If there is one thing the world would likely agree on, it’s that social media has become a dominant part. of our society. It’s integral to our daily lives—whether it be trends, comedy, makeup routines, financial advice, travel recommendations, and so much more. Yet many people consider scrolling an act that eventually causes "brain rot"— a term defined as mental fog or decline from consuming too much low-quality, mindless content.
Tag: Engaging Students
Building Happier, Healthier Relationships: IT’S INTERPERSONAL’s Crucial Role in the Communication Classroom
Communications instructor, Christa Ziegler, discusses how It's Interpersonal uses language and concepts anyone can understand, encourages students to regulate their emotions during points of conflict, and teaches them the basics of communication they can apply to their own lives. Read why she credits her student's engagement and their material retention to It’s Interpersonal.
Going Fishing with Author Michal Brody: A Q&A on Selecting Model Readings for Students
A reading should also be relevant to a critical mass of our student readers. And that's an interesting part because “student readers” doesn’t mean “college age”—that doesn't mean anything anymore. There's this image of your classic “four-year liberal arts student,” but that’s a small proportion of who our intended audience is.
Exhibiting in the Humanities: How Showcasing Student Work Can Transform History and English Classrooms
Craig Nicoletti is an AP U.S. History teacher and Humanities Program Chair at Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis.
History as Exploration: Guiding Students Beyond the Familiar
I realized that these students are interested in the world in all its multiplicity; they don’t know where to start. The history of exploration provides a path for them to engage with the world through a familiar lens without entirely leaving their comfort zone. So now I try to complicate and expand rather than to dismiss.
Making More Space for Student Attitudes about AI
Generative AI is everywhere, even in places we’d least expect it to be. Read how English professor, Traynor Hansen, served himself a taste of his own medicine to better teach his students new strategies of academic inquiry against a backdrop of AI.
Engaging Biology Students with RNA Storytelling
Thomas R. Cech, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1989. His book The Catalyst (2024) is available now in paperback. You can request an exam copy for your courses at the end of the article. I’ve taught several thousand college students …
Continue reading Engaging Biology Students with RNA Storytelling
Teaching Difficult Topics in the Humanities Classroom
As a teacher of moral and political philosophy, currently teaching at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford on a Master of Public Policy Degree, I typically teach students from around 50 countries with very different social, educational, and professional backgrounds, and I often encounter passionate disagreement in the classroom. So how do I keep the peace and encourage thoughtful, respectful dialogue?
Using Famous Figure Chatbots to Make Challenging Ideas Accessible: Q&A with Martin Puchner
I started to play around with the technology and was amazed how relatively easy and interesting it was. It made me realize that much of what had driven my work—how to make the past speak to the present, how to read ancient texts, and what it meant that the words of long-dead authors were available to us in the present—was relevant for interacting with chatbots.
Making Film Personal: Selecting Engaging Movies for My Students
Whenever I’m teaching a film course at the beginning of a new semester, I am transported back to my own experience as a freshman taking my first film class at the University of Michigan, an introduction to cinema course taught by Hubert Cohen. Professor Cohen, who sadly passed away in March 2024 after teaching into his 90s, stood in front of a class of what must have been 250 people and told us, “My plan is to ruin your experience of going to the movies.” Of course, 18-year-old presumptuous me, thought “Who is this guy? And what’s he got to tell me I don’t already know about movies?”