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Strategies for Engaging in Discussions During Election Season

by DaVonti’ DeAngelo Haynes, PhD and Linda Hasunuma, PhD

Every four years, the presidential election season presents a unique opportunity for instructors to engage students in deep, meaningful, and transformative discussions about politics in our country and the world. However, the tensions and polarization that come with these elections can also create challenges in our classrooms, whatever the modality. This semester, it is highly likely that political topics and discussions will be part of your classroom environment, whether directly or indirectly related to the course content. To assist with navigating these instances effectively, instructors must employ strategies that foster critical thinking, encourage deep listening, and promote understanding across diverse perspectives. This blog post will provide you with practical tools and strategies for engaging students in these discussions during the election season.

As instructors at a diverse campus such as Temple University, we have a responsibility to cultivate informed and engaged students. Integrating election-related content into your course provides an opportunity for students to develop the skills necessary to be informed leaders and participate thoughtfully in civic life. However, teaching during an election season also requires sensitivity to the diverse backgrounds and perspectives that our students bring with them. Political discussions can quickly become contentious, and faculty must be prepared to manage these “hot moments” while maintaining a respectful and inclusive learning environment for everyone. Faculty must create a safe environment where all students feel comfortable sharing their views, while also ensuring that discussions remain respectful and focused on learning.

We encourage all instructors to think about how this election cycle and the results in November may impact your students emotionally and psychologically; they may have strong feelings, beliefs, attitudes, and reactions to course content and discussions. Acknowledging important current events and topics can help. 

Below are some helpful strategies for engaging in discussions about the election:

  • Set rules for course dialogue. In a structured dialogue, students are reminded to refrain from speaking without interrupting others and to focus their responses on the issue at hand and critiquing ideas rather than their peers. By creating guidelines together, students feel they have more of a stake in maintaining a respectful learning space.
  • Use discussion boards to have students think critically and reflect about their own values, lived experiences, and social responsibility. These activities not only engage students in higher-order thinking but also encourage them to contribute to the broader political discourse.
  • Ensure, don’t assume that your students have a foundational understanding of elections, such as the structure of the government, the electoral process, and current policy issues/topics.
  • Remind students about the importance of analyzing and understanding the different platforms of candidates and parties, comparing their policy proposals and considering their potential impact on them and other populations and communities. You may need to remind your students to focus on the policies and issues rather than solely focusing on the candidate. 
  • Bring current events into your discussions. Encourage students to introduce current events they’ve read about related to the election that connect to course materials or weekly topics.

Interfaith Philadelphia recommends a technique for engaging in dialogue on contentious issues which assigns roles to groups of 4 participants. One person is the storyteller or speaker and speaks for 2-3 minutes uninterrupted while the other three serve as listeners. Listeners may take notes and are assigned specific tasks: one listens for facts; another listens for feelings; and the third listens for values. After the speaker is finished, each listener shares what they heard with respect to facts, feelings, and values and then the whole group reflects on what they learned from the activity together. By explaining to students that the goal is not to find a solution or settle a debate but to listen for deeper understanding can help generate greater empathy for another’s perspective and lived experience, and strengthen our connection to one another.

Even with thought and care, contentious moments may still arise, however, and these moments can be challenging for students and you as the instructor, but they also have the potential to provide valuable opportunities for learning. In these instances, instructors should acknowledge the emotional intensity of the discussion then use techniques such as pausing the discussion to allow for reflection or reframing and redirecting the discussion to focus on the underlying issues and topics at hand. After these moments, we recommend providing your students with additional resources and readings to dive deeper into the issues. 

We also recognize, this election season may not only challenge our students, but also you! Please don’t feel as if you need to be a political expert or have the “perfect” responses to student questions and concerns related to the election or current events. In the coming weeks the Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) and other university offices such as IDEAL will be posting additional tips and resources for teaching during the election and hosting workshops for faculty/instructors to attend. We hope you will join us at one of our workshops listed below or schedule a consultation with one of our educational developers if you seek further support and community around these teaching concerns during election season.

Center for the Advancement of Teaching’s 2024 Election Resource Guide

Temple Votes: An Informational Session (co-sponsored with Temple Votes) Wednesday, September 18, 3:00 – 4:00 PM, Online via Zoom | Details & Registration

Can We Really Talk? The Role of the Media on Class Discussions Involving Race, Religion, and Politics (co-sponsored with IDEAL) Wednesday, September 25, 3:00 – 4:30 PM, TECH 109 | Details & Registration

“The Psychological Drivers of Misinformation Belief and its Resistance to Correction,” A Light Reading Group on Why Misinformation Sticks and What To Do About It Tuesday, October 1, 2:00 – 3:00 PM, Online via Zoom | Details & Registration

Supporting Belonging and Student Mental Well-Being in the Classroom Wednesday, October 2, 3:00 – 4:00 PM, Online via Zoom | Details & Registration

Can We Really Talk? Political Polarization, the Presidential Election, and Preparing for Challenging Discussions (co-sponsored with IDEAL) Wednesday, October 23, 3:00 – 4:30 PM, TECH 109 | Details & Registration

DaVonti’ DeAngelo Haynes, PhD, MS, MSW is Assistant Professor at Temple University’s School of Social Work and Program Director for the Masters of Social Work degree.  

Linda Hasunuma, PhD serves as Associate Director of Inclusion Initiatives at Temple’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

Set for the Semester: Essential CAT Resources for Fall Teaching

As you ready yourself and your courses for the start of the fall semester, we offer this resource round-up to help get you rolling.

Preparing Your Syllabus

The Fall 2024 Syllabus Guidance has been posted and includes sections on generative AI and the recording and distribution of recordings of class sessions. 

Using Canvas

Drop into one of our upcoming workshops on teaching with Canvas. If you’re new to Canvas, take our self-paced Ready, Set, Canvas course to get you up to speed. 

Getting Ready for the Election

Plan ahead by creating discussion guidelines and preparing for hot moments in the classroom with our Election Resource Guide.

Teaching and Learning with Generative A.I.

Visit our Faculty Guide to AI webpage.

This EDvice Exchange blog post rounds up past posts on teaching and generative AI. Sample syllabus statements outlining ideas for your policy on generative AI can be found here. 

CAT Services

The Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) offers an array of services and resources that are tailored to your teaching. Whether you teach in person or online, undergraduate or graduate students, small classes or large lectures, we are here to support your instructional needs. As you begin the 2024-2025 academic year, know that the CAT is here to help.

CAT Technology Labs and Workspaces

Visit us at the following locations for:

  • Drop-in expert assistance with your teaching and educational technology questions (no appointment necessary)
  • Quiet workspaces
  • Access to computers, scanners, and printers
  • Comfortable lounge area with complimentary coffee for informal discussions with colleagues

Main Campus CAT: TECH Center (Bell Building), Suite 112

Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30am-5:00pm

Health Sciences Campus CAT: Student Faculty Center, Room 200

Hours: Monday through Friday: 8:30am-5:00pm 

Ambler Campus CAT: Ambler Learning Center, Room 301

Hours: Monday through Thursday: 8:30am-10:00pm; Friday: 8:30am-5:00pm

Note: This self-service lab and workspace is for faculty use only. No CAT consultants are on site.

Virtual Drop-in EdTech Lab: available online via Zoom. The virtual lab is staffed by our Educational Technology Specialists during our regular business hours. Visit our Educational Technology Labs and Workspaces page for access. 

Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30am-5:00pm.

For more information about our locations, see our website. 

Room Reservations

The CAT offers meeting spaces for faculty and staff at our Main Campus location. Visit CATbooking to reserve time in one of the following spaces:

  • Room 107: Breakout Room (Capacity: 12)
  • Room 110A: Collaboration Room (Capacity: 5)
  • Room 112G: Consult Room (Capacity: 2)

One-on-One Consultation Appointments

If you would like uninterrupted, dedicated time with a CAT pedagogy or educational technology specialist, please visit CATbooking to schedule a one-hour in-person or virtual consultation. When making an appointment with a consultant, you will have the option to choose an in-person meeting at the Main Campus CAT or Health Sciences Campus CAT, or a virtual (Zoom) meeting. Within the locations, appointment times are categorized by consultation topics offered at the CAT. If the hours available in the booking system are not feasible for you, please email cat@temple.edu to arrange an alternate time. 

Teaching Observations

Whether you are implementing a new teaching strategy, trying to solve a teaching challenge, or simply would like to check in with a colleague in order to reflect on your teaching, the CAT offers a variety of services. 

  • Classroom Observations: Set up an observation of your in-person or virtual class
  • Mid-semester Instructional Diagnosis: A CAT specialist visits your class to gain student consensus on their learning experience, and deliver that feedback to you 
  • Course Design: Work with a pedagogy specialist to design a course using evidence-based principles for delivering significant learning opportunities to your students.
  • Curriculum Mapping and Program Assessment: Get assistance designing and assessing a programmatic curriculum that will provide a pathway for student achievement of your program’s goals. 

Please visit our Consultations and Observations web page for more information.

Get in touch with us!

We’re here to help! If you need anything as you begin your semester, please email us at cat@temple.edu or call our main campus office at 215-204-8761.

To Do Next Year: Build a Teaching Community

Stephanie Fiore

When I speak with faculty about the importance of creating community around teaching, I often reference a wonderful essay by Lee Shulman, professor emeritus at Stanford University and past president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. In the essay, Shulman talks about his belief as a junior faculty member that he would conduct research in solitude, but enjoy a vibrant community in his teaching life. He quickly realized his mistake: “What I didn’t understand as a new Phd was that I had it backwards! We experience isolation not in the stacks but in the classroom. We close the classroom door and experience pedagogical solitude, whereas in our life as scholars, we are members of active communities: communities of conversation, communities of evaluation, communities in which we gather with others in our invisible colleges to exchange our findings, our methods, and our excuses.” In fact, we often teach our classes without any collegial input, feedback, or intervention. When a class doesn’t go well, we may complain about it to a trusted colleague at the proverbial water cooler, but we don’t evaluate our beliefs about teaching or the teaching methods we use in any real way. Even peer review of teaching is often a checkbox exercise devoid of meaningful feedback or plans for improvement, especially when done as a required element of promotion or contract renewal.

Perhaps we like it this way. It’s uncomfortable to receive feedback that might require us to consider alternative ways of teaching, or realize that what we have been doing for years needs to be refreshed. And, by the way, it’s not super comfortable to give feedback to colleagues either. The upshot is that we may struggle alone with lessons or whole semesters that don’t go as planned, with students that we are having trouble inspiring, or with SFFs that are less than stellar. It can be a lonely place.

One of the most positive developments that came out of the pandemic was a renewed surge of professional development in which faculty were able to examine their own practices and, together with colleagues, imagine new strategies for teaching. Faculty in our workshops engaged with each other, hungry to get information and learn new methods for reaching their students in this new, unfamiliar online world. While discussing any number of teaching questions in breakout room activities, faculty got involved in such deep conversations and engaged in such generative support of each other that they didn’t want to come back when we closed the breakout rooms. We joked that Zoom should create a “reject” button so faculty could refuse to return if they didn’t want to leave those rich conversations behind. For some faculty, this was the first time they had had an opportunity to really think about their teaching with colleagues, other professionals who also wanted to discuss teaching. As one participant wrote in our post-workshop survey, it “blew my mind.” In fact, we often hear that participants found some of the most meaningful aspects of our workshops to be hearing from other faculty about their own experiences, and discussing specific examples related to the teaching question at hand.

As we’ve begun slowly to return to in-person teaching and a more normalized routine, it is so easy to fall back again into pre-pandemic isolation. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Just as Lee Shulman calls us to make teaching “community property,” I urge you to put on your fall to-do list the establishment of intentional ways to continue to connect with colleagues in order to discuss teaching, unravel sticky problems, and celebrate the triumphs along the way. That might mean setting aside a “talking about teaching” hour every month over coffee with a trusted colleague, carving out a piece of your departmental meetings to share interesting teaching ideas or to ask for feedback on an innovation you are planning to implement. It can also mean creating a constellation of like-minded colleagues that can act as a cohort of support for each other or organizing a structured peer review of teaching protocol to ensure you get periodic feedback on direct observation of your teaching. It can also mean attending CAT workshops and events where you’ll have the opportunity to engage with an interdisciplinary group of faculty to delve into pedagogical explorations that will enrich your teaching.

Community is way better than isolation. So put on your to-do list for fall that you will take a first step towards finding a community of teachers committed to teaching excellence. And remember, as always, that the CAT is part of that community.

Stephanie Fiore is Assistant Vice Provost at Temple’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

Flip the Switch: Making the Most of Student Feedback Forms

Johanna Inman, Assistant Director, TLC

“Johanna is really nice.”

“I hated the readings.”

“I learned a lot.”

“Some discussions were pointless.”

“I enjoyed this class.”

These are typical comments I used to get on student feedback forms. Unfortunately, these aren’t very helpful. They are vague and lack the answer to that ever-elusive question: why?

When I began my teaching career as an adjunct instructor, I cared a lot about student evaluations mostly as a means to job security. Over the years, I came to value my students’ opinions as a way to improve my teaching and my courses for future students. However, as I’m sure many of you have experienced, it was rare that I actually received a thoughtful, constructive, and useful comment.

Now as Assistant Director of the Teaching and Learning Center, I often hear faculty raise similar concerns I’ve had about student evaluations. Of particular concern is how student evaluations are used for personnel decisions. In addition, faculty point out that students aren’t trained to evaluate teaching or that they evaluate factors outside of an instructor’s control. Sometimes I hear faculty repeat common misconceptions about student evaluations such as, it’s only the angry students that complete SFFs, or it’s all just a popularity contest anyway. And then there are comments like I can’t bear to read my evals anymore, students are just plain mean. It also doesn’t prompt a lot of faith in student feedback when recent research uncovered that evaluations can be influenced by students’ hidden biases.  

So, do student feedback forms have any real value for faculty? Absolutely!

In Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, Stephen Brookfield suggests that reflective teaching includes seeing our teaching through multiple lenses or perspectives, one of which is our students’. Student feedback forms give us a window into this lens and they allow students to have a voice in forming and improving learning experiences. That said, in order to get the most from our students’ perspective, we need to improve both the quality of feedback we receive from them, and the way in which we respond to it.

Here are strategies to help students do a better job providing constructive feedback, as well as ways we can better receive student feedback in order to improve ourselves and our courses.

Teach students how to provide effective feedback

Preparing students to be more effective and objective evaluators of teaching helps improve the quality of feedback that they provide. First, let students know that you read their student feedback forms and take them seriously. Encourage students to include specific and constructive feedback such as aspects of the course and/or instruction that helped them learn. Overall, make sure students understand ways that you plan to use their feedback to improve the course for future students.

Consider implementing the following strategies:

  1. Provide students with examples of useful feedback. Students may not know what is helpful and what is not. Give students examples of targeted comments that you have found helpful in the past. Before they complete SFFs, remind them to be specific, give supporting examples, and most importantly explain why they feel the way they do.
     
  2. Explain to students exactly how you plan to use their feedback. Share examples of what you have changed previously as a result of student feedback. Are you already thinking about making a change in the future? Ask them to weigh-in. Don’t forget, you may also want to let them know what elements of the course you can and cannot change.
     
  3. Use strategies to improve your student response rates. Add a link to the e-sffs in your course’s Blackboard site. Alert students when evaluations are first available and send them a reminder when the deadline is close. Let them know what percentage of students have already completed them and share your goal for a higher response rate. If you haven’t had success with these strategies, reserve some in-class time for students to complete evaluations on their mobile devices, or better yet reserve some time in a computer lab.
     
  4. Implement a mid-semester evaluation earlier in the semester. Set up an online survey using Blackboard or Google Forms and ask students to complete it around week 5 or 6.  This strategy gives you an opportunity to make course adjustments mid-stream.  Students will also learn that you value their input and get practice providing constructive feedback. If you ask the right questions, it’s also an opportunity for students to reflect on their own performance in the course, not just yours.

Reflect on students’ feedback objectively

If you care at all about your teaching, this is not an easy task. However, the most effective way to use evaluations to improve our teaching is to remove defensive or visceral reactions to student feedback. Although it seems like an impossible exercise, here are some strategies that may help:

  1. Give it some time. You may not want to wait too long after the course is over to review student feedback, but perhaps at least a few days. When you’ve had a chance to take a deep breath and feel ready to review student evaluations, make sure to give yourself enough time for a thorough review. Read through all of the evaluations once, then go back a second time in order to better digest and analyze the information.
     
  2. Track feedback quantitatively. How many students are commenting about the lectures?  How many about the discussions? How many are positive? Negative? Often faculty get stuck on that one hurtful comment and forget that there were many other positive remarks. At the same time, if you see a common theme emerging from students it is clearly an area that should be addressed.
     
  3. Read evaluations as if they were not yours. This is a great strategy if you tend to take student feedback personally or get defensive. Ask yourself: What if this feedback was about a colleague? Then, what advice would you give them? How would your response be different?
     
  4. Don’t panic; get support! All instructors receive negative feedback at some point in their careers, including the very best! Schedule an appointment at the Teaching and Learning Center for a consultation to help you interpret your evaluations. TLC consultants can help you make meaning of student feedback and provide an objective point of view. Research suggests that instructors who discuss their evaluations with a colleague are more likely to have improved evaluations than others who do not discuss them.
     
  5. Reflect and make at least one improvement. Once you have reflected on your student feedback, think strategically about some changes you can make to your course or to your teaching based on the feedback you’ve received. Don’t try to change everything at once and definitely don’t change what isn’t broken. But make a commitment to improve something. Then, make a plan for that change.
     

Let’s Exchange EDvice!

Are there specific strategies you use to make student feedback forms more effective? Let us know!

6 Tips for Creating Engaging Video Lectures That Students Will Actually Watch

Simuelle Myers, Instructional Designer, TLC

Image for Creating Engaging Video Lectures That Students Will Actually Watch

How do I get started creating video lectures? How do I engage students from a distance? How do I know if they understand the concepts in my lecture if I can’t see their faces? How do I know students are even paying attention? These are common questions asked by faculty when preparing to create a video lecture. As both online and flipped classroom formats grow in popularity, the number of faculty creating video lectures is increasing. However, many of these videos are recorded as straight lecture, limiting students only to the role of observer.  The six tips below will help you create videos that also engage students in active learning, while giving you information to assess their understanding of course concepts.  

1. Keep it Short!

Break lessons into segments of about 7-10 minutes. This allows students to digest every part of the lesson,  quickly revisit what they may not have understood and provides a meaningful place to pause if they need to return to the lesson later. This can also become invaluable if you need to update a video later. It is much easier to re-record 10 minutes than 50 minutes!

Tip for implementation: If you are used to longer lectures, review your lessons and identify where the natural breaks in the material might be.  Use these as a guides to decide where every recording should begin and end.

2. Use visuals, images and animations

While students greatly value being able to see and connect with their instructor, a lecture consisting only of a “talking head” can be hard to follow.  Visuals can enhance your presentation and make material more accessible. Screencasting software (e.g. Camtasia Relay) allows you to share your screen with students so they can see your presentation, graphs, figures, drawings  and your face all at the same time. These tools can also be used to create video demonstrations for students in your brick and mortar classes.

Tip for implementation: Text-heavy slides can make it difficult to pay attention to what a speaker is saying.  Mix it up and try slides using a single large image. This creates a need for students to listen more to what you are saying instead of just reading the words behind you. This also gives students a reason to take more detailed notes.

3. Create guided or embedded questions

Pause to ask students a question, provide a worksheet that they need to complete as they watch the lecture, or create a task for them to do in between videos. There are also several programs you can use to create questions that are embedded directly into a video that students must answer before they continue watching. Similar to an in-class activity, these allow students to work with the material in the midst of the lesson and add variety to help keep them engaged.

Tip for implementation: How do you make sure that students complete guided questions or worksheets? Have them submit their answers as an assignment. This can also help you assess your students’ understanding of the material.   

4. Test knowledge with quizzes and self-assessment

Frequent, low stakes quizzes encourage students to pay closer attention to video lectures and allow you to assess their knowledge. Self-assessments are typically ungraded, but provide students with diagnostic feedback that  encourages them to re-visit areas of the lesson based on  questions they may have missed. Both methods give students quick feedback so they can gauge early on which concepts or problems they may need help with.

Tip for implementation: Ask students what they are having trouble with. At the end of a unit, have students assess themselves by asking what their “muddiest point” is or what they would like to learn more about and have them submit their responses via the Learning Management System (LMS) as a private journal entry.

5. Use pre-existing videos

You do not always need to create original videos.  Many great videos exist that already do a good job of explaining specific topics. This also creates more variety in students’ learning experience and can be less time intensive for the instructor.

Tip for implementation: Explore what resources are available before you begin recording your own videos to gain an understanding of what currently exists and what you need to do yourself.

6. Be Yourself!

Lastly, remember that this is not a Hollywood production! One of the most important things to do in a video is to be yourself and act natural. It is okay to stumble over a word or quickly correct yourself when you make a mistake. This allows students to truly see your personality and connect with what makes you unique as an instructor.

Tips for implementation: Record a test video, then go back and watch it (bonus points if you have someone else watch it too!). Evaluate what you do well and what needs improvement. Feel free to experiment with environment and style until you feel that you are able to convey yourself in a way that is comfortable and genuine.

Let’s Exchange EDvice!

Are you already creating video lectures? What strategies do you use to keep students engaged?

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Additional Resources:

Ho, Yvonne. “Seven Steps to Creating Screencast Videos for Online Learning.” Faculty Focus. Magna, 15 Mar. 2013. Web.

Mayer, Richard E. Multi-Media Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001. Print.