Navigating the New Academic Year: Strategies for Success
In today’s educational landscape, effective teaching goes beyond simply delivering content—it requires thoughtful prioritization, student engagement and accessibility. It also requires faculty to expand their approaches to mentorship and other forms of student engagement to increase their impact and effectiveness. Together, these strategies point to a more intentional and student-centered approach to teaching, mentoring and engaging students that can lead to more meaningful learning experiences.
In a Duke Faculty Advancement workshop moderated by Len White, associate professor in neurology, several faculty shared tips and experiences that helped them to get a strong start to the new academic year. To learn more, watch the recording and read a few excerpts below.
Focus on Learning Objectives Over Content
“Over the course of my career, both through learning to become an instructional designer and experience, I shifted my understanding to focusing on learning objectives rather than content. What do I want my students to learn and be able to do at the end of this course? And along with that, how do I know they got there?” — Yakut Gazi, Vice Provost for Learning Innovation and Digital Education
Prioritize Your Well-Being
“We can’t do everything. There are so many opportunities available, and because we can only do so much, I just think about those things that are going to be most impactful for me in a particular year.” — Kimberly Bethea, Assistant Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
Get to Know Your Students
“Stay after that first class. [Students] are going to come up to you and ask a few very arbitrary things, but some of them are going to have a smile like, ‘I’m in the right place,’ and they are the ones who are going to really introduce you to an energy that all the other students are going to want to follow and get to know. And then, of course, there’s also just the practice of listening carefully to their questions and the nature of the questions. If you listen, they’ll tell you a lot about themselves in class.” — Anthony Kelley, Professor of the Practice of Music
Be Accessible
“It is a struggle early in the semester. Break down that barrier…What I try to do is get to class early, and when students come in early, I introduce myself and try to get their name. I do a little competition with myself to see how long it takes me to learn everyone’s name. And I have found many students do value this. They feel like you see them and you’re talking to them.” — Kevin Welsher, Associate Professor of Chemistry
Incorporating strategies like prioritizing well-being, focusing on learning objectives, getting to know students and being accessible can transform the classroom into a more engaging and supportive learning environment. Using these approaches can help educators to foster deeper connections with their students and promote more meaningful educational experiences that extend beyond the curriculum.
Visit the Duke Faculty Advancement website to learn more about our programs and see our full events schedule.
Main image: (from left to right) Len White, Kimberly Bethea, Yakut Gazi, Anthony Kelley, and Kevin Welsher.