The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at OU

The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at OU Welcome to CETL, where we connect faculty and cultivate a culture of teaching and learning excellence

Teaching Tip Monday: “Chat with Your Professor” Builds Instructor-Student Rapport (Helena Riha)Studies show that buildin...
08/31/2026

Teaching Tip Monday: “Chat with Your Professor” Builds Instructor-Student Rapport (Helena Riha)

Studies show that building a positive rapport with students is critical for effective teaching. Indeed, in The Courage to Teach, Palmer (1998) argues that “the ability to stimulate strong positive emotions separates the competent from the outstanding college professor.” OU's Helena Riha created an after-class activity called “Chat with Your Professor” that gives her an excellent chance to build rapport with students. She shares a Google doc sign-up sheet with each class in which students select 15-minute appointment slots to chat with her after class. Chats with students enable her to learn about students’ interests, goals, and struggles, and they give students a chance to ask her opinion about various issues related to their learning and future careers.
Step-by-step instructions, takeaways, and tools in the full teaching tip: https://bit.ly/3UeNZvz

Teaching Tip Monday: Making Class Commitments to Build Community (Christina Moore)When today’s higher ed issues press pa...
08/24/2026

Teaching Tip Monday: Making Class Commitments to Build Community (Christina Moore)
When today’s higher ed issues press particularly hard, we can find comfort and wisdom in older texts on university teaching such as the late Ken Bain’s 2004 What the Best College Teachers Do. Based on the substantial qualitative study of 67 exceptional college teachers, Bain laid out in browsable form the principles and practices consistent across these diverse people, including one that might strike us as fresh and necessary: “seeking commitments.” Solid class commitments--or explicitly focusing effort to engage in one behavior or achieve one goal--require constant cultivation in a way that involves and sustains everyone . This teaching tip offers a way to think about what we most want to see in classes, and how we can mutually commit to making it happen in our corner of a complex world.
Read full tip bit.ly/4wH7ASB

Teaching Tip Monday: Designing Due Dates for Reality: Choices for Flexible Late Work Policies (Meredith Gregory)As we pr...
08/17/2026

Teaching Tip Monday: Designing Due Dates for Reality: Choices for Flexible Late Work Policies (Meredith Gregory)

As we prepare our course syllabi for the start of a new semester, considering all of the sections that require review, few provoke as much debate as the late work policy. And what it really comes down to is this: how do we offer our students every opportunity for success without sacrificing our own schedules (and sanity)? Building structured flexibility into a syllabus offers solutions that work as a safety net for students, helping to diffuse anxiety and maintain academic integrity, while preserving predictable grading balance for faculty. This week’s teaching tip offers four possible models with example policy language to adapt for your courses (plus, an encouraging nudge to work with e-LIS instructional designers to make these approaches work in your Moodle gradebook).

The Mastery and Success Criteria Model
The Extension Without Penalty
The Predictable Sliding Scale Policy
The Late Bank Pool

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

Teaching Tip Monday: Flexible Deadlines for Neurodivergent Students (and Everyone Else) (Jessica Cave)A lot of students ...
08/10/2026

Teaching Tip Monday: Flexible Deadlines for Neurodivergent Students (and Everyone Else) (Jessica Cave)

A lot of students (and us as faculty) are ready to learn, but need flexibility to do so: we are working, caring for family, managing health issues, or working with brains that do not always work at the same pace and intensity every single week of a semester. Even in a course with many learning activities--weekly reading quizzes, lecture quizzes, a short reflection paper, multiple‑choice exams, and a major paper--we can design for flexibility in two ways:
All the “weekly” work is grouped into two hard due-date blocks, one before the midterm and one before the final.
Within each block, attach weekly due dates to the assignments in Moodle to help with pacing, but the real requirement is to finish everything before the block closes.
This gives students space to work ahead or catch up as their other courses, jobs, and lives allow. It also lets instructors be generous during the block and then firm at the midterm and final cutoffs, because by that point, they have had every chance.
For specific examples and experiences, see the full teaching tip: https://bit.ly/4fGuu7i

05/20/2026

May 8, 2026 Teaching & Learning Symposium

🎥 Recordings from the 2026 Teaching & Learning Symposium are now available! This year’s symposium was such a bright spo...
05/20/2026

🎥 Recordings from the 2026 Teaching & Learning Symposium are now available!

This year’s symposium was such a bright spot — full of good energy, thoughtful conversations, and genuinely positive feedback from faculty across campus. People really valued the chance to reconnect, share ideas, and learn from one another.

You can now revisit every session on our YouTube channel, and presenter materials are posted on the symposium website oakland.edu/cetl/teaching-symposium/

👉 Watch the session recordings https://bit.ly/4dCvhno
👉 Review presenter materials https://bit.ly/4dVynUY
👉 Explore the symposium site https://bit.ly/4b9ndJM

A heartfelt thank‑you to our 2026 sponsors for helping make this event possible and meaningful for our teaching community.

Oakland University School of Business
Oakland University College of Arts and Sciences
Oakland University e-Learning and Instructional Support
Oakland University School of Nursing
Oakland University School of Education and Human Services
Oakland University Graduate School

Teaching Tip Monday: Incorporating Authentic Voice and Clear Expectations into Writing Assignments (Daniel Brengel)Many ...
05/18/2026

Teaching Tip Monday: Incorporating Authentic Voice and Clear Expectations into Writing Assignments (Daniel Brengel)

Many instructors assume students inherently understand "academic voice," but students from diverse linguistic backgrounds often struggle when these expectations are left unstated. This week’s teaching tip explores how to redesign writing assignments for better transparency and authenticity. By incorporating "bridge" or transitional assignments, such as literacy narratives in authentic multicultural voices or "I-search" reports, instructors can help students navigate the similarities and differences between their own authentic voices and common academic expectations. The tip outlines five steps to redesign your assignments, including identifying learning bottlenecks and working backward to provide the necessary instructional support.

👉 Read full tip: https://bit.ly/3PikuH4

Teaching Tip Monday: Class-Sourcing Interaction: Online Agendas, Notes, DiscussionsIn this teaching tip, an instructor s...
05/11/2026

Teaching Tip Monday: Class-Sourcing Interaction: Online Agendas, Notes, Discussions

In this teaching tip, an instructor shares an interactive weekly handout for her class that structures the week's content and activies, organizes live class note-taking, and facilitates asynchronous class discussion. She shares a template that anyone can adapt in their own classes. Heading styles help students navigate the growing document. View the full teaching tip for the template and explanation of how to use an adapt it.

Read full tip https://bit.ly/4ne09PG

SYMPOSIUM COUNTDOWN!Our 2026 Teaching & Learning Symposium is just three days away.On event day, you’ll find our registr...
05/05/2026

SYMPOSIUM COUNTDOWN!

Our 2026 Teaching & Learning Symposium is just three days away.

On event day, you’ll find our registration table right outside the Gold Rooms — your first stop before diving into a full day of learning and connection.

As you get ready, take a few minutes to browse the agenda. It’s the best way to get oriented: event location, session schedule, presenters, WiFi details — everything you need to feel grounded and ready for a great day.
We can’t wait to welcome you for a day filled with ideas, conversation, and inspiration.
👉 View full agenda: https://bit.ly/4cRPPrG

Thank you to our sponsors for contributing to the shared experience that makes this symposium such a meaningful day for our teaching community.

Oakland University School of Business
Oakland University School of Nursing
Oakland University College of Arts and Sciences
Oakland University e-Learning and Instructional Support
Oakland University School of Education and Human Services
Oakland University Graduate School

Your 2026 Symposium Day Starts Here — explore the agenda and plan your day.The 2026 Teaching & Learning Symposium websit...
04/28/2026

Your 2026 Symposium Day Starts Here — explore the agenda and plan your day.

The 2026 Teaching & Learning Symposium website and full interactive agenda are now fully updated. This year’s program features sessions on active pedagogies, AI and mini‑grant work, assessment as partnership, inclusive learning communities, reflective creative practice, student strengths, connection, and technology‑enhanced teaching.

Take a look at what’s planned, browse presenter bios, and start mapping out your day. Registration is open for both in‑person and Zoom.

👉 View full agenda: https://bit.ly/4cRPPrG
👉 Register: https://bit.ly/4cKToRX

We’re looking forward to a day of ideas, connection, and inspiration.

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