In part one of this two-part blog post, I shared some findings from a focus group interview conducted at the end of last semester. In the first part of the focus group interview, students provided their reactions to the Artificial…

The life cycle of a butterfly, spanning from 30 to 200 days, often passes unnoticed by many, who focus solely on the standout moments within that time frame. While three or four memories stand out, for butterflies, each day is…

Recently, 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…

My 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…

Decades 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…

Limed: 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…

60-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…

Since 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,…

60-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…

60-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…