Teaching Tips
Contract Grading
What is contract grading and what steps do you take as a course coordinator to create this system in your course?
Contract Grading video and slides
Finding flow and how it can help us do our best work as instructors
What is flow and how can finding flow make us more effective and energized in our work?
Finding flow and how it can help us do our best work as instructors video and slides
How to review captions on your captured lectures and why you need to do it
Lectures are captured by Zoom and captioned by Kaltura. How accurate are those captions and do the accuracies have the potential to be misleading to students who rely on them for their learning?
Increasing Psychological Safety and Reducing Shame in the Learning Environment
This teaching tip video provides an overview of psychological safety in the learning environment, and the ways in which it is connected to emotional processes like vulnerability and shame. The video also provides strategies that instructors can use to increase psychological safety and reduce shame experiences for students.
Increasing Psychological Safety and Reducing Shame in the Learning Environment video and slides
Accessibility for websites (including Canvas sites and slide presentations)
What is meant by digital accessibility and why should we address this on our Canvas sites and in our course presentations? This is a brief review of concepts around accessibility and an introduction to materials available through the University.
Accessibility for websites video and slides
Student responsibilities as learners
Faculty often ask what students are told regarding their responsibilities as learners. This presentation reviews what students are told during orientation and in courses, and what resources are available to support their learning.
Student responsibilities as learners video and slides
Available teaching resources 2022
Teaching tips, The CVM Instructor Development Program (CID 3.0), Canvas Camp, Teaching huddles, Education Day are teaching development opportunities available for faculty this coming year within the CVM. This teaching tip also talks about University-wide teaching resources.
Available Teaching Resources 2022 video and slides
CVM Teaching Tips Archive Aug 2021 - May 2022
Learning from each other (April 19 2022)
Learning from each other (April 19 2022)
Learning from each other: These three teaching tips give specific examples of wording to put in your syllabus to help manage common problems and concerns.
Syllabus examples transparency video and slides
Syllabus examples classroom mgmt
Syllabus examples expectations
Pros and cons of banning technology in the classroom (April 4 2022)
Pros and cons of banning technology in the classroom (April 4 2022)
There is a lot of concern expressed about how technology is so distracting to students that it draws them away from deep learning, especially in a classroom setting. What are the pros and cons of banning technology in the classroom?
Pros and cons of banning technology in the classroom video and slides
Maintaining student attention in the classroom (Mar 21 2022)
Maintaining student attention in the classroom (Mar 21 2022)
What are things we can do to increase student attention in the classroom?
Maintaining student attention in the classroom video and slides
Rubrics for grading and providing feedback (Mar 7 2022)
Rubrics for grading and providing feedback (Mar 7 2022)
A rubric is a set of criteria for students' work that includes descriptions of levels of performance quality for those criteria. How can you let students know what your expectations are and use rubrics to grade and provide feedback to them?
Slide Design for instructors and students (Feb 11 2022)
Slide Design for instructors and students (Feb 11 2022)
What are some of the challenges surrounding remediation at the College of Veterinary Medicine and what are some ways we can look at it differently to make it more useful for students and instructors?
Slide Design for instructors and students video and slides
Remediation (Jan 20 2022)
Remediation (Jan 20 2022)
What are some of the challenges surrounding remediation at the College of Veterinary Medicine and what are some ways we can look at it differently to make it more useful for students and instructors?
Pros and cons of cumulative final exams (Jan 5 2022)
Pros and cons of cumulative final exams (Jan 5 2022)
Faculty vary in their opinions regarding final examinations, with some feeling that they are a good way to gauge student achievement at the end of a course and others feeling that they are just one more needless hoop for students to jump through. What are some of the pros and cons of cumulative final exams?
Pros and cons of cumulative final exams video and slides
Metacognition (Dec 20 2021)
Metacognition (Dec 20 2021)
Metacognition is the art of thinking about how you think or learn. How can students benefit academically from learning about how their brains and memory work, and how they can control their learning?
Metacognition video and slides
Mapping your course learning objectives to the CBVE competencies (Dec 3 2021)
Mapping your course learning objectives to the CBVE competencies (Dec 3 2021)
Interpreting results from Canvas for MCQ quizzes (Nov 18 2021)
Interpreting results from Canvas for MCQ quizzes (Nov 18 2021)
Interpreting results from Canvas for MCQ quizzes
How can you use the analyses Canvas provides for quizzes to evaluate your quiz questions?
Interpreting results from Canvas for MCQ quizzes video and slides
Best practices for multiple-choice questions and alternative types of assessment (Oct 25 2021)
Best practices for multiple-choice questions and alternative types of assessment (Oct 25 2021)
What are the best practices for multiple choice questions and what are some alternatives to MCQ's that could demonstrate a higher level of learning?
Best practices for multiple-choice questions and alternative types of assessment video and slides
Cheating Lessons Part 2 (Oct 13 2021)
Cheating Lessons Part 2 (Oct 13 2021)
A proposal for a new approach to allegations of cheating (5 min)
Cheating Lessons (Part 2) video and slides
Cheating Lessons Part 1 (Sep 29 2021)
Cheating Lessons Part 1 (Sep 29 2021)
Why students cheat and how we can alter environments to minimize cheating (9 min)
Cheating Lessons (Part 1) video and slides
Assessments as learning tools (Sep 17 2021)
Assessments as learning tools (Sep 17 2021)
Instructors who review their multiple-choice and true-false questions after students complete an examination often use that assessment to help them see where students struggled, basically learning from it where the class failed to master some of the material. Why should we, as instructors, help students learn the value of using assessments as learning tools? And how do we build that into our courses?
Assessments as learning tools video
Available Teaching Resources 2021 (Aug 30 2021)
Available Teaching Resources 2021 (Aug 30 2021)
Teaching tips, The CVM Instructor Development Program (CID 2.0), Canvas Camp, Teaching Huddles, Education Day are teaching development opportunities available for faculty this coming year. What other resources at the college or university level are available to help you grow as a teacher?
Available Teaching Resources 2021 video
CVM Teaching Tips Archive Aug 2020 - June 2021
Personal teaching philosophy
Personal teaching philosophy
What is a personal teaching philosophy and what is the value of my creating one?
Persoanl teaching philosophy video
Personal teaching philosophy slides
eBooks: Two options
eBooks: Two options
Pressbooks and Manifold are 2 options currently available at the CVM for publishing eBooks. Pressbooks is a free option offered through the University Libraries project. And Manifold is a publishing capability owned and managed by the VPM department. Pressbooks is available to anyone with an x500 and is supported by library staff. These eBooks can be easily added to a Canvas course and are available to all through the Library webpage for eBooks.
Inquiry-based learning
Inquiry-based learning
Inquiry-based learning is a model that relies on the idea that individuals are able to learn by investigating scenarios and problems, and through social experiences. This has the potential to increase the intellectual engagement and deep understanding of the learner which helps them develop the questions and find the information they need to identify and solve problems, collaborate with peers and tackle real life issues.
Motor Skills Learning Myths
Motor Skills Learning Myths
How does the brain learn motor skills and how can that information help you learn or teach a new skill?
Motor skills learning myths video
Motor skills learning myths slides
Update on the 2+2 program with South Dakota State University
Update on the 2+2 program with South Dakota State University
The University of Minnesota and South Dakota State University (SDSU) have partnered together to create a 2+2 rural veterinary practitioner program with the option for a cohort of 20 students to complete their first two years of veterinary school at South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota. This teaching tip is an update on that program.
Update on the 2+2 program with South Dakota State University Video
Update on the 2+2 program with South Dakota State University Slides
Pros and cons of pass fail grading in didactic courses
Pros and cons of pass fail grading in didactic courses
What are the pros and cons of pass/fail grading in didactic courses. This teaching tip highlights some perspectives from teachers and students regarding pass/fail grading in didactic courses as well as the impacts pass/fail grading has had on CVM learning in the recent years.
Pros and cons of pass fail grading in didactic courses Video
Pros and cons of pass fail grading in didactic courses Slides
Highlights of the recent curriculum review – Part 2: Deep tracking
Highlights of the recent curriculum review – Part 2: Deep tracking
This is the second of two teaching tips that highlight a recent review by our faculty on our curriculum and this one focuses on tracking. What is the effect of deep tracking on our student success within and beyond veterinary school?
Highlight of curriculum review -deep tracking Video
Highlight of curriculum review -deep tracking Slides
Highlights of the recent curriculum review – Part 1: Mapping the curriculum to the CBVE competencies
Highlights of the recent curriculum review – Part 1: Mapping the curriculum to the CBVE competencies
This is one of two teaching tips that highlights a recent review by our faculty on our curriculum and this one focuses on mapping our curriculum to the CBVE competencies.
Mapping to the CBVE competencies Video
Mapping to the CBVE competencies Slides
Working with students who are requesting a better grade
Working with students who are requesting a better grade
What should you do when a student approaches you with a request for options to improve their grade?
Working with students who are requesting a better grade Video
Working with students who are requesting a better grade Slides
Creating interactive content using Google Slides
Creating interactive content using Google Slides
There are numerous ways to create interactive content for students to demonstrate their clinical decision making and the following presentation provides an example of this using Google Slides.
Creating interactive content using Google Slides Video
Creating interactive content using Google Slides Slides
Captions in Kaltura
Captions in Kaltura
As we have transitioned much of our content online we are using video to teach more and more. For these videos to be considered 100% digitally accessible closed captions would need to be included in the content. What options are available within the Kaltura platform to add and edit captions?
Best practices for online courses
Best practices for online courses
Creating a course from scratch as an on-line course is pretty straightforward but few of us have that luxury and instead are now recreating courses in a virtual format. What are best practices for presentation of material in an on-line format?
Best practices for online courses Video
Best practices for online courses Slides
Best practices for online examinations
Best practices for online examinations
On-line examinations have been growing in popularity among CVM instructors over the years and have greatly increased with the current need for virtual instruction and assessment. What are best practices for creation and use of on-line examinations in Canvas?
Best practices for online examinations Video
Best practices for online examinations Slides
CVM Syllabus Template 2020
CVM Syllabus Template 2020
We've recently developed a syllabus template for all DVM courses and will be using it beginning in the Fall 2020 semester. Using this template will give students a similar syllabus model to view from course to course and ensure that it's always accessed from the same convenient place in their Canvas courses.
Available teaching resources 2020
Available teaching resources 2020
Teaching tips, Journal club, CVM Instructor Development Program, Canvas Camp, Teaching Huddles and Education Day are teaching development opportunities available for faculty this coming year. What other resources at the college or university level are available to help you grow as a teacher?
CVM Teaching Tips Archive Aug 2019 - June 2020
Best practices for teaching with images June 12 2020
Best practices for teaching with images June 12 2020
US copyright law restricts use of copyrighted images. As instructors, some images can be used for teaching. What is the “fair use” exemption for teaching and what are best practices for using images in teaching?
Testing as a teaching tool May 28 2020
Testing as a teaching tool May 28 2020
Frequent low stakes testing helps student retain material. What are other benefits of frequent assessment and how can we use testing to increase student learning?
Seductive Details May 13 2020
Seductive Details May 13 2020
Can use of images harm learning? Seductive details are text, images, gifs, memes, animations, etc, that are tangentially related to the content, are interesting, and are irrelevant to the learning objectives for that course session. How may these harm student learning?
Duty hour guidelines Feb 24 2020
Duty hour guidelines Feb 24 2020
These specify the number of hours that students are required to work, with attention to the quality and quantity of time they are not required to be on duty, including in-house and on-call activities. This is a description of duty hour guidelines brought forward by the Student American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA).
Extra Credit Feb 13 2020
Extra Credit Feb 13 2020
There is little in the education literature about extra credit. What are pros and cons of extra credit and what are best practices?
Authentic Assignments Jan 24 2020
Authentic Assignments Jan 24 2020
Authentic assignments and assessments ask students to do work that mimics real-life practice. What are the components of authentic assignments and assessments?
Attendance Policies Jan 10 2020
Attendance Policies Jan 10 2020
Collegiate and University attendance policies – What are current attendance policies of the CVM and the University and what are students and course coordinators required to do to meet these policies?
Alignment Dec 13 2019
Alignment Dec 13 2019
Assignments should provide opportunities for students to meet the learning objectives, and assessments should reveal whether or not students can demonstrate the knowledge, technical skills, and non-technical skills described. This is alignment.
The one-sentence lesson plan Nov 26 2019
The one-sentence lesson plan Nov 26 2019
The “one-sentence lesson plan” – How do we help students understand why we want them to do specific assignments, how they can complete the assignment, and what its relevance is to their future career?
Accreditation at a glance Nov 7 2019
Accreditation at a glance Nov 7 2019
What are the standards of accreditation? Our next site visit will be in spring of 2021; what do we need to do to prepare for it?
Grading guidelines Oct 25 2019
Grading guidelines Oct 25 2019
How do we ensure fair and equitable grading of all students? The Student Promotions committee has created these guidelines to ensure unbiased and consistent grading.
Discussions in Canvas Oct 4 2019
Discussions in Canvas Oct 4 2019
Discussions are a great way to help students engage with material in a course. How specifically are discussions set up in Canvas and how can you best use them as an instructor?
Setting Canvas notifications Sep 20 2019
Setting Canvas notifications Sep 20 2019
Setting Canvas notifications – Canvas notifications are intended to provide you with the information you need in a timely fashion to make you an efficient and effective instructor. How do you customize notifications in Canvas to best suit your needs?
Setting up your Canvas Dashboard Sep 9 2019
Setting up your Canvas Dashboard Sep 9 2019
The Canvas Dashboard is the landing page you will see as you enter Canvas as an instructor or student. What is shown on that page and what options are available to customize it to make you an efficient instructor?
Creating a clear syllabus Aug 23 2019
Creating a clear syllabus Aug 23 2019
The syllabus is the contract between the course coordinator(s) and instructorsand the students for a given course. What are the components of a clear syllabus?
Available Educational Resources Aug 1 2019
Available Educational Resources Aug 1 2019
Teaching tips, journal club, Education Roundtable and Education Day are teaching development opportunities available for faculty this coming year. What other resources at the college or university level are available to help you grow as a teacher? View video | View slides
CVM Teaching Tips Archive Sep 2016 - Apr 2019
Introduction to Screencast-o-Matic (Apr 22 2019)
Introduction to Screencast-o-Matic (Apr 22 2019)
Introduction to Screencast-o-Matic (Apr 22 2019) watch
Screencast-o-matic is a UMN sanctioned tool that can record your screen, webcam and voice as well as serve as a video editor and it’s available for all students, staff and faculty to use free of charge. The accompanying video will help walk you through installation and show you the basics of using the software.
Accommodating Students via Self Awareness as Instructors (Mar 29 2019)
Accommodating Students via Self Awareness as Instructors (Mar 29 2019)
Accommodating Students via Self Awareness as Instructors (Mar 29 2019) watch
- The iGen Shift: Colleges Are Changing to Reach the Next Generation
- NC State Index of Learning Styles (ILS)
- NC State Learning Styles
- VARK: A guide to learning preferences
What’s on the NAVLE these days? (Mar 8 2019)
What’s on the NAVLE these days? (Mar 8 2019)
What’s on the NAVLE these days? (Mar 8 2019) watch | slides
The North American Veterinary Licensing Examination (NAVLE) must be successfully completed if a graduate is going to practice veterinary medicine in the United States. How is the NAVLE constructed and what kinds of questions should students expect on the examination?
Brain breaks: An introduction (Feb 21 2019)
Brain breaks: An introduction (Feb 21 2019)
Weighting of assignments and examinations as part of the total course grade (Feb 6 2019)
Weighting of assignments and examinations as part of the total course grade (Feb 6 2019)
Case-based teaching (Jan 23, 2019)
Exam Blueprints (Jan 9, 2019)
Exam Blueprints (Jan 9, 2019)
Exam Blueprints (Jan 9, 2019) watch | slides
Exam Blueprints are an easy way to make sure your tests reflect your course objectives. Learn about creating objectives based on backwards design, evaluation of questions and question types, and evaluation of the success of your teaching activities.
test blueprint form exam question vs objective eval template
Rubrics for grading (Dec 20, 2019)
Rubrics for grading (Dec 20, 2019)
How to identify and help students struggling with anxiety, stress or other mental disorders (Nov 28, 2018)
How to identify and help students struggling with anxiety, stress or other mental disorders (Nov 28, 2018)
How to identify and help students struggling with anxiety, stress or other mental disorders (Nov 28, 2018) watch | slides
What do you do when a student is showing signs of poor mental health or high stress? This presentation offers resources and some tips on talking to students in these situations.
Also, the University of Minnesota has recently published this related article: Rising number of college students report mental health condition
Mentoring graduate and veterinary students (Nov 16, 2018)
Lecture capture pros and cons (Oct 26, 2018)
Impact of generational differences on teaching and learning (Oct 15, 2018)
Impact of generational differences on teaching and learning (Oct 15, 2018)
Answering questions in class (Sep 24, 2018)
Available educational resources (Sep 7, 2018)
Available educational resources (Sep 7, 2018)
Posting assignment and and examination scores (April 12 2018)
Posting assignment and and examination scores (April 12 2018)
April 12th
As the end of the semester approaches, it is a great time to make sure assignment and examination scores are being posted for students in a timely manner.
Feedback on assignments shapes their learning as they prepare for examinations and helps them plan how they will study.
For examinations, students need feedback about what they missed while still respecting the need for examination security. Examinations are a great opportunity for assessment of learning by instructors and assessment for learning by students. For online examinations, faculty can provide information about the correct answer and give some guidance on why other answers are not correct and this can display automatically for the students; if you're interested in this aspect of on-line quizzes, contact the CVM Education Support group ([email protected]). For hard copy examinations, faculty may host a post-examination review to talk about common problems or misconceptions. Finally, with either on-line or hard copy examination, faculty may post or email out some general information about common concerns or misconceptions to help students learn from their mistakes.
Some faculty withhold scores because one or more students have not yet taken the examination; if a student has missed an examination and can't take it within a 5-7 days, you should grade and return the other students' examinations and consider making other arrangements for the student(s) who missed the examination.
Teaching students how to handle client misconceptions (March 28 2018)
Teaching students how to handle client misconceptions (March 28 2018)
Teaching students how to handle client misconceptions (March 28th) watch | slides
Many clinicians deal regularly with clients who have deeply held beliefs or have found information on the Internet that makes them less likely to follow veterinary advice. How do you handle our communications with these clients and how can we help students learn this skill?
Talking aloud for learning (March 15 2018)
Metacognition (Feb 28 2018)
Interpreting results from OMS for multiple-choice examinations (Feb 5 2018)
Interpreting results from OMS for multiple-choice examinations (Feb 5 2018)
Interpreting results from OMS for multiple-choice examinations (Feb 5th) watch | slides
Any examination submitted for automatic grading through the Office of Measurement Services is returned with a wealth of information instructors can use to improve their examination questions. This is a brief review of how to use some of that information.
Errors in clinical decision-making (Jan 16 2018)
Errors in clinical decision-making (Jan 16 2018)
Errors in clinical decision-making (Jan 16th) watch | slides
We all have biases that play into errors in our clinical decision making process. This brief review helps us all consider our own tendencies toward error and helps us better understand how to guide clients in learning to recognize their own errors.
Resources
Clinical communications training across the curriculum (Jan 2 2018)
Clinical communications training across the curriculum (Jan 2 2018)
Pros and cons of cumulative final exams (Dec 18 2017)
Pros and cons of cumulative final exams (Dec 18 2017)
Organizing/Teaching a Laboratory (Dec 4 2017)
Organizing/Teaching a Laboratory (Dec 4 2017)
Organizing a Laboratory (Dec 4th) watch | slides
Teaching in the Laboratory (Dec 4th) watch | slides
These videos will help faculty understand the steps in helping prepare and teach laboratories in the veterinary college. See also the related documnets below.
Preparing for the NAVLE (Nov 20 2017)
Preparing for the NAVLE (Nov 20 2017)
Preparing for the NAVLE (Nov 20th) Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Student - focused slide design (Nov 6 2017)
Student - focused slide design (Nov 6 2017)
Student - focused slide design (Nov 6th) watch | slides
Students have some specific preferences that help them use PowerPoint slides for preparing for class, learning while in class, and studying afterward. This narrated PowerPoint gives you good tips in how to prepare PowerPoints to meet student learning needs.
Best practices for slide design (Oct 23 2017)
Peer review of teaching (Oct 9 2017)
Available educational resources (Oct 2 2017)
Recorded Teaching Seminars 2016-2017
Recorded Teaching Seminars 2016-2017
Defining day one competencies (SEP 27th, 2016) Presenter: Laura Molgaard | watch | slides |
Generational differences and possible impacts on teaching and learning (NOV 7th, 2016) Presenter: Peggy Root | watch | slides |
Decreasing binge and purge (JAN 31st, 2017) Presenters: Deb Wingert and Colleen Meyers | watch | slides |
Errors in clinical decision-making (FEB 6th, 2017) Presenter: Jeffrey Todd | watch | slides |
Examination Blueprints (FEB 27th, 2017) Presenter: Erin Malone | watch | slides|
Mindset - Feedback for process, not for outcomes (MAR 20th, 2017) Presenter: Peggy Root | watch