, by the time they have constructed their syllabus, designed their assessments, created lectures, and determined what strategies will be used in class to encourage student engagement, designing and building their Canvas course sites may understandably be at the bottom of the list.

But course design matters. It impacts the students’ perception of the course and their learning experience. During JHU’s Spring 2024 Canvas Implementation Survey, when asked about their user experience in an open-ended question, student responses included: “every class is some new labyrinth,” “some classes are terrible because the courses are not set up well in the system,” and “the difference between a chaotic and stressful canvas course and an easy-to-use one is organization.”

 As a senior instructional technologist, I work directly with faculty who are trying to do just this – communicate with their students using the online platform, disseminate content, organize their resources in logical and meaningful ways, and leverage the learning management system (LMS) in a way that accomplishes exactly what they want for their assignments and gradebook calculations. The good news is that while creating a Canvas course may not be an instructor’s top priority, there are several tweaks one can make to significantly improve students’ experiences and overall course design.

Communication around course expectations
You may have the most beautiful course outline ever created within the confines of your syllabus, but is that same outline reflected within your course resources and assignments? The easier it is for students to locate the outline, which undoubtedly contains critical information such as due dates, the more likely they are to access it and meet your expectations!

Help students plan: make sure all assignments, quizzes, discussions, etc. have due dates.
- When you include due dates, they appear in the student’s Canvas Calendar synthesized with due dates from all of their other courses. Due dates are also viewable in the student’s to-do list and in their DXP calendar (the DXP calendar is part of the digital experience platform in which students can access a synthesized view of their schedule, major university events or holidays, Canvas and Course Plus assignments, and more).

- - If students have a multi-part assignment, a discussion that involves posting and responding to their peers in some way, or participate in a peer review, provide each of these checkpoint dates explicitly, as all of these types of assignments require multiple due dates.
  - Set a to-do date on critical Canvas pages. If you have a page in which you explain what reading needs to be completed before coming to class, set a to-do date for that page and outline the pre-class expectations.

Eliminate hunting: If you use assignments, quizzes, or discussions in your course, make sure they are available to students on the Course Navigation Menu and include detailed instructions.

- Students should not have to hunt for assignment instructions or discussion prompts in the syllabus. Include this information in the instructions area of your assignment or discussion board.
- Students need to be able to quickly refer back to your course to clarify instructions, check and respond to discussion threads, and access an assignment to easily submit their work. The Course Navigation Menu provides easy access to key areas of the course.

Give your course personality
A warm, positive online presence is vitally important to cultivating a sense of community for your students. There are several ways you can use the LMS to help your course feel more approachable and inviting:

Course Card Image: Upload an image to represent your Canvas course. This creates a visual association that will differentiate your course from the others.

Canvas Profile Picture: Upload a picture of yourself or something that represents your personality to your Canvas profile. This picture appears when you make an announcement, provide a summary comment in SpeedGrader, or comment on discussion posts and helps your communication feel more personalized.

Create an Instructor Profile or an About Me Page: Provide students with information about yourself and your professional background – but be sure to also include some personal details, such as hobbies, personal interests, pets, family, favorite vacation, etc. Creating an opportunity for students to discover common interests while also humanizing yourself helps build rapport and makes you more approachable.

  Make your course accessible for all

Use Built-in Accessibility Checkers
Canvas includes a built-in Accessibility Checker that checks content created within the Rich Content Editor. Canvas also integrates with Ally, a third-party tool that flags issues course-wide, including those found in uploaded external content, and provides instructions on how to fix them. These tools quickly identify issues such as missing alternative text, poor color contrast, and inaccessible document formats. Regularly running checks using these tools helps instructors make timely improvements and maintain an inclusive course site.

Apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Designing with UDL principles in mind ensures your course meets the needs of a wide range of learners. Providing multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression not only supports students with disabilities but also improves learning experiences for all students. For example, if your course contains several text-heavy documents, you might consider also including a relevant set of images and/or videos. Conversely, consider providing a transcript for any videos within your course.
Provide Clear, Organized Content
Structuring materials with headings, descriptive links, and consistent formatting makes content easier to navigate with screen readers and less overwhelming for all students. Use built-in bullet points or numbered lists to help organize content. A well-organized course site reduces cognitive load and helps students focus on learning rather than searching for resources. If your school does not use formatting software (i.e., CidiLabs, etc.) consider using CTEI’s Canvas Formatting Toolkit to help organize your course site. Pre-formatted tabs, callout boxes, icons and more are available for download from Canvas Commons. If you are external to JHU, send an email to ctei@jhu.edu for assistance with the toolkit.

Ask a friend (or your teaching and learning center!)
Do you think everything in your course is laid out beautifully? Is it easy to understand what the course expectations are and when everything is due? Ask a colleague, TA, friend, family member, or your teaching and learning center to take a look at your course while in Student View. Can they easily find what a student needs to be successful?

Do you have any additional suggestions for tweaking your Canvas course? Please share them in the comments below!

Beth Hals, Senior Instructional Technologist
Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation

Image sources: Pixabay, Canvas screenshots, University of Oklahoma Online and Academic Technology Services

Digital Approaches to Early Medicine

Posted on August 21, 2025 by abrusini

[Guest post by Mary E. Fissell, Professor in the Department of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University]

In 2023, I was delighted to be awarded a Teaching Innovation Grant (TIG) from the Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation (CTEI) to incorporate digital humanities (DH) into my teaching in an upper-level undergraduate seminar. Although the seminar — Health and Healing in Early Modern England (140.382) — is dear to my heart, I had not had the opportunity to teach it for decades. Literally. The last time I taught it, in the 1990s, we didn’t have any digital resources — the primary source readings were photocopies from microfilms!

Specifically, I wanted to make it possible for undergrads to use Reading Early Medicine (REM) a DH project I’d been working on with a colleague in London, Dr. Elaine Leong. Now hosted at Hopkins (https://readingearlymedicine.org/), thanks to the Sheridan Libraries, REM is a bibliographic database of early-modern English medical books, with a range of additional resources to introduce students and researchers to the wealth that is pre-modern medicine. Leong and I had added a lot of additional information, such as genres and topics for each book, to help beginners find primary sources. But the site’s potential would be enhanced by enabling students to see the data in new ways.

With TIG funding, I was able to hire a data scientist who built graphical interfaces for the project in consultation with students in the course, and a history research assistant (RA) who worked on getting the data prepared for the graphics. Users of the site can now use word clouds and timelines to visualize genres and topics of books published. We also developed a mapping function to plot where books were actually produced and sold in early-modern London. The visualizations enable users at all levels to see patterns they would not otherwise perceive.

For example, you can now map the sites where medical books were produced in London — most books’ imprints include addresses for printers, publishers, and booksellers, and about a third of authors also listed where they worked. Clicking on a topic reveals the number of books published on that topic in that date range.

In the classroom, word clouds can prompt lively discussion. Our RA built word clouds of genres and topics that can be re-configured by date of publication, enabling students to see how some topics or genres became more prominent — or less so — over time. Clicking on a word indicates how many books were published on that topic in that date range — as you can see, practitioners quickly appreciated the promotional power of print, and often used their publishing as thinly-veiled advertising for their services.

REM became crucial to the course for a wholly unexpected reason. The British Library was cyber-hacked in Fall 2023, which meant that an essential resource, the English Short Title Catalog, was unavailable. REM came to the rescue, in the sense that students used it to help contextualize “their” books, researching authors, publishers, printers, and booksellers.

The re-vamped course thus introduced students to the digital humanities as well as to early-modern medicine. Detailed classroom conversations with our data scientist were focused on what kinds of things they would like to “see” about these books. Such discussions helped students to see that visualizations are things that are created and involve strategic choices; data doesn’t just display itself!

The TIG funding improved my teaching by making me think about how different history and pedagogy is for this born-digital generation, compared to myself. It foregrounded how I had to keep translating what you might call paper-and-pencil skills into the digital age, and how important it is to teach this generation to be critical readers of websites as well as written texts. Pairing digital humanities with hands-on interpretation of texts and work with rare books seemed much more effective for this generation than when I formerly taught the course without a DH component.

The DH components of the course also showed me student competencies that I might have otherwise missed. I was delighted when one day one of undergrads who struggled with writing spontaneously pulled up a map on REM and showed her classmates a particular point she wished to make; it turned out that she had done work with GIS. Clearly for her the digital component helped her to understand course material in a new way when seventeenth-century prose proved daunting.

Just because we emphasized the digital didn’t mean that we ignored what are called material texts — actual old books. Students researched a rare book held in the Hopkins collection and used REM to contextualize “their” book, including understanding where in London it was written, printed, and sold, with the help of the visualization tools.

To complete the analog-digital circuit, students wrote biographies of “their” books and authors, and if they were good enough, students were invited to submit them to REM, fully credited, so that the next generation of students will be able to draw upon their work.

Pairing the digital with rare-book-room reading proved very productive. It is always a joy to me so see students light up when they get to work with “real” rare books. Such books had the same effect on me when I was an undergrad! Students come to have a sense of ownership of “their” book and can take off in unexpected directions as they become book detectives.

Digital resources can also help students gain “analog” competencies. I taught them to read a challenging text out loud, as often sounding out a word can also help them decipher it. But digitized and transcribed sources enabled me to take this kind of skills training to a new level. For example, transcribed online manuscript recipe books helped students learn to read seventeenth-century handwriting, as they toggle between handwriting and text. Like the practice of reading aloud, students quickly get to the a-ha moments of being able to read centuries-old writing.

It was as if the circuit between the digital and the analog energized the class. Actually touching really old books is still a thrill, which makes this historian happy, but increasingly sophisticated digital resources are helping students find and read sources and frame questions as never before.

Mary E. Fissell
Professor, History of Medicine
Johns Hopkins University

Mary E. Fissell is the Inaugural J. Mario Molina Professor of the History of Medicine in the Department of the History of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University, where she also holds appointments in the Departments of History and History of Science and Technology. Her scholarly work focuses on how ordinary people in early modern England understood health, healing, and the natural world. Prof. Fissell teaches a range of courses, including undergraduate and graduate surveys in the history of medicine, the history of science, technology, and medicine methods seminar, and a graduate research seminar on popular knowledge.

Image source: Mary E. Fissell

Office Hours: Insights from Instructors

Posted on July 28, 2025 by abrusini

This past spring, the CTEI Journal Club read and discussed an article from the October 2024 edition of Cell Biology Education – Life Science Education journal titled: Exploring Variations in STEM Instructors’ Approaches to Office Hours. This article presents findings from a study that examined how STEM instructors from one institution perceive and conduct office hours. This study is somewhat unique in that most of the existing literature around this topic focuses on the student experience during office hours and how it impacts academic performance rather than how instructors structure and manage office hours.

In the study, the authors conducted interviews with 18 STEM instructors who had class sizes ranging from 10-80 students. They were asked to describe a typical office hour (where they were held, who attended, the type of instruction they gave) and also a successful and unsuccessful office hour. They were also asked if their approach to office hours has changed over time and whether or not they ever discussed office hour strategies with other instructors (Forsythe et al., 2024). Reponses were summarized into three categories:

Promotion of office hours
Modality of office hours
Management of office hours

Within each category, the responses varied from student-centric (students’ interest in mind) to instructor-centric (instructor’s self interest in mind).

To promote office hours, instructors shared several examples of student-centric strategies: sending personalized outreach, encouraging peer collaboration, providing frequent reminders, and offering incentives like snacks or games. Some instructors were unsure of the value of office hours or felt that office hours are busy enough already and took a more instructor-centric approach by not promoting them at all.

For modality, some instructors said they prefer drop-in office hours while others prefer them to be scheduled. Senior instructors often preferred scheduled office hours to avoid conflicts with other responsibilities, such as research (Forsythe et al., 2024). There were also differences in holding office hours online vs. in person; some instructors believe that meeting in-person allowed them to get to know students better. Others preferred Zoom, stating that it’s not only more convenient for themselves, but also for students.

As for managing office hours, instructors teaching more than one class per semester discussed holding separate office hours for each class or combining them for students in any of their classes. Those who chose to combine them believe that it offers students greater flexibility in attending and, if the course content allows, promotes student interaction (Forsythe et al., 2024). Another issue was how to manage high attendance and how difficult it can be to answer all student questions. Several instructors make an effort to answer questions in order and also recruit other students in the session to help out. Some instructors communicate their strategies to students ahead of time to manage student expectations during the session.

When asked about barriers and challenges associated with holding office hours, several instructors in the study voiced frustration over the lack of training and wondered about the availability of guidelines or best practices. Many admitted feeling uncomfortable during the sessions and were unsure if they were taking the most effective approach with students. A number of instructors also noted that this topic is rarely discussed and expressed interest in opportunities to share experiences and strategies with their colleagues.

During the journal club meeting, JHU instructors sympathized with the faculty in the article and shared their own experiences with office hours. One topic that came up was how to involve teaching assistants (TAs) in office hours. An instructor shared that she holds joint office hours with TAs and they work alongside each other with students in small groups. Another instructor explained that she flipped part of her lecture and incorporated a weekly group office hour—held with both herself and the teaching assistants—into the regular class meeting time to make it easier for students to attend.

The group also addressed concerns related to attendance. One instructor noted that many students are unaware of the value of office hours—as an opportunity to seek extra help, ask questions, and advocate for themselves—and, as a result, often choose not to attend. Another commented that students who historically have done really well academically are conditioned not to ask for help. Other instructors offered the following suggestions to help boost attendance:

Make sure students know what office hours are; they may have been called something else in grade school, such as “coach class” or “drop-in hours.”

Provide consistent reminders throughout the semester.

Hold office hours in public places to put people at ease.

Set up a meeting with students (as a group or individually) early in the semester and describe how office hours will work.

Schedule office hours close to assignment deadlines as a motivator for students to attend.

Do you have any experiences, tips, or advice to share with colleagues about holding office hours? Please share in the comments section below.

Amy Brusini, Senior Instructional Designer
Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation

Image source: Pexels

References:

Forsythe, D., Green, R.M., & Hsu, J.L. (2024). Exploring variations in STEM instructors’ approaches to office hours. CBE – Life Sciences Education, 23(4). https://www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/cbe.24-03-0109

Faculty Voices: Teaching in the Age of AI

Posted on June 24, 2025 by abrusini

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the landscape of higher education, prompting both excitement and uncertainty. From generative tools like ChatGPT to automated grading systems and predictive analytics, AI is reshaping how instructors teach, assess, and prepare students for their careers. As these technologies become more sophisticated, educators are faced with new questions about the role of AI in student learning:

How can educators help students use AI effectively in their learning?
Why is it important for students to continue learning and developing expertise despite the capabilities of AI?
How can students differentiate themselves in a job market increasingly influenced by AI?

Illysa Izenberg, Associate Teaching Professor in JHU’s Center for Leadership Education, explores these questions in a recent article she wrote for The Teaching Professor. Izenberg currently teaches Engineering Management and Leadership, Management Theory and Practice, Workplace Ethics, and Foundations of the American Enterprise. Having spent several years in industry, she understands the importance of career readiness and takes a proactive approach to integrating AI into her classroom to help prepare students for the evolving workforce. In each of her classes, Izenberg explains to students her rationale for using AI, clearly outlines when and how they are to use AI in their course work, and provides guidance on how to cite AI sources, something she requires. Izenberg has also developed her own AI “chat-bot” to help students refine their prompting skills.

The article can be accessed here if you have an account with the Teaching Professor, or here if you do not have an account.

Amy Brusini, Senior Instructional Designer
Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation

Image source: Unsplash, JHU Whiting School of Engineering website

Quick Tips: Tweaking Your Syllabus

Posted on June 5, 2025 by abrusini

A syllabus is often the first point of contact between instructors and students; the way course information is presented sets the tone for the entire course and can make a lasting first impression. A well-crafted syllabus not only communicates essential policies and schedules, but also conveys the instructor’s teaching philosophy, approachability, and commitment to student success. Allon Brann, teacher support specialist from the Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation (CTEI), shares some ideas for tweaking your syllabus to help make it more useful, easier to read, and a more accurate representation of what students can expect from your course.

1. Write to the students, not about them.
Instead of using phrases like “This course will provide…” or “This course focuses on…,” try to ground your description of the course in terms of what students will do. Use statements such as “You might enjoy taking this course if you…” or “In this course, you will learn how to…”. Describe what “we” will do collectively as a class. When stating requirements, address students as “you” (e.g., “You will write a 3-5 page paper…”) rather than the more impersonal “students.”

2. Frame expectations, rules, and policies positively.
Many syllabi tell students what they cannot or should not do, and what the penalty will be if they do those things (e.g., “Arriving to class late more than three times will result in a reduction of ten points to your participation grade.”). Instead, tell students what they should do or what you would like them to do, and why it matters: “Please arrive to class on time so that we can…” or “It’s important to take notes on readings because…”.

Using the first person can help, too. Traditional syllabi often use a detached, formal tone: “Students are expected to…” or “The instructor will provide guidelines on…”. In contrast, first-person language like “I ask that you…” or “Please come talk to me if…” sounds more authentic and approachable.

3. Define “participation.”
If you are planning to give students a participation grade, be specific and explain how you are going to measure it, rather than saying “participate actively” or “participate in every class session.” Even if you are not grading participation, describing what “good” participation looks like will help students prepare to engage in it in the course, hopefully improving the quality of discussions and activities. Check out these example documents for some ideas.

4. Describe a typical day of class.
What methods will you use to teach? Will you lecture? Will students work in groups? Sharing what students can expect to do during class may help get them excited about the course and make sure they are not surprised by your expectations later on – especially if your teaching involves active participation, collaboration, or other interactive elements.

5. What does it mean to “prepare?”
Many syllabi advise students to “arrive prepared,” “come to class having prepared the assigned material ahead of time,” or “make sure to come prepared to discuss the readings.” It would be helpful to take this one step further and provide guidelines for how to prepare. Are there specific questions you want students to be able to answer after reading? Are there problems they should be able to solve by the time they arrive in class? Are there strategies for reading or note-taking you want them to use to get the most out of the assigned materials?

6. Avoid “extra” reading.
Be cautious about including lists of “suggested,” “recommended,” or “additional” readings on the syllabus itself. Students may get confused: does the instructor really expect me to complete these readings without actually saying they are required? If you plan to suggest supplementary materials, try to be specific as to when and why students might want to consult them (e.g., for a specific project, if they haven’t taken a certain related course before this one, if they are interested in an alternative/conflicting viewpoint, etc.). Consider providing the list as a separate page on the syllabus (not listed under or alongside the required readings for each week) or as a separate document altogether.

7. Encourage students to give you feedback.
Include a statement about why you value student feedback and how you plan to gather it throughout the semester: surveys, conversations in class, office hours, etc.. Consider including any planned mid-semester surveys in the syllabus schedule, so students know in advance that these are important to complete. You could also offer access to an anonymous feedback form that students can use at any time throughout the semester.

Allon Brann, Teacher Support Specialist
Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation

Do you have any other suggestions for tweaking a syllabus? Share them in the comments section.
(For assistance with syllabus design, see this Innovative Instructor article.)

Image source: Unsplash

Quick Tips: Transparency in Assessments

Posted on May 19, 2025 by abrusini

Have you ever given students an assignment and then had them come back to you a short time later asking, “What are we supposed to do again?”, “I don’t understand how this relates to what we’re learning in class.” or “Why are we doing this assignment?” Despite instructors’ best efforts to clearly outline or explain an assignment to students, it doesn’t always translate the way they intend and students are sometimes left confused or unsure about what is expected. Perhaps the class is a mix of upper and lower classmen who have varying degrees of experience with college-level course work. Or maybe it’s a mix of students from different disciplines or majors who are not necessarily familiar with specific terms or routine practices in your specific discipline. Designing assessments that are transparent is one strategy instructors can use to address this situation.

Transparency in teaching methods, including assessment, has been shown to help students perform better in individual courses (Winkelmes et al., 2016). When students understand the purpose of an assignment and its connection to course objectives, it becomes more relevant and they are more likely to engage deeply with the material. Clear expectations help them focus on applying concepts rather than simply completing assignments for a grade. Transparency also provides students with opportunities for self-assessment and improvement. When expectations and feedback mechanisms are clearly communicated, students can reflect on their performance, identify areas for growth, and make meaningful progress.

To create assessments that are transparent, be sure to include the following in each of your assignments:

Purpose: Share the goal of the assignment and how it aligns with learning objectives. Include specific skills students will gain from the assignment and how they may be helpful in future courses or career paths.
Tasks: Explicitly describe the steps involved in completing the assignment. Take the time to explain activities that might not be familiar to all students.
Criteria and Examples: Provide examples of what a successful assignment looks like as well as a rubric outlining specific grading criteria.

Following these guidelines helps students approach their assignments with greater confidence and focus and also creates a more equitable, supportive learning environment. You may find this Checklist for Designing Transparent Assignments helpful when creating your next assessments.

Amy Brusini, Senior Instructional Designer
Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation

Image source: Unsplash

References:

Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning Through Research at Northeastern University. (n.d.). Transparent Assignment Design: Communicate Purpose, Task, Criteria. https://learning.northeastern.edu/transparent-assignment-design/

Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning at Indiana University Bloomington. (n.d.). Transparency in Learning and Teaching. https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/evidence-based/transparency.html

Winkelmes, M.-A., Bernacki, M. L., Butler, J., Zochowski, M., Golanics, J., & Weavil, K. H. (2016). A teaching intervention that increases underserved college students’ success. Peer Review,18(1/2), 31–36.

Faculty Sharing Session: Best Practices in Course Design

Posted on April 29, 2025 by abrusini

Four Johns Hopkins faculty recently attended the National Effective Teaching Institute workshop. At a Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation discussion this spring, each faculty member shared lessons learned as they presented a quick overview of a main topic in the workshop.

Student Motivation

Liz Walker, JHU Liz Walker, a lecturer in the Center for Leadership Education, shared that the workshop began with discussion of student motivation as a spectrum based on the article, Investigating the motivational behavior of pupils during outdoor science teaching within self-determination theory, in Frontiers in Psychology.

The workshop discussion used Self-Determination Theory as a framework to understand motivation from several angles.

intrinsic motivation: learning for enjoyment and personal satisfaction
identified regulation: learning because it aligns with personal goals
introjected regulation: learning due to internal pressures, such as guilt or social approval
external regulation: learning controlled by external rewards or punishments

The discussion also described how motivation contains three elements: relatedness, autonomy, and competence.

Relatedness happens on multiple levels: making connections to others, learning from and teaching others, and knowing how the work affects others. Consider these questions as you motivate students through relatedness:

How do your students connect with each other?
How do you connect with your students?
How do you help your students make connections to engineering practice?
How do you connect what you are teaching to society?
How do some professors discourage relatedness?

Autonomy is both implicit and explicit. You can engender autonomy by helping students feel like they are allowed to do something or feeling like it is OK to make choices. Discussion questions on autonomy included

In what ways do you let your students make choices?
In what ways do you let your students control what happens in the classroom?
Are there ways that professors communicate that the students aren’t in control?

Competence is having the knowledge, skills, and abilities to succeed. Students must have the confidence that they are competent. As you plan your lessons,

How do you make sure students are able to do what you ask of them?
How do you develop their confidence?
Are there things you do that make students lose confidence?

The main takeaway of the NETI section on motivation is that motivation is important for learning. To increase student motivation, instructors should ask themselves

Are my students able to do what I’m asking them to do?
How can I give them choices?
How can I help them make connections to what I’m teaching?

Active Learning

Marina Choy, a lecturer in the Center for Leadership Education, discussed active learning, another theme explored in the workshop. The workshop facilitators defined active learning as “students doing anything in class to learn material, other than Marina Choy, JHU listening to the instructor and taking notes.” Research shows active learning is more effective than lecturing. It helps students learn better through activity and engagement. It falls on a continuum ranging from instructor-focused to student-focused learning. Instructor-focused means high instructor control and low student autonomy. An example of that is an active lecture, where traditional lecturing is interspersed with engaging activities. Student-focused means high student autonomy and low instructor control. Examples include problem-based and project-based learning, which require critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving. Shared responsibility is in the middle of the continuum. Examples include structured discussions, guided problem-solving, etc.

Other examples of active-learning discussed include

One-minute paper
Think-Pair-Shares
Start of class recap
Polling or low-stake quizzes
Asking students to generate questions
Muddiest Point
Peer Reviews

The presenters also shared common mistakes in implementing active-learning along with how to avoid them.

Always calling on volunteers. This creates a participation gap; the same students will participate while others observe. As an alternative, use cold-calling, warm-calling, use think-pair-share, or use a randomized system.
Waiting for everyone to finish. Some students will finish quickly and lose engagement, others will feel pressure or rushed. As an alternative, use a reasonable time limit and let students know how much time they have, and/or consider pairing up students to work on the task together.
Using trivial activities. Activities that lack depth are often perceived as busywork and may reduce student motivation. Active learning is not about entertaining students but engaging them meaningfully. Ensure activities have a clear purpose and are aligned with your learning objectives. Ask: does this activity challenge students to think, analyze, or apply knowledge?

Learning Objectives

Ali Madooei, an associate teaching professor in computer science, discussed learning objectives. He developed an AI-based application (OPENAI API Key required to use) to help instructors write learning objectives that are S.M.A.R.T. and motivated by Bloom’s Taxonomy. Ali Madooei, JHU The purpose of learning objectives is to

provide students with clear expectations about what they should learn and help them track their own academic progress.
guide instructors in aligning course design, assessments, and activities with learning objectives.
enable programs to map learning goals across courses and identify curriculum gaps or overlaps.
allow institutions to measure program effectiveness and make evidence-based improvements to student learning.
help accrediting bodies assess program quality and educational standards.

Assessment

Sara More, an associate teaching professor in computer science, talked about Sara More, JHU assessment. Assessment is gathering data about the learning process. It is more than just evaluation, where instructors collect data for the purpose of making evaluative and pass/fail judgments. Assessment helps the faculty member facilitate the learning process for students which includes providing feedback to help them improve.

More discussed three categories used to classify course-based assessments.

Diagnostic – Diagnostic assessments help instructors determine what students already know, and what misconceptions they are starting with so instructional plans can be tailored to meet student needs. Methods to support diagnostic assessments include the following.
- Consider giving an early quiz on prerequisite knowledge
- Announce in advance that the quiz will be counted in the course grade so it is taken seriously
- Provide a study guide with learning objectives and practice problems
- Link to resources for students who feel underprepared
- Hold office hours where students can come to discuss practice problems they are not able to solve
Formative – Formative assessments help instructors measure student progress during the learning process. Effective learning takes place when students engage in a cycle involving practice, feedback, more practice, and more feedback. Examples of formative assessment include the following.
- In-class formative assessment (e.g., clicker questions – think/pair/share, minute papers, evaluate a sample solution using provided rubric, active learning involving discussion)
- Out-of-class formative assessment (e.g., homework, draft outlines of solutions, online quizzes)
- Formative assessment to improve instruction (e.g., mid-semester evaluation, classroom observation)
Summative – Summative assessments are used when instructors are evaluating (e.g., assigning grades) student work. A summative assessment can also be considered formative if it is low stakes and helps students prepare for more significant assessments. Examples of summative assessment include the following.
- In-class exams
- Take-home exams
- Essays
- Case studies
- Projects

If you are interested in learning more about these topics, consider attending the Johns Hopkins Best Practices in University Teaching workshop or the NETI workshop.

Mike Reese
Associate Dean of the Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation and Associate Teaching Professor in Sociology, Johns Hopkins University

Image source: JHU Whiting School of Engineering website, Pixabay

AI Prompt Engineering for Instructors

Posted on March 26, 2025 by abrusini

[Guest post by Mike Reese, Associate Dean of the Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation & Associate Teaching Professor of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University]

My colleagues and I are regularly invited to speak with faculty about the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on teaching and learning including leading workshops about the topic. A faculty friend suggested over lunch, “Let’s stop talking about it. Help us start using it!” That was the genesis for the workshop, Prompt Engineering for Instructors – a workshop hosted by the Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation (CTEI) in February in which we modeled prompting strategies for instructors developing course materials. The workshop focused on text-based, large language models (LLMs) rather than other tools like DALL·E, a generative AI tool which generates images.

Before starting, we reviewed important considerations when using generative AI applications for teaching:

FERPA – You should not enter any personally-identifiable student data into non-university approved tools (e.g., general subscription to OpenAI’s ChatGPT). Doing so would be a violation of FERPA.
Access – The most powerful models are not surprisingly fee-based. If you ask your students to work with generative AI tools, remember some students may have access to better models than others if they can afford to pay a subscription fee.
Resources – While these tools are powerful, they are also resource intensive (e.g., power and water usage). Consider the need for using these tools with the environmental impact.
Knowledge Cutoff – The LLMs you use were trained on sources up to a certain date, known as the knowledge cutoff. Asking questions or generating assignments about events after that knowledge cutoff are likely to lead to hallucinations unless the LLM is provided additional information when generating its response.

I shared some general strategies that I use when prompting LLMs. The following strategies are inspired by Jules White’s Prompt Engineering workshops on Coursera and Jordan Wilson’s Everyday AI’s Prime-Prompt-Polish workshop.

Be specific and detailed – Providing more specificity and detail in your prompt will focus the response. The LLM will follow your directions literally so make sure you communicate exactly what you want.
Give it a role / Motivate it / Provide context – Consider telling the model who you want it to respond as (e.g., your role!) and include helpful context (e.g., information about your course!) to inform its response. “You are a college faculty member teaching Introduction to Sociology…”
Provide examples – This is often called one-shot or few-shot prompting. For example, when asking a LLM to draft homework problems, I include examples of problems from previous years.
Optional: Describe desired output/format – Describe the format for the response (e.g., create a rubric in a table format with the criteria in the rows and rating categories in the columns).
Optional: Intentionally choose which LLM to prompt – Each LLM has its own personality. It takes time to learn these, but as you do, you may find some models are better for specific tasks.
Optional: Suggest (iterative) improvements – If you don’t like the response, repeat with follow up prompts explaining what you don’t like and improvements to make.

Prompt Examples

Below are the prompts demonstrated during the workshop with notes on each to explain the principles above. Generally, we used Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet.

Writing Learning Objectives

We started by asking Claude to write learning objectives for an introductory sociology course that I teach. The purpose of these three prompts was to show how providing more specificity and detail generated different responses. The last response incorporates assigning Claude a role: me, a faculty member teaching a college-level sociology course.

Prompt 1: Develop learning objectives for a sociology course.
Prompt 2: Develop learning objectives on culture for a sociology course.
Prompt 3: You are a faculty member teaching an introductory-level sociology course at a college. One unit is on culture. Write three objectives for a unit on culture at each of the lowest levels of Bloom’s taxonomy: Remembering, understanding, applying. The format should start with, “By the end of this unit, students will be able to,” then list the objectives in bullet format. The action verb for the learning objective should not include unmeasurable words including understand, know, learn, etc.

Creating Homework Questions

In the next example, I showed how I use LLMs to create homework and test questions. This has been one of the most productive uses of generative AI in my teaching. I write new homework problems each year for my social statistics course. Using a model to draft initial questions has cut that time from 6 hours to 2 hours for each homework.

The examples below show how to use one-shot prompting (i.e., giving the LLM a past homework question). Once it gives me several options, I choose the one I like best. I may make some edits before I solve the problem to see if I think it is evaluating students at the appropriate level and on the objectives I intended.

Prompt: You are a professor teaching Introduction to Social Statistics at a college. You want to create a homework on confidence intervals. Please create 3 questions based on the following question in brackets that assess students on the same statistical concept but a different sociological context.

[The JHU police force has been debated at JHU. You conduct a random survey of Charles Village residents about whether they think JHU should have its own police force: 57% are for it and 43% are against. Construct a 99% confidence interval for the proportion of people who are for the police force if the sample size is a) 500 residents and b) 50 residents. Show your work. For each case indicate if you would be willing to suggest if the residents of Charles Village are for or against the JHU police force.]

Writing Assignment

I also demonstrated how to develop a writing assignment for my introductory sociology course. The interesting part about this example was that the response did not follow the overall word limit I requested. It created a homework prompt with word limits associated with different sections that summed to more than 300 words. This is an example of hallucination.

Prompt: You are a professor teaching Introduction to Sociology at a college. You want to create a homework prompt in which students need to summarize the main points of an opinion essay from a newspaper and then apply sociological concepts to it. Students should use those concepts to provide a critique of the main argument including both strong arguments and weak arguments. Using the following essay in brackets, create a prompt for the homework that should be no more than 300 words.

[Essay Example not provided for length and copyright reasons]

Rubric

In this example, we created a rubric for the previous writing assignment in my introductory sociology course. The two prompts show different responses when you provide more detail and communicate the format for the final rubric.

Prompt 1: Develop a rubric for this assignment.
Prompt 2: Rewrite the rubric using the same criteria, but include the following ratings with the associated points: Excellent (8-10 points), Good (5-7 points), Needs Improvement (1-4 points). Format it as a table.

Adapt the examples above for your courses. Share tips, strategies, and prompt examples from your course in the comments below!

Mike Reese
Associate Dean of the Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation and Associate Teaching Professor in Sociology, Johns Hopkins University

Image Source: flyalone – stock.adobe.com, gguy – stock.adobe.com, terovesalainen – stock.adobe.com

A Student’s Journey: the Power of B.E.R.C. (Build. Encourage. Reflect. Celebrate.)

Posted on March 10, 2025 by abrusini

[Guest post by Christine Solan, Teaching and Training Specialist, Biology, Johns Hopkins University]

When Alex walked into their first college lecture, their breath caught in their throat. The room was massive, packed with hundreds of students chatting and settling into their seats. It didn’t take long for Alex’s initial excitement about starting college to morph into a mix of overwhelm and dread. The lectures moved at breakneck speed, the textbook felt like an impossible maze, and Alex began to feel like they were drowning in the material. Even though they were putting in the hours, nothing seemed to stick. Frustrated and defeated, they considered giving up entirely.

Student reading a textbook with an overload of equations and symbols swirling around him

But one day, while scrolling through the course syllabus, Alex noticed their Teaching Assistant (TA), Jamie, had open office hours. Hesitant but desperate for help, Alex decided to go. That decision turned out to be a turning point—because Jamie wasn’t just any TA. They’d been trained in the principles of B.E.R.C.—Build Rapport, Encourage a Growth Mindset, Reflective Listening, and Celebrate Achievements. Through their interactions, Jamie didn’t just help Alex with the course content; they helped Alex rediscover their confidence and love of learning.

Building Rapport

When Alex nervously stepped into Jamie’s office, they were bracing for judgment or dismissal. Instead, they were met with warmth and kindness. Jamie smiled, asked for Alex’s name, and even made a little small talk about how things were going outside of class. It was such a small gesture, but it set the tone.

“What’s been on your mind?” Jamie asked gently.

Slowly, Alex opened up. They admitted that they felt completely lost, unsure of how to start tackling the mountain of material ahead. Jamie listened intently, nodding in understanding. “Honestly, you’re not alone,” they said. “A lot of students feel this way at first—it’s a big adjustment. But the fact that you’re here shows you care, and that’s a huge step forward. Let’s figure this out together.”

In that moment, Alex felt a weight lift. They weren’t just another face in the crowd anymore—they were seen, heard, and supported.

Encouraging a Growth Mindset

As Alex began to share more about their struggles, Jamie noticed a common theme: Alex kept using phrases like, “I’m just not smart enough for this” or “I’ll never get it.” It was clear that Alex was stuck in a fixed mindset, believing that their abilities were set in stone.

“I totally get why you feel that way,” Jamie said. “But learning isn’t about being good at something right away—it’s about

effort and growth. Think of it like going to the gym. At first, lifting weights might feel impossible, but over time, you get stronger. Learning works the same way.”

Jamie even shared their own story of struggling with a tough class in undergrad. “I felt like I’d never understand it,” they admitted. “But I kept at it, took it one piece at a time, and it eventually clicked. You can do the same—I promise.”

Reflective Listening

Jamie practiced reflective listening to make sure they fully understood Alex’s concerns. When Alex blurted out, “I just don’t get how this concept fits into the bigger picture,” Jamie didn’t rush to provide a solution. Instead, they paused and said, “It sounds like you’re saying this part doesn’t make sense because it feels disconnected from everything else. Did I get that right?”

Alex nodded. “Exactly,” they said, relieved.

From there, Jamie broke the material down into smaller, more digestible chunks. They used diagrams, analogies, and step-by-step explanations to help Alex bridge the gaps in their understanding. Jamie also encouraged Alex to ask clarifying questions, which helped build Alex’s confidence in voicing their thoughts.

By actively listening and taking Alex’s concerns seriously, Jamie made them feel like a partner in the learning process, rather than just a student being “talked at.”

Celebrating Achievements

When Alex finally solved a problem they’d been stuck on for days, Jamie broke into a grin.

“You nailed it!” they said, their enthusiasm contagious. “This is a big win.”

The celebration didn’t stop there. Jamie added a small but thoughtful gesture, jotting down a quick “Great job!” note on Alex’s worksheet for them to keep. It may have seemed minor, but that little boost of encouragement left a lasting impression on Alex.

The Ripple Effect of B.E.R.C.

Alex’s story is proof that a little guidance can go a long way. By applying the principles of B.E.R.C., Jamie helped Alex not only succeed in their course but also rediscover their belief in themselves. And the impact didn’t stop there. Inspired by their own journey, Alex began sharing what they’d learned with classmates, creating a ripple effect of encouragement and support.

Why B.E.R.C. Matters

Helping individual students isn’t just about improving their grades—it’s about showing them that they’re capable of more than they realize. The B.E.R.C. approach gives educators and teaching assistants the tools to make those moments of connection count. It’s not about having all the answers; it’s about creating an environment where students feel seen, heard, and empowered to grow.

Alex’s journey is a reminder that every student has the potential to thrive—with the right support and a little bit of encouragement. So, whether you’re a faculty member, a TA, or even a peer, remember this: every interaction is an opportunity to make a difference.

Christine Solan
Teaching and Training Specialist, Biology
Johns Hopkins University

Christine Solan is a seasoned education professional with extensive experience in curriculum design, training, and development. She holds an M.S. from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Biology Secondary Education. In her current role as a Teaching and Training Specialist (TTS) in the Department of Biology at Johns Hopkins University, Christine focuses on enhancing the undergraduate classroom experience in STEM courses where TAs play important teaching roles.

Image source: Pixabay

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