ACUE Certification

Creating an Inclusive and Supportive Learning Environment is one of four courses available in ACUE's Course in Effective Teaching Practices. Modules in this course present practices for leading a productive first day, promoting a civil learning environment, ensuring equitable access to learning, helping students persist in their studies, embracing diversity in the classroom, providing useful feedback, and checking for student understanding.

Leading the First Day of Class

In ACUE's module Leading the First Day of Class, faculty learn how to plan ahead to ensure a successful first day, build a community of learners, and implement active learning strategies that help students understand course expectations.

Promoting a Civil Learning Environment

In ACUE's module Promoting a Civil Learning Environment, faculty learn how to work with students to set expectations for a civil learning environment. In addition, the module includes techniques for appropriately addressing low-, mid-, and high-level disruptions to the learning environment.

Ensuring Equitable Access to Learning

In ACUE's module Ensuring Equitable Access to Learning, faculty learn how to assess students' prior knowledge to inform their instruction, and support and encourage the use of campus resources for academic support. In addition, the module includes techniques for effectively communicating expectations and using grading practices that fully support student success.

Helping Students Persist in Their Studies

In ACUE's module Helping Students Persist in Their Studies, faculty learn about the importance of, and techniques to build, intrinsic motivation, which include offering choice, providing targeted feedback and revision opportunities, and connecting course learning to career and life goals. It also introduces the concept and motivational impact of a growth mindset for students and faculty.

Embracing Diversity in Your Classroom

In ACUE's module Embracing Diversity in Your Classroom, faculty examine how their own experiences have shaped their perspectives and the importance of valuing different viewpoints. In addition, the module addresses the power of explicit and implicit messages (microaggression, stereotype threats) and offers techniques to create an inclusive classroom environment, as well as a curriculum, that is representative of diverse students.

Checking for Student Understanding

In ACUE's module Checking for Student Understanding, faculty learn how to check for student understanding using quality questioning techniques and whole-class formative assessment strategies including the One-Minute Paper, Muddiest Point, and In Your Own Words.

Providing Useful Feedback

In ACUE's module Providing Useful Feedback, faculty learn how to offer students effective feedback – aligned to course outcomes, timely, actionable, consequential and user friendly. In addition, the module includes techniques to help students more effectively use feedback for improvement as well as techniques to help instructors leverage technology for increasing feedback efficiency.

Promoting Active Learning is one of four courses available in ACUE's Course in Effective Teaching Practices. Modules in this course present practices for developing effective class sessions and lectures, using groups to ensure active learning, using the active learning cycle, and planning and facilitating effective and engaging discussions.

Developing Effective Class Sessions and Lectures

In ACUE's module Developing Effective Class Sessions and Lectures, faculty learn how to determine if the lecture approach is aligned to their learning objectives. In addition, the module includes techniques for developing well-organized and effectively paced lectures, keeping students engaged, and seeking student feedback.

Teaching Powerful Note-Taking Skills

In ACUE's module Teaching Powerful Note-Taking Skills, faculty learn how to motivate students to take notes and effectively support note-taking by sharing pointers, providing skeletal outlines, allowing processing time, and using cues to signal important points.

Using Groups to Ensure Active Learning

In ACUE's module Using Groups to Ensure Active Learning, faculty learn to implement the essential components of effective active learning, including providing a rationale for the activity, promoting group interdependence, ensuring accountability among group members, and collecting student feedback to identify strengths and areas for improving the activity. The module helps instructors implement three active learning techniques – Think-Pair-Share, Jigsaw, and Analytic Teams – dependent on the learning objectives they have set for their class session.

Using the Active Learning Cycle

In ACUE's module Using the Active Learning Cycle, faculty learn techniques for effectively planning and facilitating active learning in a large-classroom setting. The module includes techniques aligned to an active learning cycle to first pique student interest, then build foundational knowledge, and finally require students to apply new concept(s). In addition, the module includes techniques for formative assessment and leveraging technology to inform and improve learning.

Planning Effective Class Discussions

In ACUE's module Planning Effective Class Discussions, faculty learn how to write well-sequenced, thought-provoking questions to increase student engagement in class discussions. The module helps instructors effectively set expectations for participation, explain the role of discussion to positively impact learning, and develop an effective grading policy for participating in discussions. Faculty also learn how to leverage class discussion to ensure students come to class prepared, having completed the reading or homework assigned.

Facilitating Engaging Class Discussions

In ACUE's module Facilitating Engaging Class Discussions, faculty learn activities they can use to launch productive discussions, including Hatful of Quotes, Sentence Completions, Whip-Around Pass, and Fishbowl techniques. The module also helps instructors balance student participation using wait time, prompts to manage dominant talkers, and techniques to encourage quieter students and limit their own talking to increase student-to-student interaction.

Inspiring Inquiry and Preparing Lifelong Learners is one of four courses available in ACUE's Course in Effective Online Teaching Practices. Modules in this course present practices for motivating students, providing clear directions and explanations, integrating visualization tools, using advanced questioning, developing self-directed learners, and using data and feedback to improve teaching.

Motivating Your Students

In ACUE's module Motivating Your Students, faculty learn how to motivate by developing student appreciation for their discipline. In addition, the module includes techniques for supporting student success through goal setting, incentivizing assignment completion, using a variety of assessment and instructional strategies, and discussing their rationale with students.

Providing Clear Directions and Explanations

In ACUE's module Providing Clear Directions and Explanations, faculty learn how to provide high-quality directions for complex tasks and the essential techniques for giving clear explanations of challenging content. In addition, the module includes techniques for obtaining student feedback on the clarity of directions and explanations designed to inform instructional adjustments

Using Concept Maps and Other Visualization Tools

In ACUE's module Using Concept Maps and Other Visualization Tools, faculty learn how to use concept maps and a variety of visualization tools to assist students in understanding complex interrelationships between concepts, principles, and ideas.

Using Student Achievement and Feedback to Improve Your Teaching

In ACUE's module Using Student Achievement and Feedback to Improve Your Teaching, faculty learn how to use patterns of student achievement on key assignments and assessments to inform instruction. In addition, the module provides techniques to inform instructional adjustments using mid- and end-of-semester student feedback, as well as feedback gathered from colleague observations and consultations with faculty development specialists.

Using Advanced Questioning Techniques

In ACUE's module Using Advanced Questioning Techniques, faculty learn how to plan questioning strategies that prompt critical thinking. The module also helps instructors use questioning techniques, like the Socratic Method as well as techniques for helping students develop their own questioning skills.

Developing Self-Directed Learners

In ACUE's module Developing Self-Directed Learners, faculty learn how to assist students in understanding and taking ownership of their own learning process. Techniques are included for helping students plan their approach to assignments, providing students with opportunities to self-assess, and building student understanding about their learning strengths, needs areas, and preferences.

Designing Learner-Centered and Equitable Courses is one of four courses available in ACUE's Course in Effective Teaching Practices. Modules in this course present practices for ensuring learner-centered learning outcomes, aligning assessments, activities, and assignments with course outcomes, developing equitable grading practices, creating equity with checklists and rubrics, and preparing an inclusive syllabus.

Ensuring Learner-Centered Course Outcomes

In ACUE's module Ensuring Learner-Centered Course Outcomes, faculty learn how to write course learning outcomes that effectively define what students will know and be able to do at the end of a course. The module introduces a number of steps to ensure outcomes are student-centered, actionable, and aligned – when appropriate – to program, department, and institutional outcomes.

Designing Aligned Assessments and Assignments

In ACUE's module Designing Aligned Assessments and Assignments, faculty learn how to design assessments that will most effectively and efficiently allow students to demonstrate mastery of course outcomes. In addition, the module includes practices for supporting students to meet assessment expectations.

Aligning Learning Experiences with Course Outcomes

In ACUE's module Aligning Learning Experiences with Course Outcomes, faculty learn how to identify and sequence learning activities so students are prepared to meet course outcomes. In addition, faculty learn how to design transparent assignments that help students successfully complete assignments – especially those who often struggle to meet expectations.

Creating Equity with Checklists and Rubrics

In ACUE's module Creating Equity with Checklists and Rubrics, faculty learn the basics of several grading systems in order to identify the system that best aligns with their own teaching and learning philosophy. In addition, the module includes information on effectively communicating grading practices to students and setting grading policies for late assignments and extra credit.

Developing Equitable Grading Practices

In ACUE's module Developing Equitable Grading Practices, faculty learn how to select a grading tool that aligns to task requirements and offers students helpful feedback. In addition, the module includes practices for helping students understand how to use different grading tools to their benefit and helping instructors understand how to use data generated from their grading tools to inform instruction.

Preparing an Inclusive Syllabus

In ACUE's module Preparing an Inclusive Syllabus, faculty learn how to design a syllabus that communicates essential information and facilitates student success. The module includes a checklist and guiding questions to help instructors identify essential items and important resources. It also provides practices for designing calendars to assist students in meeting key deliverables and building a graphic syllabus to help students visualize the organization of the course.

Creating an Inclusive and Supportive Online Learning Environment is one of four courses available in ACUE's Course in Effective Online Teaching Practices. Modules in this course present practices for welcoming students to online learning, promoting civil online learning environments, ensuring equitable access online learning, helping students persist in online learning, embracing diversity in online learning, providing useful feedback for online learning, and checking for student understanding in online learning.

Welcoming Students to Online Learning

In ACUE's module Welcoming Students to Online Learning, faculty learn how to plan ahead to ensure a successful course launch, help students understand course expectations, and build a community of learners through the use of introductory discussion posts and ice breakers.

Promoting Civil Online Learning Environments

In ACUE's module Promoting Civil Online Learning Environments, faculty learn how to work with students to set expectations for a civil online learning environment. In addition, the module includes practices for appropriately addressing low-, mid-, and high-level challenges to the online learning environment.

Ensuring Equitable Access to Online Learning

In ACUE's module Engaging Ensuring Equitable Access to Online Learning, faculty learn how to assess students' prior knowledge to inform their instruction, incorporate research-based study skills, and monitor students' online activity to identify challenges they may be facing. Faculty will also learn practices to develop learning resources and to encourage the use of campus resources for academic support.

Helping Students Persist in Online Learning

In ACUE's module Helping Students Persist in Online Learning, faculty learn about practices that build a growth mindset and help students overcome imposter syndrome, the power of peer-to-peer support groups and offering students choice, and the use of peer support groups to increase persistence.

Embracing Diversity in Online Learning

In ACUE's module Embracing Diversity in Online Learning, faculty examine how their own experiences have shaped their perspectives and observe the importance of valuing different viewpoints. In addition, the module addresses the power of explicit and implicit messages (including microaggressions and stereotype threats) and offers practices to create an inclusive online learning environment and a curriculum that is representative of diverse students.

Checking for Student Understanding in Online Learning

In ACUE's module Checking for Student Understanding in Online Learning, faculty learn how to check for student understanding by using quality questioning practices such as wait time and calling on nonvolunteers in live sessions. In addition, the module covers why creating student Q & A forums and posting frequently asked questions are practices that can help address student misconceptions.

Providing Useful Feedback for Online Learning

In ACUE's module Providing Useful Feedback for Online Learning, faculty learn how to offer students effective feedback aligned to course outcomes that is timely, actionable, consequential, and user-friendly. In addition, the module includes practices to help students more effectively use feedback for improvement and to help instructors leverage technology to increase feedback efficiency.

Promoting Active Learning Online is one of four courses available in ACUE's Course in Effective Online Teaching Practices. Modules in this course present practices for developing effective modules and microlectures, using groups to ensure active online learning, using the active learning cycle in online courses, and planning and facilitating effective and engaging online discussions.

Developing Effective Modules and Microlectures

In ACUE's module Developing Effective Modules and Microlectures, faculty learn how to structure an online module to maximize learning. They also learn how to develop effective microlectures by chunking information and providing opportunities for interaction, processing, retrieval, and application.

Teaching Powerful Note-Taking Online

In ACUE's module Teaching Powerful Note-Taking Online, faculty learn how to motivate students to take notes by sharing pointers and providing opportunities for students to use their notes. Practices that support note-taking by students include providing an organizing framework and focus questions for readings to help direct student note-taking.

Using Groups to Ensure Active Online Learning

In ACUE's module Using Groups to Ensure Active Online Learning, faculty learn to implement the essential components of effective active learning, including providing rationales for activities, promoting group interdependence, ensuring accountability among group members, and debriefing activities with students. The module helps instructors implement four active learning practices – Think-Pair-Share, Jigsaw, role-play and assigning group member roles – dependent on the learning objectives they have set for their class session.

Using the Active Learning Cycle in Online Courses

In ACUE's module Using the Active Learning Cycle in Online Courses, faculty learn practices for effectively planning and facilitating the Active Learning Cycle. The module includes practices to first pique student interest, then build content knowledge, and finally require students to apply new concepts.

Planning Effective Online Discussions

In ACUE's module Planning Effective Online Discussions, faculty learn how to create thought-provoking discussions by aligning prompts with the purpose of a discussion, developing questions that leverage student experiences, and creating multiple prompts to allow student choice. In addition, the module shows how setting expectations for participation by providing rubrics and examples of productive posts can help students meet course expectations.

Facilitating Engaging Online Discussions

In ACUE's module Facilitating Engaging Online Discussions, faculty learn how to facilitate engaging conversations by balancing voices, encouraging quieter students, providing strategic feedback, and using questions to advance thinking.

Inspiring Inquiry and Preparing Lifelong Learning in Your Online Course is one of four courses available in ACUE's Course in Effective Online Teaching Practices. Modules in this course present practices for motivating students online, providing clear directions and explanations in online courses, integrating visualization tools in online courses, using advanced questioning in online courses, developing self-directed online learners, and using data and feedback to improve online teaching.

Motivating Students Online

In ACUE's module Motivating Students Online, faculty learn how to motivate by developing students' appreciation for their discipline. In addition, the module includes practices for sustaining student attention by using a variety of resources and supporting student success through goal setting and using points to encourage participation.

Providing Clear Directions and Explanations in Online Courses

In ACUE's module Providing Clear Directions and Explanations in Online Courses, faculty learn how to provide high-quality directions for tasks by breaking down an activity into steps and modeling and recording the steps. In addition, the module includes practices for checking student comprehension of task directions.

Integrating Visualization Tools in Online Courses

In ACUE's module Integrating Visualization Tools in Online Courses, faculty learn how to use concept maps and a variety of other visualization tools to help students understand complex interrelationships between concepts, principles, and ideas.

Using Data and Feedback to Improve Online Teaching

In ACUE's module Using Data and Feedback to Improve Online Teaching, faculty learn how to use patterns of student achievement on key assignments and assessments to inform instruction. In addition, the module provides practices to inform instructional adjustments using mid- and end-of-semester student feedback, as well as feedback gathered from colleague observations and consultations with faculty development specialists.

Using Advanced Questioning in Online Courses

In ACUE's module Using Advanced Questioning in Online Courses, faculty learn how to plan questioning strategies that prompt critical thinking. The module also helps instructors design questioning practices such as using real-world stories to set context and deepen thought and helping students hone their own questioning skills.

Developing Self-Directed Online Learners

In ACUE's module Developing Self-Directed Online Learners, faculty learn how to assist students in understanding and taking ownership of their own learning process. Practices are included for helping students plan their approach to assignments; providing students with opportunities to self-assess; and building student understanding about their learning strengths, preferences, and areas for growth.

Designing Learner-Centered and Equitable Courses is one of four courses available in ACUE's Course in Effective Teaching Practices. Modules in this course present practices for ensuring learner-centered learning outcomes, aligning assessments, activities, and assignments with course outcomes, developing equitable grading practices, creating equity with checklists and rubrics, and preparing an inclusive syllabus.

Ensuring Learner-Centered Course Outcomes

In ACUE's module Ensuring Learner-Centered Course Outcomes, faculty learn how to write course learning outcomes that effectively define what students will know and be able to do at the end of a course. The module introduces a number of steps to ensure outcomes are student-centered, actionable, and aligned – when appropriate – to program, department, and institutional outcomes.

Designing Aligned Assessments and Assignments

In ACUE's module Designing Aligned Assessments and Assignments, faculty learn how to design assessments that will most effectively and efficiently allow students to demonstrate mastery of course outcomes. In addition, the module includes practices for supporting students to meet assessment expectations.

Aligning Learning Experiences with Course Outcomes

In ACUE's module Aligning Learning Experiences with Course Outcomes, faculty learn how to identify and sequence learning activities so students are prepared to meet course outcomes. In addition, faculty learn how to design transparent assignments that help students successfully complete assignments – especially those who often struggle to meet expectations.

Creating Equity with Checklists and Rubrics

In ACUE's module Creating Equity with Checklists and Rubrics, faculty learn the basics of several grading systems in order to identify the system that best aligns with their own teaching and learning philosophy. In addition, the module includes information on effectively communicating grading practices to students and setting grading policies for late assignments and extra credit.

Developing Equitable Grading Practices

In ACUE's module Developing Equitable Grading Practices, faculty learn how to select a grading tool that aligns to task requirements and offers students helpful feedback. In addition, the module includes practices for helping students understand how to use different grading tools to their benefit and helping instructors understand how to use data generated from their grading tools to inform instruction.

Preparing an Inclusive Syllabus

In ACUE's module Preparing an Inclusive Syllabus, faculty learn how to design a syllabus that communicates essential information and facilitates student success. The module includes a checklist and guiding questions to help instructors identify essential items and important resources. It also provides practices for designing calendars to assist students in meeting key deliverables and building a graphic syllabus to help students visualize the organization of the course.

Fostering a Culture of Belonging is a four-module course in which instructors, staff, and leaders gain proven strategies to create a more equitable and just environment and promote a sense of belonging for students and colleagues. Modules in this course help instructors, staff, and leaders manage the impact of implicit bias, reduce microaggressions, address imposter phenomenon and stereotype threat, and create inclusive learning environments.

Managing the Impact of Biases

In ACUE's module Managing the Impact of Biases, faculty, staff, and leaders examine how conscious and unconscious biases affect understanding and actions. In addition, the module includes practices that will help you mitigate the impact of bias in instructional practices with students and in interactions with colleagues. Feedback and self-reflection will support a sense of belonging in your role as a community member.

Reducing Microaggressions

In ACUE's module Reducing Microaggressions, faculty, staff, and leaders consider the impact of microaggressions on students and colleagues, learn to recognize and effectively respond to microaggressions, and gain practices to mitigate the impact of microaggressions. In addition, the module includes practices to empower others to recognize and respond to microaggressions.

Addressing Imposter Phenomenon and Stereotype Threat

In ACUE's module Addressing Imposter Phenomenon and Stereotype Threat, faculty, staff, and leaders learn to recognize indicators of imposter phenomenon and stereotype threat and learn practices designed to reduce their impact, including cultivating a sense of belonging and promoting a growth mindset. In addition, the module includes practices to build confidence through the use of skill-building opportunities.

Cultivating an Inclusive Environment

In ACUE's module Cultivating an Inclusive Environment, faculty, staff, and leaders learn how to build a network of support for both students and colleagues, foster an appreciation for diverse identities, and set expectations for productive dialogue. In addition, the module includes practices to ensure courses, programming, and the environment are accessible.

In ACUE's course Effective Teaching 101 - Starting the Semester Strong, faculty learn the basics of planning for a strong start and facilitating active learning experiences. In this course, faculty learn how to develop announcements that welcome, engage, and motivate students; use a syllabus activity to ensure students’ understanding of course expectations; and collaborate with students to create community norms. They also learn how to present content in shorter increments and use classroom assessment techniques to identify what their students learned and where they still need additional support.

Planning for a Strong Start

Faculty learn how to develop announcements that welcome, engage, and motivate students; use a syllabus activity to ensure students’ understanding of course expectations; and collaborate with students to create community norms.

Facilitating Active Learning Experiences

Faculty learn how to present content in shorter increments that take into account attention spans and to use classroom assessment techniques at the end of the class or unit of study to identify what their students learned and where they still need additional instruction and support.