April 30, 2024Cultivating Vulnerability in Mentoring Relationshipsby Sabrina ThurmanRecently, I co-facilitated an undergraduate workshop about intentionally building connections with supportive faculty, staff, and peer mentors. In alignment with principles from relational mentoring, we collectively acknowledged that embracing some personal vulnerability was crucial for building meaningful interpersonal connections (Johnson…
April 23, 2024Student-Reported Benefits and Tensions about Generative AI in Academics: Part 1by Aaron TrockiMy ongoing exploration of how generative AI might be used in assessment practices has revealed some benefits to teaching and learning, some drawbacks, and some tensions. Sharing this exploration through these blog posts and having numerous discussions about higher education…
April 16, 2024Relationship-Rich Education at Scale, aka the Too Many Bodies Problemby Peter FeltenDecades of research demonstrates that student learning and well-being in higher education are enhanced by positive relationships with peers and instructors (Felten and Lambert 2020). Yet, one common challenge with relationship-rich education is scale. How is this possible when I’m…
April 15, 2024Designing an Interdisciplinary Capstone, Part 2: Student Perspectivesby Matt WittsteinLimed: Teaching with a TwistSeason 2, Episode 8 In this episode, we finish our conversation about designing a capstone course for a new Global Film and Cultures minor at Elon University. Student panelists from Elon University, Gianna Smurro and Mia…
April 11, 2024Online Students and the First-Year Experienceby Stephanie Matte60-Second SoTL – Episode 55 This week’s episode focuses on the first-year experiences of college students studying online and features an article from Adult Learning: Korstange, Ryan, Jeff Hall, Jamie Holcomb, and Jasmeial Jackson. 2020. “The Online First-Year Experience: Defining and…
April 9, 2024Facilitating Integration of and Reflection on Engaged and Experiential Learningby Jessie L. MooreSince 2019, I’ve been working with my colleague Paul Miller to create an institutional toolkit for fostering both students’ self-reflection and their mentoring conversations with peers, staff, and faculty in order to deepen students’ educational experiences. Our institution, Elon University,…
April 4, 2024International Students and the First-Year Experienceby Stephanie Matte60-Second SoTL – Episode 54 This week’s episode focuses on the impact of first-year experiences on international students’ retention and graduation rates: Rust, Dylan, and Raghvendra Singh. 2022. “First-Year Experience Course Impact on Undergraduate International Student Retention and Graduation.” Journal of…
March 28, 2024Historically Marginalized Students and the First-Year Experienceby Emma Calhoun60-Second SoTL – Episode 53 This week’s episode explores a recent article about sense of community in first-year seminars: Metzger, Kelsey J., Jake Wright, Robert M. Erdmann, Bronson Lemer, and Rachel L. Olson. 2022. “Mileage May Vary: How Sense of Community…
March 25, 2024Fostering Partnership Projects in Higher Educationby Jessie L. Moore and Nolan SchultheisMaking College “Worth It” – Season 1, Episode 11 In this episode, we focus on student-faculty partnerships in higher education. We talk to Sophia Abbot, a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education Program at George Mason University and a long-time…
March 21, 2024Mentoring Across the First-Year Experienceby Emma Calhoun60-Second SoTL – Episode 52 This week’s episode explores a recent article about the value of peer-mentorship programs for first-year university students: Tsang, Art. 2023. “The Value of a Semi-Formal Peer Mentorship Program for First-Year Students’ Studies, Socialization and Adaptation.” Active Learning…
