Author Archives: Jen Garrett-Ostermiller

A Case for Teaching the Hidden Curriculum

Written by Jen Garrett-Ostermiller Introduction to the Series: “A Case for Teaching the Hidden Curriculum” This is an introductory post where we explore the academic challenges college students face, created and exacerbated by Covid, and kicks off a series titled … Continue reading

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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