Tips for Excellent and Efficient Instruction
In this blog post, let us explore strategies that make teaching more effective for our students and more manageable for us as instructors.
As educators, we often juggle multiple responsibilities – designing engaging lessons, providing meaningful feedback, supporting diverse learners, and somehow maintaining our work-life balance. This information aims to help you excel at all these aspects while maximizing your impact without exhausting your resources.
Key areas of teaching efficiency to consider:
1. Communication strategies that create clarity and build community
2. Assessment techniques that provide valuable feedback without overwhelming you
3. Technology tools that can automate routine tasks and increase your presence
4. Long-term planning for continuous improvement
Whether you’re an experienced instructor looking to refine your approach or new to teaching and seeking a solid foundation, there are actionable strategies you can implement immediately.
What sets these suggestions apart is that they’re not just theoretical ideas – they’re grounded in educational research and come with practical resources you can start using right away.
So, let’s begin a journey toward teaching excellence that’s both practical and sustainable.
Communication
Communication is a critical element of a learning environment. Consider these four tips related to communication to make the experience better for your students and more streamlined for you.
- Include a checklist in your overview if your use modules and/or use dues dates and your course calendar.
2. Make it explicit how you would like to be contacted. (Email, Canvas Inbox, Phone)
3. Consider options for building community, including opportunities for peer learning and support, such as an ungraded discussion.
4. Consider creating email response templates for frequently asked questions or issues.
Assessment
When considering assessment, think about an entire plan for assessing learning. Also, keep in mind that your time spent on providing feedback is probably most impactful during the early phases, rather than with the final product.
5. Design rubrics for major assignments. Single-point rubrics are easy for students to reference and are a learning tool as well as an assessment tool.
6. Offer a variety of opportunities to practice skills before summative assessments, such as low-stakes quizzes and self-check guides
Technology
When technology is used to increase your presence in the online course materials, it can really benefit students. Technology can also help with effective teaching and time management.
7. Utilize auto-grading options when applicable.
8. Create short tutorial videos that can be reused to address common questions or explain key topics. Using technology in this way increases your presence in the online course materials.
Responsive Teaching
Thinking ahead can really help. Sometimes, in the midst of a busy semester, it is easy to become overwhelmed, but there are some things you can do to make the next iteration of your course easier.
9. Just-in-time instructional updates: ensure that materials are accessible and clear now and document planned adjustments for the next time you are teaching the course.
10. Save successful student examples (with permission).
If you have questions about any of these tips, please reach out to IDT at idt@camden.rutgers.edu.