Quick Reference Guides
The Learning and Teaching Hub has created a variety of Quick-Reference Guides (QRGs) for common teaching tasks and challenges. Think of the QRGs as condensed highlights on educational topics, meant to offer just-in-time learning to quickly implement pedagogical strategies and provide additional resources for future in-depth learning.
All guides cover basic information about the topic, and are divided into three sections:
- Overview and Introduction: This section answers basic WHAT questions about the topic as well as WHO might use and/or benefit from it.
- Implementation and Timing: This section provides information on WHEN, WHERE, and HOW the strategy might be implemented.
- Rationale and Research: This section explains WHY the strategy is beneficial and provides research and resources for future learning.
- Additional Resources and References: This section includes links and citations for additional resources.
You can browse the guides by name (below) or sort them by tag/topic using the filter tool. Additional guidance on using the QRGs can be found in the Getting Started Quick Reference Guide.
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Academic Integrity
Academic Integrity is the practice of being honest in the academic work faculty and students perform at ASU. This QRG includes pedagogical, technology-based, and community building solutions for you to build a strong academic integrity culture.
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Active Learning Online
Active Learning is a term used to describe instructional methods that increase student involvement and engagement in the learning process. This QRG includes ideas for implementation and guidance on how to incorporate active learning in your online class.
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Active Learning: Overview and Introduction
Active Learning is a term used to describe instructional methods that increase student involvement and engagement in the learning process. This QRG includes ideas for implementation, common faculty concerns and mistakes, and guidance on how to incorporate active learning in your specific class.
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Backward Design
Backward design is an educational method that begins with defining learning goals and objectives, followed by assessments and designing instructional materials to support the learner’s journey. This QRG overviews how backward design benefits faculty and students with steps for implementation.
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Blended and Online Exam Proctoring
There are a variety of digital proctoring tools and methods, from web-conferencing to artificial intelligence proctor tools. This QRG includes key practices for successful implementation as well as recommendations on where and when to inform your students on your proctoring choice.
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Bloom’s Taxonomy
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a fundamental educational framework from which instructors, students, and institutions can benefit by establishing clear and instructive learning objectives as well as developing higher order thinking skills through activities and assessments. When designing and/or revising a course, use this framework to evaluate objectives and activities to ensure an effective learning experience.
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Canvas Learning Management
The Canvas Learning Management system is a technology used by ASU for course communication. Creating an effective Canvas course shell can save administrative time, provide more insight on student performance, provide clear expectations and requirements for students, and provide timely quality feedback. This QRG includes methods to create and manage impactful Canvas course shells.
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CATME: Team Formation and Peer Evaluation
CATME is a web-based tool (available to all FSE instructors) that is designed to support peer evaluation, team and collaborative learning, and/or project-based activities. This QRG includes comprehensive directions on implementing CATME in your course, including requesting a CATME account, creating teams, and using peer evaluations.
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Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are simple, non-graded or low-stakes activities designed to give you and your students useful feedback on the learning-teaching process as it is happening. This QRG includes ideas for implementation and the benefits for both students and instructors.
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Classroom Response Systems and Polling (Active Learning Strategy)
This QRG contains information about the use of Classroom Response Systems, like iClicker. The use of these tools will help improve student engagement as students are answering teacher-created and embedded questions throughout the lesson. Classroom Response Systems are especially useful in large courses, as well as to support the instructor in assessing learners, taking attendance, and lifting disadvantaged students to…
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Concept Maps
Concept maps are a way to get students to interact with content to make connections at a more sophisticated level. This QRG introduces readers to concept maps, distinguishes what they are and are not, provides practical implementation steps and shares benefits of using them in coursework.
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Connections and Systems-thinking (EM Strategy)
Faculty can inspire students to see connections between their technical skills and the world around them. A systems-thinking approach allows engineers to see multiple viewpoints and solutions. This QRG includes ideas for implementation and actionable strategies to emphasize connections in your course with an entrepreneurial mindset (EM).
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Create Value (EM Strategy)
Creating value means that students consider the economic, social, societal, and personal value that their engineering solutions create. This QRG includes ideas for implementing value creation in engineering courses, assignments, and projects to have students consider who they are designing for and why.
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Curiosity (EM Strategy)
Cultivating curiosity in students allows them to uncover essential information that shapes engineering solutions. This QRG includes types of curiosity, ideas for implementation, and actionable strategies to drive student curiosity.
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Customer Discovery (EM Strategy)
Guide students to adopt a customer-centered approach by connecting technical skills to real-world challenges. Customer discovery focuses on identifying user needs, validating assumptions, and refining solutions through direct engagement. This QRG offers methods such as interviews and research, supporting a human-centered design.
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Discussion Board Prompts (Active Learning Strategy)
Discussion Boards can be used to increase content comprehension, retention, and metacognitive skills in any type of course and provide students with social connection outside of the classroom setting. This QRG includes ideas for implementation and actionable strategies to create interesting discussion posts for your students.
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Engineering Ethics and Principled Innovation
Engineering ethics is the guiding, ethical principles that apply to the practice of engineering. Principled Innovation, one of ASU’s new design aspirations, is the ability to imagine new concepts, catalyze ideas, and form new solutions guided by principles that create positive change for humanity. This QRG includes ideas for implementation and strategies to create opportunities for students to reflect on…
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Entrepreneurial Mindset
The entrepreneurial mindset (EM) is a problem-solving approach that begins with curiosity about our changing world, connecting information from various resources to gain insight, and identifying unexpected opportunities to create value. This QRG includes actionable strategies for EM classroom activities, course learning objectives, and faculty mentorship.
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Flipped Learning
Flipped learning changes the way students engage by reversing the order of the traditional lecture and assignment components. Instructors provide learning materials ‘outside’ of class time, and then use the class time for hands-on activities. This QRG includes directions for planning, good practices to follow, and examples of classroom activities.
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Fostering Growth Mindset
Growth mindset is a way of thinking that can promote student success and learning by changing how students think about the learning process and their individual motivations and strategies. This QRG includes ideas for implementation and actionable methods to incorporate a growth mindset in your classes.
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FSE Tutoring Centers
The tutoring centers are a free support service, staffed by trained students who have excelled in the same engineering classes they tutor. Multiple locations, including virtual tutoring, are available throughout the semester. This QRG includes general information on the centers along with ways that faculty can engage in their support services.
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Fulton Difference Programs
The Fulton Difference Programs build a culture that keeps students engaged with each other and faculty at a personal level. This QRG includes an overview of this group of programs, including undergraduate and graduate research programs, Fulton student organizations, community service projects, entrepreneurship opportunities, and career center resources for all Fulton students.
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Generation Z
Gen Z learners have unique defining moments, attitudes, communication preferences, and values that significantly impact their educational experiences. This QRG provides ideas and actionable strategies tailored to the needs of Gen Z learners, helping you incorporate these insights into your classes.
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Getting Started with QRGs
Not sure where to start? Here is how to get started with our Quick-Reference Guides (QRGs).
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Group Work: Cooperative Learning (Active Learning Strategy)
Cooperative Learning is a structured form of group work where students work together, but are assessed individually, and their own learning benefits the entire group. This QRG includes an introduction to the elements of Cooperative Learning, considerations and examples for implementing it, and benefits to its use.
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Icebreakers
Icebreakers are a low-risk, introductory activity designed to encourage students to become active members with the instructor as well as with one another. This QRG includes examples, implementation plans, and ideas for implementing in both in-person and online courses.
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Infusing Entrepreneurial Mindset in Your Discipline
The entrepreneurial mindset (EM) is a problem-solving approach that begins with curiosity about our changing world, connecting information from various resources to gain insight, and identifying unexpected opportunities to create value. This QRG provides a robust list of EM assignments and resources, specific to several engineering disciplines.
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Jigsaw (Active Learning Strategy)
Jigsaw is an active learning strategy that has students work in cooperative groups to become experts on one assigned topic before teaching other classmates about their assigned topic. This QRG describes the strategy in detail and provides practical implementation and planning suggestions across class modalities.
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Mastery or Competency Learning
Mastery or Competency Learning is a technique that focuses on ensuring all students fully complete a learning objective before moving on to the next. It is best used in 1) topics that require strong foundations and build on prior content and 2) student groups with diverse academic backgrounds where some students may not have the background to begin on new…
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Metacognition
Metacognition is thinking about one’s thinking. Metacognitive activities can help engineering students navigate the engineering design process, identify and define problems, and evaluate the final solution. This QRG includes planning, monitoring, and assessing activities and assignment ideas to support the metacognitive process in your courses.
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Minute Papers (Active Learning Strategy)
Minute Papers are a classroom assessment technique that allows instructors the opportunity to collect written student feedback about student learning. This QRG includes background information, example questions to use, and practical steps for implementation.
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Muddiest Points (Active Learning Strategy)
Muddiest Points is a low-impact method for gathering informal feedback from students on their own understanding of course content, then quickly addressing any conceptual issues that are exposed. This QRG includes steps to consider for successful implementation and suggested student question prompts.
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Peer Review
Peer reviews are collaborative opportunities for students to work in pairs or small groups to assess the work of their peers and provide quality feedback. This QRG includes planning considerations, implementation ideas, recommendations for creating rubrics, and modality tips.
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Peer-Led Study Groups
Peer-led Study Groups (PLSG) are a method of instruction in which small peer groups of students with similar ability converse and try different approaches to solve difficult course-related problems. This QRG provides guidance for the implementation of peer-led study groups into your course as well as research evidence for this teaching method.
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Pose A Question (Active Learning Strategy)
Posing a question is an effective active learning strategy that can be used to re-engage students during a class session. This QRG includes ideas for successful implementation of this strategy and a range of sample questions to pose, including Socratic, probing, and real-world questions.
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Rubrics
Effective, robust rubrics can contribute enormously to instructional quality. Rubrics are not just scoring tools, but also provide insight into instructional quality. This QRG includes ideas for designing and implementing effective rubrics that align the assignments with the learning objectives of the course.
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Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is a framework to support faculty in systematically investigating ways to improve teaching practices and students’ learning. SoTL shares findings and best practices with a broader community for review and dissemination.
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Small Group Discussions (Active Learning Strategy)
Small group discussions are an active learning strategy designed to encourage learner discourse and aid in understanding the course content. This QRG includes the description of the strategy, where and when the strategy is most effective, implementation based on class modality, tips, tricks, and supporting research.
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Student Hours: A New Approach to Office Hours
This QRG provides practical strategies for engineering faculty to reimagine traditional office hours. By adopting new approaches such as themed sessions, flexible locations, and personalized invitations, faculty can create a more welcoming environment that encourages student engagement and enhances academic success.
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Student Motivation
Student motivation and engagement is critical to the success of any course. This QRG overviews intrinsic motivation strategies, evidence-based methods of the psychological principles of persuasion, and plans for implementation to improve student motivation in engineering courses.
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Teaching Assistants: Onboarding and Beyond
Teaching Assistants (TAs) are an effective way to manage large classes while ensuring students receive one-on-one support throughout the course. This QRG provides insights into the TA experience, along with practical strategies for faculty to onboard, support, and effectively utilize TAs in their courses.
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Think-Jot-Pair-Share (Active Learning Strategy)
Think-Jot-Pair-Share is an active learning strategy that incorporates writing into the activity. The writing portion (jot), assists learners in capturing their thinking prior to pairing up and sharing with a peer or a group. This QRG includes strategy description, tips based on class modality, implementation suggestions and supporting research.
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Think-Pair-Share (Active Learning Strategy)
Think-Pair-Share is an active learning strategy where students think critically about a challenging concept, partner with another student to discuss, and then report out their ideas to the larger group/rest of the class. This QRG includes ideas for implementing this strategy and modifications for hybrid, online, and/or large courses.
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Undergraduate Teaching Assistants
UGTAs are successful engineering students that faculty may request to assist with active learning techniques in the in-person or online class. This QRG includes guidelines of the program, qualifications of the students, and how faculty can request UGTAs for a course.
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Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for course design that creates an equitable learning environment for students and instructors. By focusing on providing multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression, UDL will increase student success, engagement, and ownership of learning.
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Using Data to Support/Refute Ideas (EM Strategy)
Using data to support and refute ideas and exploring multiple solution paths helps students develop critical thinking skills and exercise data-driven decision-making. This QRG includes ideas for implementation to support students in utilizing data.