Collections

Peer observation of teaching need not happen only as part of faculty evaluation processes. Observing each others' classes with the purpose of reflecting and providing feedback to one another benefits instructional quality as well as collegial connection.

We often think of learning as a purely cognitive activity, one characterized by cold intellect and impartiality. This collection offers a counterpoint, presenting theoretical grounding, data, and practical suggestions for centering emotional and motivational aspects of teaching and learning.

When students receive feedback on their work, what do they do with it? Feedback literacy encompasses the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students need to appreciate the value of feedback, engage in feedback processes, and take responsibility for their own learning and development.

What role might generative AI play in helping students meet the learning goals we have for them? This collection features concrete examples of assignments that thoughtfully integrate AI to support student learning.

Metacognition—awareness of one's own thought processes—isn't just important for students! These resources introduce you to strategies for incorporating metacognitive awareness into your own teaching in order to become more conscious of students' needs and more responsive in your lesson planning.

This collection is for instructors from all fields—often inspired by their own contemplative practice—who are looking for ways to engage students more wholistically and develop their capacity for awareness, concentration, and insight.

This is a collection of UVA Center for Teaching Excellence's peer-reviewed research demonstrating the efficacy and impact of its multi-day, intensive course design institute.

This collection highlights a range of teaching effectiveness frameworks developed for higher education contexts, primarily research-intensive institutions. These frameworks provide analytical approaches to understand the elements of teaching.

Instructors play a critical role in helping students see themselves as capable within disciplinary domains, especially when they don’t see themselves as "a [insert your discipline person]." The resources here start simple and increase in complexity (and comprehensiveness).

Research shows that students who feel they belong in a course or discipline are more likely to persist and can promote learning. This collection provides a set of practical resources for fostering a sense of belonging in your classroom.

How do you successfully document your teaching? In this collection, you will explore self-study approaches that provide you with an authentic representation of your teaching based on evidence of what you do in your teaching. 

Are you interested in alternative grading but don't know where to begin? Our collection takes you through the key ideas, with links to concrete ways to get started.

This collection is a step to exploring Indigenous pedagogies and ways of knowing. I have used most of the listed readings in a faculty and grad student special interest group on the topic. Some of the resources address teaching and learning more directly than others but together they provide a good first foray into the topic.

These resources explore the practice of collaborative grading, an alternative grading approach in which students and instructors determine grades for a given course in consultation with one another.

The syllabus is a reflection of one's course design and a powerful tool for defining the context of learning in your course. These Universal Design for Learning (UDL) resources help you create a more accessible and inclusive syllabus that reduces learning barriers and welcomes learner variability.

Office hours can be a useful opportunity for students to get the assistance and advice they need to succeed in a course, but students don't always realize that. In this collection, you'll find resources and strategies for framing and structuring office hours to help students make the most of them.

The language you use in the classroom shapes classroom climate and guides students in the hard work of learning. These resources introduce non-content "instructor talk" and instructional moves that help students guide their reasoning, engage with each other intellectually, and feel connected.

As ubiquitous as it is, published research does not show that "active learning is more effective than lecturing." Research consistently demonstrates the very real and consistent finding that combining just about any form of active learning with an exposition lecture improves learning.

Video is an excellent teaching tool and a particularly effective medium for online and flipped learning environments. This collection will help you think through the different components of video to identify the right fit for your teaching context.

Teaching during times of conflict and crisis isn't easy. This collection provides resources and strategies for supporting students and keeping your course on track when events in the world intrude on events in the classroom.