Designed for Learning

For decades now, the call to college teachers has been to rely less on lecture and to draw more on active learning techniques such as discussions, small group brainstorming, and think-pair-shares.
Strategies like these fit well within smaller courses. But in an auditorium with a couple of hundred students, how do we encourage participation and community?
To meet this challenge, Notre Dame’s Rachel Branco has turned to an assessment approach known as the two-stage exam. It’s worked so well that she has now written a how-to guide to help other instructors incorporate this active learning experience into classes of any size.
Key Topics Discussed:
How Rachel initially encountered the concept of two-stage exams, in which students answer the same set of questions first as individuals and then in groups
Her experience incorporating two-stage exams into her smaller courses and why that inspired her not only to adapt the setup for her larger classes but also to write a guide for other instructors interested in doing so
Well-established advantages of using two-stage exams as well as Rachel’s own observations of the benefits based on surveys of her students
The logistics of deploying two-stage exams in a class with hundreds of students, including the importance of seating plans, the creation of the exam documents themselves, and group construction
Why Rachel has each student turn in their own answer sheet for the group part of the exam and the kinds of questions that work best in light of the group dynamic
Why it’s critical to communicate the rationale behind this style of assessment to students
Guest Bio: Rachel Branco is a neuroscientist and an associate teaching professor at the University of Notre Dame, where she teaches courses through both the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and the Neuroscience and Behavior Program. She is passionate about researching and implementing practical classroom strategies that improve how students learn about and experience science.
Resources Mentioned:
Rachel’s Implementation Guide for Two-Stage Exams
Mail Merge Tool for Notre Dame Instructors: Yet Another Mail Merge (YAMM)
Grading Assistance Software for Notre Dame Instructors: Gradescope
Episode Transcript (PDF)
Designed for Learning is hosted by Jim Lang, a professor of the practice in Notre Dame Learning’s Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence and the author of several influential books on teaching. The podcast is produced by Notre Dame Learning’s Office of Digital Learning. For more, visit learning.nd.edu/podcast. You can also follow Notre Dame Learning on LinkedIn.

Among the most fundamental promises education makes is this: What you learn here, on campus, will help you when you’re out there, in the world. Learning researchers call this far transfer, describing the process by which students take a skill and apply it in another class, in an internship, or even in their careers after college.
But what does it look like when that far transfer is part of the class itself? In community-based learning, professors embed their courses in real-world contexts, creating partnerships with organizations who have real needs connected to the course material.
Notre Dame’s Wendy Angst has long embraced this approach to teach design thinking and business consulting, and she has now amplified it to a whole new level with the help of virtual reality (VR) technology. The result has been to give her students an unforgettable experience that makes an impact far beyond their classroom.
Key Topics Discussed:
How coming from an industry background motivated Wendy to incorporate hands-on consulting work into her teaching
The evolution of her Innovation & Design Thinking course to build a robust partnership with Saint Bakhita Vocational Training Center in Northern Uganda, starting with an eventful trip there in March 2020
Working with ND Learning’s Office of Digital Learning to use VR to bring the experience of being on the ground in Uganda to more Notre Dame students
The businesses in Uganda that have grown out of student-partner projects in the course
How VR builds empathy and understanding among the large number of students who do not actually go to Uganda—but also among those who do
Lessons Wendy has taken away from years of leading community-based learning and advice she’d give instructors looking to get started with it
Guest Bio: Wendy Angst is the Michael & Melanie Neumann Director of the Powerful Means Initiative and a teaching professor in the Department of Management & Organization at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. She also serves as the director of undergraduate studies for the impact consulting minor and has been instrumental in shaping experiential learning opportunities that empower students to drive meaningful social impact and grow the good in business.
Resources Mentioned:
More About the VR Immersion in Wendy’s Class
Office of Digital Learning’s Digital Learning Sprints Program
Project Partner Website: Saint Bakhita Vocational Training Center
Episode Transcript (PDF)
Designed for Learning is hosted by Jim Lang, a professor of the practice in Notre Dame Learning’s Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence and the author of several influential books on teaching. The podcast is produced by Notre Dame Learning’s Office of Digital Learning. For more, visit learning.nd.edu/podcast. You can also follow Notre Dame Learning on LinkedIn.

With the advent of AI, many are questioning the traditional model of having students do much of the heavy lifting of a course on their own. If outside of class students can prompt AI to do homework, write essays, and create presentation slides, should instructors be using time inside the classroom differently than in the past?
An applied ethicist, Lily Abadal has been a vocal proponent of a philosophy that has always existed on the edges of higher ed but that has taken on new prominence in this current moment: If we care about it, students should be doing it in class.
Lily and host Jim Lang explore this idea and how she applies it to continue to push her students to become better writers and, in the process, stronger thinkers.
Key Topics Discussed:
How virtue ethics informs Lily’s argument that instructors should bring writing assignments into the classroom—and make students take their time with them
The way she has reimagined the traditional term paper as an in-class assignment
What this restructuring has meant for both the material she covers and what she does during a class period
The role of the instructor as coach in pushing students to expend the effort to master the fundamentals
Lily’s still-evolving approach to grading these assignments and getting students to focus on the process rather than checking boxes
How student attitudes toward the paper assignment change over the course of the semester
Guest Bio: Lily Abadal is an assistant professor of instruction at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Her research focuses on virtue ethics and moral formation, particularly in relation to emerging technologies. She is interested in helping mission-centered schools design pedagogical strategies, develop integrity-centered policies, reimagine assessments, and encourage genuine character formation in the age of AI.
Resources Mentioned:
Inside Higher Ed Piece: “A Way to Save the Essay”
Journal Article: “Ensuring Genuine Assessment in Philosophy Education” (Teaching Philosophy)
Lily’s Website: drlilyabadal.com 
Lily’s LinkedIn
Episode Transcript (PDF)
Designed for Learning is hosted by Jim Lang, a professor of the practice in Notre Dame Learning’s Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence and the author of several influential books on teaching. The podcast is produced by Notre Dame Learning’s Office of Digital Learning. For more, visit learning.nd.edu/podcast. You can also follow Notre Dame Learning on LinkedIn.

When satellite maps became available on our phones, some wondered what we would lose by becoming less oriented to the places we live or visit. But most of us have used these maps for many years now and find them to be incredibly useful. Which begs the question: Does it matter if we’ve lost our sense of direction a bit? 
Educators now find themselves asking similar questions about AI and teaching. What happens when we stop using a skill and allow technology to do it for us? Do we become de-skilled? When does that de-skilling matter? And in those cases where it does matter, how do we help students understand the importance of committing themselves to the hard work of learning?
Educator, author, and higher ed consultant Derek Bruff joins host Jim Lang for a thoughtful conversation exploring how we might answer.
Key Topics Discussed:
The rubber duck effect as a way to think about AI’s potential role in brainstorming processes
Concerns over people accepting the responses of AI as authoritative
The sycophantic tendencies of chatbots and the importance of teaching students to read AI outputs with a degree of skepticism
How consulting AI compares to collective class discussion as a starting point for student papers
Developing students’ metacognitive awareness and self-regulation so that they can determine when it’s helpful to use AI and when it’s not
The value to students of encountering course material in both digital and analog ways
The need to be intentional about AI use because the skills and experiences at play feel more core to who we are as humans
A low-stakes experiment for instructors who don’t currently use AI much
Guest Bio: Derek Bruff directed the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching for more than a decade and is currently an associate director at the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Virginia, where much of his work focuses on helping faculty respond to the challenges and opportunities posed by generative AI. Derek has written two books, most recently Intentional Tech: Principles to Guide the Use of Educational Technology in College Teaching. He writes a weekly newsletter called Intentional Teaching and hosts and produces the Intentional Teaching podcast.
Resources Mentioned:
Derek’s Podcast: Intentional Teaching
Derek’s Newsletter: Intentional Teaching
Alternative Use Test Article: “How does generative artificial intelligence impact student creativity?” (Journal of Creativity)
Example Assignment: Do Something Impossible with AI
Notre Dame Learning’s Lab for AI in Teaching and Learning
Designed for Learning is hosted by Jim Lang, a professor of the practice in Notre Dame Learning’s Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence and the author of several influential books on teaching. The podcast is produced by Notre Dame Learning’s Office of Digital Learning. For more, visit learning.nd.edu/podcast. You can also follow Notre Dame Learning on LinkedIn.

When you become a teacher, you commit to a life of learning—not just for your students, but for yourself. You can feel totally comfortable and confident in your teaching practices, and then suddenly some new technology or some new group of students comes along and upends everything you think you know about education.
In those moments, instructors often seek out resources and conversations with peers and students to think through how they might adapt their teaching. But actually giving up a beloved teaching technique can provoke a real sense of loss, and adopting a new approach can be scary.
Jordan Troisi, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Colby College, talks with host Jim Lang about one way colleges and universities can support faculty on this journey: course design institutes. Both Colby and Notre Dame are home to such programs, in which faculty gather with colleagues and teaching specialists in an extended process of reimagining their work as educators.
Key Topics Discussed:
How course design work led Jordan to make a concrete change to his own teaching practices
Common features of course design institutes, which run for a relatively short amount of time, and ways they can advance instructors’ lifelong efforts to improve as teachers
Making the time instructors spend in these institutes worth their commitment
Incorporating your experience in a course design institute as part of the narrative around your CV
The prevalence of grading as a topic Jordan sees instructors wanting to discuss
Drawing on relationships among faculty and a broader sense of belonging to motivate more instructors to participate in structured explorations of their teaching
The questions to ask when planning a course design institute
Guest Bio: Jordan Troisi serves as the director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Colby College. He previously spent nine years as a psychology faculty member, first at Widener University and then at Sewanee: The University of the South. His scholarly work includes more than 20 peer-reviewed and invited publications on effective teaching as well as two books: Midcourse Correction for the College Classroom: Putting Small Group Instructional Diagnosis to Work and, most recently, Developing High-Impact Course Design Institutes: A Model for Change.
Resources Mentioned:
Book: Developing High-Impact Course Design Institutes: A Model for Change (Routledge)
Colby Center for Teaching and Learning’s Course (re)Design Institutes
Notre Dame Learning’s Kaneb Center Course Design Academy
Designed for Learning is hosted by Jim Lang, a professor of the practice in Notre Dame Learning’s Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence and the author of several influential books on teaching. The podcast is produced by Notre Dame Learning’s Office of Digital Learning. For more, visit learning.nd.edu/podcast. You can also follow Notre Dame Learning on LinkedIn.