The teacher inspires and motivates students to learn.

Consider the following suggestions to help inspire students’ interest in the subject matter of your course:

• Help students find personal meaning in the material through real-world problem-solving, personal reflection, applied learning, and/or a career-based case study.
• Identify assignments that require curiosity, challenge, or mastery.
  • Use the NILOA Assignment Library to explore assignments by discipline, level, or proficiency.
• Avoid “busy work,” and seek assignments that students will see as valuable.
  • Add a simple purpose statement to your assignment descriptions in your course syllabus.
  • Show students how assignments align with course learning outcomes
• Give students as much control over their own education as possible (e.g., topics, projects, class structure, etc.)
• Build a library of additional resources. Professor, Adam Grant, talks about “compiling a library for students to follow-up and do a deeper dive into different areas of [his] class” (2022). Include TED talks, articles, case studies, etc. to help students uncover additional meaning.
• Use a variety of evidence-based teaching strategies to keep things interesting.

Consider the following suggestions to help ensure opportunities for student success:

• Give students opportunities for success early in the semester to give them confidence and avoid demoralizing feelings. Once students succeed, incrementally increase the difficulty level.
• Assign tasks that are realistic.
• Avoid grading on the curve, which gives all students the opportunity for high scores.
• Teach students effective learning strategies
  • Consider sharing resources from Saundra McGuire, such as The Study Cycle
• Teach students about growth mindset and share your own struggles.
  • Take the short mindset assessment to assess your assumptions about mindset.
  • Consider sharing this video with your students: What is growth mindset?
• Encourage and reward peer tutoring