April 2026 Tuesday Tips

Here we are, it is late Spring and the end of the academic year is in sight. It also may seem far away if you usually end the term with a deluge of grading and events like commencement or awards ceremonies. A best practice for this point in the semester is some Spring Cleaning of your courses. The point of this exercise is to clear some tasks for the last few weeks of the semester, so when you do get that pile of exams or papers, you are able to just focus on that instead of all the stuff that gets in the way. This allows you to finish quicker, be less stressed, get grades in on time, and start your summer. Pick at least one of these strategies that you have not done before and try it for Spring. 

1. Make a last-call for late work. If you allow late work (I usually do with a deduction), firm up the dates and guidelines now. Make a last call for it now so you can resolve it early, and it does not stretch into May.
2. Clear one lingering professional task. This is outside the classroom, but we all have at least one paper review, conference submission, or report we need to write. Do it now so it does not suck up time when you are staring at that pile of papers. 
3. Clean up the gradebook. Make sure all major assignments are in and assign zeroes where students have missed work. Sometimes these do not calculate in Canvas and give students a mistaken impression about where they are at in the course. Resolving this now gives students time to adjust and helps everyone know where they stand going into finals. 
4. Figure out the late-drop plan. Especially if you teach larger classes, most of us deal with late drop for good reason late in the semester. Talk with your Department Chair and administrative support about what the current plan is so you are clear. In some cases, at your discretion, it may be helpful to communicate this to select students, especially if this is something they have already discussed with you. 

Some combination of these approaches will allow you to finish the semester in a more timely fashion under less stress. It will also free you up to sign up for FDEV programming, which will start in late May. Be on the lookout for full calls and applications on Thursday related to AI, your own writing, and affordable learning solutions. 

Zach Justus
Director of Faculty Development
Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences
Google Voice/Text: 530-487-4150

If you’d like to comment on this or any other Tuesday Tip, visit the FDEV Blog(opens in new window).
All past Tuesday Tips are curated on the FDEV website.

Publishing about teaching and learning can be a rewarding way to maintain a scholarly agenda, especially at a teaching-focused institution. Sometimes the work may start as an efficiency but then blossom as an area of real impact as colleagues and readers adopt the effective teaching practices you have developed. For years, I have found ways to partner with colleagues to evaluate classroom practices and related civic activities. However, several times I have wanted to write about a classroom practice or an assessment and run into a snag. As we are winding down the academic year and many of you are thinking about writing over the summer or perhaps a new research agenda, I wanted to share some best practices in developing a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).

1. Partner with someone different than you, but with a shared interest. SoTL work is often best explained with a mix of quantitative and qualitative data. You have one approach: find someone with the other to make your work more well-rounded. 
2. Get Human Subjects approval. Several times, I have developed an interesting teaching practice, collected assessment data, and then realized I could generalize from it, only to face the reality that I had skipped the initial step of approval because I had just thought about it as assessment. Don’t make the same mistake.
3. Look at instruction with fresh eyes. You are probably already doing something innovative in the classroom you take for granted. Maybe it is a partnership with Civic Engagement or perhaps an unusual case study. Reviewing RTP notes or talking through best practices with a colleague may unearth a practice you are already engaged in that is worth sharing. 

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning has been everywhere for me lately. It was the topic of a recent episode of Teaching in Higher Ed in a discussion of a new book (full text free to download) on the topic. We are wrapping up some end-of-the-year reports in FDEV, where we supported two rounds of funding thanks to an allocation from the University Board of Governors and the FDEV Advisory Board’s recommendation. It is a reminder to me that I am surrounded by excellent colleagues who are finding creative ways to support students and advance their own scholarship.

Compiled by Mark Stemen, Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies and Faculty Sustainability Officer

Earth Day (April 22) offers us a moment to reconnect our teaching with the world our students are inheriting by bringing sustainability and resilience into sharper focus in ways that feel authentic to our discipline and our students.

Integrating climate and sustainability does not require a full course redesign. In many cases, it begins with a single reading, a short reflection, or a conversation that helps students connect course content to the changing world around them.

If you are looking for ways to engage, campus events can offer inspiration to spark ideas for assignments, extra credit opportunities, or simply help students see themselves as part of a larger campus effort.

• Wednesday, April 22 from 11AM-1PM: Associated Students Earth Day Festival(opens in new window) on Glenn Lawn and Trinity Commons with educational tables, food, music, and baby goats!
• Friday, April 24 at 10AM: In celebration of Arbor Day, the Office of Sustainability(opens in new window) is hosting the annual planting of the campus Graduation Tree in front of the BSS Building.

You might also consider bringing previous campus experiences into your classroom. This year’s Book in Common(opens in new window) selection, featuring Rosanna Xia, offers flexible entry points, with chapters that can stand alone in a variety of courses. Faculty Development has gathered resources and reflections (Google Doc) from a recent book group to help you get started, including access to the film The Climate Baby Dilemma(opens in new window), now available through the Meriam Library, which includes a teaching companion(opens in new window) that makes it easy to incorporate into a class session or assignment.

Small choices, including what we assign, the questions we ask, and the connections we highlight, can help students build the knowledge and perspective they will need in a rapidly changing world. Earth Month(opens in new window) (April) is a good time to try something new, and the goal is to carry that momentum forward. Consider taking time over the summer to build more sustainability and resilience into your course(s).  

For additional resources and ideas on integrating climate change and resilience into your teaching, visit the Teaching Climate Change and Resilience webpage(opens in new window).

Mark Stemen
Faculty Sustainability Officer
Rawlins Endowed Professor of Environmental Literacy

This semester, we have had a lot of conversations as a campus about durable skills and what we do that prepares students for meaningful work and civic life. Workforce readiness and social mobility are critical to the new CSU Forward(opens in new window) strategic plan for the system as well as the current LIFT (PDF) grant funding opportunity. 

Megan Odom from the Career Center and I have made it around campus to speak with deans, chairs, and some departments about building career education into the curriculum. In those conversations, as well as in the grant writing lunch for LIFT we hosted on Monday, a theme keeps coming up: faculty are already doing much of this work, but students do not always realize it.

If you are teaching critical thinking or problem solving, you are teaching a career skill.

If your class has group work or emphasizes creativity, you are teaching a career skill.

When we think about adding pieces to the curriculum, we can feel taxed or overwhelmed, but when we reframe it as a recognition of the work we are already doing, it suddenly seems more manageable. 

In these final weeks of the spring semester, take a moment to help your students make that connection in your classes. It may help them in a future conversation about a career, and it may help them finish strong to more clearly see the “why” in whatever you are asking them to do.