Educational Strategies.

It can be beneficial to consider assessment more broadly as “an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning.” In this view, assessment covers any learning activity, both graded and ungraded, that instructors use as evidence for students’ progress toward the stated learning outcomes.

Learn more about the different types of assessment, the impact on student learning and motivation, and alternative approaches to traditional grading.

Active learning is a term used to describe instructional strategies that promote students’ active participation in knowledge construction processes. Such strategies may include hands-on activities, brief writing and discussion assignments, problem solving tasks, information gathering and synthesis, question generation, and reflection-based activities, among others. Together, these approaches seek to engage learners’ higher order thinking skills through the production and articulation of knowledge, as opposed to through the passive transmission of facts and ideas. Access the guide.

Case studies are stories that are used as a teaching tool to show the application of a theory or concept to real situations. Connect with the BU Institute for Excellence in Teaching & Learning to create a case study. Explore resources to learn more about case method and case-based learning.

Experiential learning is a process where students learn through hands-on experiences and reflection. Explore how experiential learning works and how it can be implemented.

This evidence-based teaching guide presents research studies and resources related to group work. Links to key articles are accompanied by condensed summaries organized by teaching challenges, and actionable advice is provided in an instructor checklist.

Practical strategies for breaking up lectures with activities that help keep students engaged and foster active learning.

Peer Instruction is an active learning technique that can greatly increase student engagement and understanding by allowing students to articulate learning in their own terms and check their understanding with other students.

This evidence-based teaching guide presents research studies and resources related to peer instruction and links to key articles are accompanied by condensed summaries organized by teaching challenges, and actionable advice is provided in an instructor checklist.

Project-based learning (PBL) involves students designing, developing, and constructing hands-on solutions to a problem. BU’s teaching guide explores the different types of PBL, its benefits, and tips for implementation in your classes.

Grading according to an explicit and descriptive set of criteria that is designed to reflect the weighted importance of the objectives of the assignment helps ensure that the instructor’s grading standards don’t change over time. Learn more.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a teaching framework based on research about how we learn. Through this approach, faculty anticipate the variability of learners and proactively design to eliminate unnecessary barriers.