Tools and Resources

Alphabetical List

Browse through the tools by the title of the resource.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

The purpose of this activity is for participants or students to get to know each other as individuals with distinct histories, backgrounds, and traditions. Knowing something personal about others helps learning communities and teams function more effectively.

The Where I'm From icebreaker activity was developed based on a poem by George Ella Lyon (http://www.georgeellalyon.com/where.html). This teaching activity is described in: Christensen, Linda (1998) Inviting Student Lives into the Classroom: Where I'm From. Rethinking Schools, 12(2): 22-23. Available on-line at: https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/where-i-m-from/

Why Do We Need to Promote Diversity in the Learning Environment?

This resource provides a definition of diversity and explores the rationale for advocating for diversity within educational settings. It serves as a guide to better understand the advantages of intentionally integrating diversity, in terms of representation, perspectives, and experiences into the learning environment.

Why Students Dont Read

Why work with the teaching center

Faculty testimonials about reasons why other faculty might want to work with the faculty consultants at the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, our teaching center.

Working with multilingual students and English Language Learners (ELLs)

ELLs and multilingual students are a very diverse group of learners and might be international students or recent immigrants who are new to the US higher education context, or they may be Generation 1.5 students who might demonstrate very high levels of speaking and listening abilities and deep cultural knowledge. This resource offers recommendations and suggestions for teaching ELL and multilingual students at Penn State.

Working with Student Teams

An online module designed to help you work more efficiently with student teams within your classes. This module is designed to help you work with teams in both face-to-face and online courses. Regardless of what type of course you teach, you should find helpful information within this course regarding the formation, facilitation and performance of student teams.

World Campus Sample Tip Sheet for Online Course Development

This tip sheet provides a step-by-step description for setting up an online course.

Writing a Teaching Philosophy

A teaching philosophy is more than an instructor’s beliefs about teaching and learning and paints a picture of what it is like to be a student in the course. It explains why a faculty member does what they do in their courses. It can be a foundational document for course design, narrative statements, and self-reflection.

A teaching philosophy is typically a 1-2-page narrative. It describes how learning happens in a course through examples learning activities, instructor- and student-student interactions, assessments. See Writing a Teaching Philosophy.

Writing Multiple-Choice Questions that Demand Critical Thinking

Practical suggestions for writing exams and techniques for creating questions from Boston University School of Public Health.

Writing Rubric Example

This is an example of a rubric that can be used to grade writing assignments. It can be adapted to specific writing assignments. The use of a rubric helps to make grading more accurate and consistent and helps students to create higher quality assignments.