CATL LogoHere you will find key instructional resources for active learning, motivation, and critical and creative thinking, and curriculum resources for creating and refining goals, assignments, and assessments. Following are comprehensive resource guides for major topics in curriculum and instruction.

Key Resources

Make the Most of the First Day of Class. This article from Carnegie Mellon describes eight eight objectives for setting the stage and beginning teaching on the very first day of class. A companion piece from Carnegie Mellon provides additional Tips for Learning Students' Names

Instructional Strategies for Interactive Lectures. This document created by CATL contains more than a dozen activities to help learners prepare for class, address misconceptions, and be reflective and collaborative during lectures. 

Lecture Tutorials. This site describes and supplies short worksheets that students complete in class to make lectures more interactive. They are designed specifically to address misconceptions and topics in science with which students struggle.

Wise Feedback. The Motivate Lab provides the rationale and describes best practices for providing written and verbal feedback to foster student engagement and learning. 

Writing Assignments for Large Classes. How do you incorporate student writing in a class of 30 or more? Check out this annotated list of articles to help you evaluate your options and find new directions.

Resource Guides

Instructional Resiliency Guide. A variety of circumstances might require you to temporarily take your class online with minimal notice. The resources listed in this guide, developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, provide multiple options for keeping your class running in the face of a major disruption.

Integrated Course Design. This CATL site offers an overview of the Integrated Course Design Process and provides worksheets for identifying significant learning goals and designing clearly aligned assessments and transparent assignments. Visit the Programs page to learn about the annual Course Design Academy offered during the year. 

Transparent Assignment Guide. This CATL web page explains how to design assignments with a rationale, instructions and criteria for success that are transparent and accessible to all students. Includes an overview, templates, and checklists to support your work. Visit the Programs page to learn about Transparent Assignment Design workshops offered during the year. 

Active Learning Strategies. This CATL web page features a matrix of activities organized from simpler to higher levels of sophistication (by rows, top to bottom) and from lower to higher degrees of complexity (by columns, left to right) for either faculty or students (and sometimes both!). The page also contains a link to a broad array of resources from centers for teaching and learning at other universities.

Inclusive Teaching Guide. This evidence-based resource guide from Life Sciences Education provides best practices in developing awareness, empathy and classroom climate. Though specifically written for STEM classes, it has wide application in many disciplines. 

Strategies for Teaching First-Year Students. This CATL site features information regarding first-year students at SOU, as well as teaching practices and course design to optimize first-year student success. You’ll also find extensive resources for promoting a growth mindset in your students. This was developed in conjunction with SOU’s involvement with AASCU’s Re-Imagining the First Year Project.