UNPACKING RELATIONSHIPS: INSTRUCTION AND STUDENT OUTCOMES
What is the relationship between instruction and student outcomes? We know that for students to persist, complete, and achieve success in college, the learning environment matters. Students need to feel integrated into academic and social culture, but integration is not enough. They must be engaged. The more engaged students are in learning environments, the more likely they are to complete, learn, and be satisfied. Further, student beliefs about their academic ability influence their success in education, and faculty interactions sit at the intersection of reinforcing or debunking student beliefs. Yet, the evidence-based practices that we know impact student outcomes and instruction, while widely documented as effective, are not widely used in practice. Read the full report here.

ANALYTICS JUST ONE OF THE TOP TECH TRENDS
Courses that educators can adapt any time based on student learning data. Hackers empowered by artificial intelligence. Augmented reality used in conjunction with campus maps. All of these technologies are on the horizon in 2017. This past year, higher education saw a boost in the use of technologies like predictive analytics, cloud, and augmented and virtual reality — and research indicates that these trends will only continue to rise. About 41 percent of higher ed IT leaders said their organizations will increase spending on tech in 2017, reports University Business in their trends and predictions report, “Outlook 2017.” You can view some of the analytics that can be used in your courses by attending the professional development session Using Analytics to Respond to Student Needs on Thursday, February 16 at 3:00 pm in the Center for Teaching+Learning Enhancement. Register now.

RUBRICS FOR CANVAS
Many of us are using rubrics in our courses to not only help us offer transparency in our assessment but to really guide a student to success. Now you can create rubrics outside of Canvas and import them into your courses. Here is a brief video explaining how to do it.

HOW THE BRAIN LEARNS
Over the last 40 years we have learned more about the human brain than in the previous 400 years. Educators and neuroscientists have been trying to put this knowledge to work by transforming the information of basic and clinical neurosciences into practical insights for the classroom. In a series of special features, we will be looking at how the brain works and what this can tell us about your teaching. First, however, it is important to remember that all learning is brain-based. Through the process of education, we are trying literally to change the brain — not the pancreas, spleen, or lungs. Indeed, education is practical neuroscience. Take a look at the rest of Dr. Bruce Perry's post on how the brain learns.

PROVEN STUDENT SUCCESS STRATEGIES
While many students have weak academic skills because of language barriers or inferior secondary schools, a variety of non-cognitive traits can also hurt or help. Those include things like study habits, time management, self-confidence, and test-taking strategies. Another is "grit," a popular term in higher-education circles these days that is used to describe perseverance or resilience. Read about how one community college used analytics and engagement techniques to improve their student success rates.

GETTING BETTER EVERY DAY
Have you spent some time reading your student ratings from the fall semester yet? Sometimes it is good to read them and then put them away for about a week. Usually when we pull them out again, we are more open to some of the critical remarks. The worst thing we can do is ignore the comments all together. We know that there are usually a few outliers in the group. Someone who earned a failing grade and is not ready yet to own their lack of participation as the most likely reason for the honest grade. But just like our students, we must also use the student assessment to improve our teaching abilities. Dr. Rob Jenkins has written a thought provoking post for The Chronicle of Higher Education and it is posted here. He notes, "I know many faculty members don’t place much credence in such informal, online evaluations. But I find them to be remarkably honest, as well as reasonably, sometimes piercingly, accurate."