The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at OU

10/14/2026

Every student carries a story. Some carry grief.

Loss doesn't stay at the classroom door. It can affect concentration, motivation, attendance, and academic success in ways we may not immediately see.

Join Dr. Nikki Scott (Social Work) for a timely Teaching Talk on creating grief-informed classrooms and learning practical strategies to support students with compassion while maintaining academic expectations.

Friday, October 16, 2026
2:00-3:00 PM
Online
REGISTER NOW: https://bit.ly/4ijMXHX

Because sometimes the most meaningful teaching starts with understanding what students are carrying.

Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning - Teaching Talk When students enter our classrooms, they bring not only their academic goals but a...

10/12/2026

Teaching Tip Monday: FORWARD with Midsemester Reflection (Sarah Hosch)

Do you feel like your class is on cruise control, or like hitting the "pause" button on your semester? Either way, taking a little time to reflect can help you move FORWARD with positivity, and make future semesters smoother. Look to these FORWARD steps for inspiration.

👉🏻Feelings. How am I feeling? Am I motivated to teach?
👉🏻Outcomes. What are my goals for this class? Am I meeting my goals? What evidence do I have that students are learning?
👉🏻Relationships. Am I connecting with students? Am I making content relevant?
👉🏻Workload. Did I accurately gauge my workload? The students? How is the class pace?
👉🏻Actions. How are students behaving in class? Are they overwhelmed, motivated, interested?
👉🏻Reach out. Do my students need additional support? Do they feel like they belong? Have I developed my own community for support?
👉🏻Direction. Am I using strategies to help students learn? Am I creating barriers?

For accompanying OU-specific resources and ideas to engage students in reflection, see the full teaching tip. https://bit.ly/3VCuLRd

10/09/2026

👀 The clues are already there 🔍

Every course tells a story.
Attendance patterns, assignment submissions, quiz results, gradebook trends. The clues that a student may be struggling are often already there. The challenge is knowing what to look for and what to do next.

Join us for 'First-Gen Student Success: Using Course Data to Support First-Generation Students Early' and explore practical ways to make student progress more visible, provide timely support, and help first-generation students stay connected to their academic goals before small obstacles become major barriers.

October 14 | 12-1PM | 430R Kresge Library or Zoom (HyFlex)

Facilitated by Daniel Brengel as part of the Realigning Expectations & Practices for First-Generation Student Success series.

Read more and make sure you register! https://bit.ly/4hUONhb

10/05/2026

What if the most important AI skill isn't using the technology, but questioning it?

In 'Against Inevitability: Teaching Human Learners in an AI Age through Critical, Problem-Posing Dispositions', Nick Sanders (Writing and Rhetoric) invites educators to explore how we can help students think critically about AI's promises, limitations, and social consequences.

Join us for a thoughtful conversation and leave with strategies you can bring into your teaching right away.

Wednesday October 7 | 3-4PM | Online
Register now to join the conversation: https://bit.ly/4y7JNf3

Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning - AI Teaching in Action We live in a time where cultural stories about AI often frame its use as a...

10/05/2026

Teaching Tip Monday: Normalizing and Promoting Academic Success Support (Jessica Harrell)

Students who can most benefit from tutoring and academic support often don’t use this support because they associate seeking help as a personal shortcoming. At this point in the semester when students may have completed a first project or exam, they may be more aware of their course performance and most receptive to working with the Academic Success Center. This week’s teaching tip offers four practical ways to encourage students to build up their academic skills:

1. Use destigmatizing language to normalize support early.
2. Connect students with relevant Academic Success services in multiple ways.
3. Build a culture of peer leadership.

Read full tip https://bit.ly/4rFuMiZ

09/28/2026

Teaching Tip Monday: Holding Space: Setting the Stage for Charged Moments (Clark Ausloos)

Charged moments - sometimes in the form of a troubling question, unplanned topic, or uncomfortable silence - can occur in teaching 200 freshmen in a lecture hall, or eight graduate students around a seminar table. However, we can prepare for these moments the same way. This teaching tip offers research-based approaches to preparing for challenging, charged moments, regardless of discipline. While you can’t always prevent hard moments, you can walk into the next one having already made a few decisions instead of making them all at once with your heart pounding. And, ultimately, students can tell the difference. Full tip: https://bit.ly/4hhwLW8

09/25/2026

What do you do when a classroom moment suddenly feels... heavier than the lesson plan?

Maybe a student makes a comment that catches everyone off guard. Maybe a current event enters the conversation. Maybe you can feel the room shift.

Those moments can leave us wondering: Do I step in? Let it play out? Redirect?

Join CETL for Holding Space: Teaching in Charged Moments, a conversation about navigating the unexpected parts of teaching with confidence, care, and authenticity.

Rather than avoiding difficult moments, we'll explore how to stay grounded in them, support students, and keep learning moving forward.

Wed., September 30 |12-1 PM | Online
Presented by Dr. Clark Ausloos, CETL Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor of Counseling

You'll leave with practical approaches you can use the very next time a classroom discussion takes an unexpected turn.
👉 REGISTER NOW: https://bit.ly/3TVvM6h

Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning – Teaching Today’s Students When a class touches something charged, whether it’s a commen...

09/22/2026

Ever leave a conference session inspired... and then never actually implement the idea?

Tomorrow's Teaching Talk is different.

'Co-Teaching Made Practical: A Framework for Building Your First Integrated Session' focuses on turning interdisciplinary teaching from a good idea into a concrete plan you can take home and use.

Led by Akshata Naik and Jane Newman of the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, this hands-on session will introduce the SHIFT Framework and help participants begin building their own integrated session.

When: Tomorrow, September 23 at 3pm
Where: In-person only at Kresge Library, room 430R
👉REGISTER NOW: https://bit.ly/47aeu8r

Come for the ideas. Leave with something you can actually use.

Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning - Teaching Talk Co-teaching across disciplines is often limited not by willingness, but by the abs...

09/15/2026

Tomorrow’s first‑gen teaching workshop is almost here!

As the number of first‑generation students continues to grow, this session focuses on shaping course environments that reduce hidden‑curriculum barriers, improve accessibility, and build on the strengths first‑gen students bring to our classrooms.

If you’ve already registered, we’ll see you tomorrow.
If you haven’t, we’ve saved a spot for you - join us either in‑person or virtually.

👉 Register here: https://bit.ly/4hmUcOY

Looking forward to kicking off the series together.

Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning - First Gen Student Success As the percentage of first‑generation (FG) students increases, it’...

09/14/2026

Learning Tip Monday: What Makes Note-taking Work?

Now that students are getting further into the semester, hopefully they're taking the notes that will help them process and work with course concepts. While students may have a lot of experience taking notes, they may not know how to do so in a way that helps them learn best. But what actually makes for good note-taking? Less than whether you write by hand or type, what matters most is how engaged students are with the concepts being discussed. Encouraging these four behaviors can help students cognitively connect with the content their noting.
Write your thoughts alongside what is being covered.
Record your questions.
Make predictions.
End notes with a summary and takeaways.
Read about these, and view a note-taking template that may help your students: https://bit.ly/3V7SRmt

What is a Learning Tip? Learning tips are written for a student audience: share them with your students as is, or make a copy of the Google Doc version to adapt for your course.