This Week for Faculty: 🐈 Bringing CATs to your classroom
Bring Classroom Assessment Techniques to your classroom
How do you know what your students are learning? CATs (Classroom Assessment Techniques) are low-stakes strategies that provide immediate information on what students understand and where they need support. CATs help instructors create more responsive, student-centered learning environments that benefit both instructors and students. By collecting formative data, instructors can adjust their teaching to better support student learning. By receiving ongoing feedback, students are more self-aware of their learning progress.
CATs encourage students to engage, reflect, and apply what they learn. Strategies like Think-Pair-Share or Think-Aloud-Pair-Problem Solving promote deeper learning and critical thinking. 3-2-1 invites students to write about 3 things they learned in class, 2 things they found interesting, and 1 question they still have about the content. This technique helps you identify student confusion before the next class, allowing you to address it before moving on.
Looking for more low-stakes assessment techniques to meet your needs? Explore the ebook: Learning Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty (Barkley and Major, 2016)
Related resources:
Maximize student engagement in your classroom
Active Learning Institute Summer 2025
June 10 – 11, 2025, 9:30 AM – 3:30 PM, in-person
Looking for ways to increase student engagement in your classroom? The CTL’s Active Learning Institute helps faculty transform courses into environments for participatory learning. Learn more.
By the end of this hands-on in-person institute, faculty will leave with a detailed map of their redesigned course unit, and one carefully-planned multimedia-based active learning experience. Faculty will also join a supportive network of Active Learning Institute alumni.
The Active Learning Institute application for Summer 2025 is now open. Columbia and affiliate faculty are invited to apply via the link below. Admission to the institute is rolling, and applications received by Monday, May 12, 2025, will be given priority.
Featured resource: Promoting Academic Integrity
It’s Integrity Week 2025! Participate in programs and workshops offered February 24 through 28 that focus on the fundamental values of academic integrity in teaching, learning, and research.
We can all do our part to promote academic integrity in our courses! Talk to your students about academic integrity in learning and help them understand what academic integrity is, why it is important, and how they can uphold it. Find additional strategies in the resource: Promoting Academic Integrity.
Upcoming events
Navigating HOT Moments in the Classroom
February 27, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Related resources: Navigating Heated, Offensive, and Tense (HOT) Moments in the Classroom
The Columbia Class of 2035: Will We Need to Reinvent Higher Education?
March 4, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Faculty Room in Low Memorial Library.
This workshop is part of the Columbia AI Summit on March 4, 2025.
Exploring AI in Teaching and Learning: AI and Writing
March 5, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Related resource: Learning Through Writing in the Age of AI
Science of Learning Research Initiative (SOLER) Journal Club
March 6, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM, online
Article to be discussed: Empowering students’ voices: The use of activity-oriented focus groups in higher education research (Bourne & Winstone, 2021).
Meet the newest member of the CTL team
Welcome the CTL’s newest member, Marty Samuels, PhD, Director of Faculty Programs and Services!
Marty’s mission is to help empower faculty to design and teach courses that effectively inspire student learning, engagement, and inclusion.
Marty can help with (re)designing courses and assignments to be more authentic and transparent, incorporating active learning, cultivating equitable classrooms, and any other teaching and learning projects you have in mind. He is always excited to work with faculty to think about how to bring their disciplines to life for their students.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or ideas!
The CTL is here to help!
Connect via Zoom or over the phone
Join us for office hours via Zoom (or phone) Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm to have your teaching with instructional technology questions answered.
Schedule a consultation
Schedule an in-person or virtual consultation to discuss any teaching and learning need by emailing ctlfaculty@columbia.edu or email the CTL Learning Designer assigned to your school or department.