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Teaching Tips
It's never too early to start planning for the next term, whether it's the course syllabus or the course materials themselves -- including your Bb course site. Each link below provides timely tips concerning the corresponding week of the semester.

• Week One - Use SPOT report to improve current course, block student access to copyrighted materials on last semester’s Blackboard courses, the first-day attendance policy for online courses, and assignments for recently enrolled on-campus students
• Week Two - Get to know your students
• Week Three - Use the Technology-Enhanced Classrooms
• Week Four - Deter unoriginal work
• Week Five - Help students maintain integrity in their papers and projects
• Week Six - Get feedback from your students at midterm
• Week Seven - Organize grading criteria in a rubric
• Week Eight - Integrate "active learning" into your class
  One way to enhance the learning experience of your students is through "active learning" -- shifting the student role from that of passive receptor to active participant. This chapter ( 192 Kb) in the handbook “Instruction at FSU” contains descriptions of active learning strategies. A simple strategy for integrating active learning into your class sessions and assignments is to ask yourself: “How can I get them to discover the connections and build on the readings or lectures?” or “How can they apply or practice in class what we’ve been studying?”
  Explore Instruction at FSU, Chapter 7 – Lecturing Effectively (264 Kb) for ideas on organizing your lectures and making them interactive so that students remain engaged with the material throughout the class. Chapter 11 – Teaching Contexts (908 Kb) discusses interactivity in large classes and laboratory settings.
• Week Nine - Place book orders online
• Week Ten - Use a course calendar to manage your workload
• Week Eleven - Design an online lesson for those days you have to cancel class
• Week Twelve - Increase your students' research skills
• Week Thirteen - Keep a teaching journal
• Week Fourteen - Begin drafting next semester’s syllabus
• Week Fifteen - Copy contents from your spring Bb course site into your summer or fall course site

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