Author Archives: Jen Garrett-Ostermiller
Career Readiness Modules for Blackboard
Written by guest blogger Sarah Heath, UVM Associate Director of the Career Center Workforce outcomes (aka: good jobs) are, research confirms, “far and away, the driving motivation for pursuing post-secondary education across all ages, races, and degree types” (D’Amico, 2018). … Continue reading
Date Management Tool Makes it Easier to Update Your Course
While editing a document to change dates from one semester to the next might be the epitome of administrivia, Blackboard, fortunately, has a Date Management tool to help with these updates. First, bring your old course content into your new … Continue reading
The Power of Five Minutes
I’ve been observing the red squirrels in my woods as they live up to the verb of their names – squirreling away food in anticipation of the upcoming winter months (they particularly love to “store” birdseed in my perennial beds, … Continue reading
Hold That Thought! Helping Students Choose Research Topics
Written by guest blogger Trina Magi, UVM Reference & Instruction Librarian This is the first in an occasional series of posts by UVM Librarians that addresses information literacy and using library resources in teaching. Students often believe that research begins … Continue reading
Welcoming and Supporting Students During Office Hours
Some content for this article was adapted from a submission to the Teaching Tips Consortium of the POD Network by Judy Ableser, Director Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Oakland University. For many years, a major part of my … Continue reading
Facilitating Classroom Discussions
This summer, I revisited the excellent book Discussion as a Way of Teaching: Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms by Stephen D. Brookfield and Stephen Preskill. I’d like to share some key ideas from their text (and encourage you to … Continue reading
Blackboard for Beginners
I’ve only recently begun working at UVM, which means, like many folks out there, I’m learning Blackboard (Bb), made perhaps more challenging for me by having vigorously used Moodle for the past eight years! So, for those of you who … Continue reading
Managing Distracting Technology in the Classroom
Do you frequently attend meetings where technology is banned? I don’t. In fact, technology plays an important role in most of the meetings of which I am a part. On laptops, each participant can view the agenda and related documents. … Continue reading
Engaging Students on the First Day of Class
When I was an undergraduate, the first day of class was frequently predictable: syllabus, expectations, teacher’s introduction, a brief lesson, and early release. I tended to be more focused on who else was in the class (Do I know and … Continue reading
Creating Accessible Materials Reduces Stress Later
My mother’s words still ring in my ears: “Measure twice, cut once.” I did a lot of sewing growing up and have learned that one hasty snip of the shears can lead to frustration, loss of time, and cost of … Continue reading