Consider the resources below as you start off a new semester of teaching.

For Course Planning

Planning your course is often the first step toward preparing for a new semester of teaching. CITLS and the college offer a variety of resources to support you as you prepare the components of your courses, from assignments, to course materials, and more.

Do you have an affordable course? Review this guide for ideas on how to minimize course costs and reduce barriers to student learning.  

The well-being of learners, professors, and staff members is critical for our community. Use this guide to learn ways to support well-being within and beyond the classroom.  

Critical to effective instruction is knowing who your students are. Request support prior to the start of the semester to use this voluntary, anonymous form to get to know your learners. Contact citls@lafayette.edu.  

As you design assignments for your courses, address the components of the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework, shown to support the achievement of diverse learners.  

Will your courses involve group projects or experiments? Consider implementing this guide to empower your learners in effective teamwork. 

In this resource view sample course policies for generative AI, survey findings on the perspectives of and usage of generative AI by Lafayette students, and more. 

 

To Share with Your Learners

There are various campus resources available to support students in their coursework and beyond. At the start of the semester, consider sharing these resources with your students. They can be added to course syllabi and websites, ensuring that students are able to access them as needed.

A centralized site with a variety of campus resources to support academics as well as well-being.  

A fund providing small grants to assist Lafayette students facing unexpected difficulty paying for course materials and other course-related costs.

Share this infographic with your students at the beginning of the semester in order to support their literacy and responsible usage of generative AI. 

 

For Obtaining or Gathering Feedback on Teaching

Another important item to consider at the onset of the semester is how you will approach feedback for your courses.  Above and beyond the traditional course evaluations, there are a variety of options for soliciting and interpreting feedback from both students and peers.

Obtaining formative feedback on your course can allow you to make changes that improve the learning environment. Review this resource for recommendations as well as how to access a template form. 

This site contains information on the college-wide course evaluation process. To meet with a CITLS staff member for a  personalized, confidential review of your course evaluations, contact CITLS at citls@lafayette.edu. *CITLS is not involved in PTR-related evaluations of teaching. All feedback is for formative usage only, not evaluative, and is expected to be used for those intended purposes. If you have pedagogical questions related to promotion and tenure, please consult the proper contacts at Lafayette.

Whether you are documenting your teaching efforts or are conducting classroom observations of teaching of peers, self-enroll in this flexible module to learn about the Critical Teaching Behaviors Framework.