In between creating assignments, grading and all the other things educators have to do, you may not have thought about how to support students with disabilities by creating materials with alternative formats. Find out more about how closed captions and screen-reader-friendly documents create accessible and equitable classrooms.

 Students have disabilities we can’t always see. Find out how to support students with visible and invisible disabilities while respecting privacy and fostering equity.

Accommodations for students with disabilities are not just about meeting legal requirements—they're about understanding and fostering equity. what it means to create an equitable learning environment.

Teaching isn't just about giving lessons - it's also about learning. Whether you're a veteran educator or relatively new to the profession, there's always that can improve your effectiveness, helping students get as much from your class as possible. That's especially important when it comes to the diverse ways students learn.

It’s not uncommon for new teachers to feel isolated and sometimes have imposter syndrome creep up. We all share those feelings at some point and in this episode you can face the realities of higher ed with a few educators who know what you’re going through.

Students have many tactics to get what they want in class; some are willing to bend the truth at your expense. This episode describes the emotional toll that experience can take and offers tips for protecting yourself. Cal State LA Associate Professor April Brown and guest Daniel Spitz, an entertainment lawyer and tenured professor at Santa Barbara City College, discuss strategies for handling similar challenges. Tune in to learn, share, and connect with fellow educators.

Just preparing your lectures isn’t enough to guarantee a successful class. Schools have all kinds of different technology available now and if you aren’t familiar with what’s in your classroom a lesson could fall very flat. Listen to this episode for what you’ll need to know to make sure your hard work isn’t marred by a computer nightmare.

Every semester we learn what works and what doesn’t work in our classes. Revising our lectures and assignments is an ongoing process and our conversation with the University of Michigan’s Angelé Anderfuren shares tips on how to do it.

How do you learn best? Reading materials? Audio lessons? Videos? Every classroom will have a mix of learners and figuring out how to help each of them get the most of the material can be challenging. Guest Angelé Anderfuren from the University of Michigan has suggestions from her many years in the college classroom.

Sometimes, you're not ready to stand in front of a class. Where does the energy and enthusiasm come from? And if you make great connections with your students, how do you ensure they don't take advantage of your time? Every new teacher needs to hear these lessons early and often. Guest Angelé Anderfuren from the University of Michigan shares what she’s learned from her many years of teaching.

Figuring out what kind of content will work best for your students can take significant time and effort. You may head straight to textbooks suggested by previous professors, consider new online offerings, and even create your own materials.

But sometimes, thinking outside the box can bring surprising advantages.

Considering who your students are and how they learn should also be a consideration. But where to begin? Our guest, Angelé Anderfuren from the University of Michigan, shares her philosophy.

Something is off in your classroom. Students are distant, disinterested, having trouble focusing, and may want to avoid attending in-person classes.

The pandemic has impacted higher education in ways we are still figuring out, so getting students back on track and focused in the classroom may be a more significant challenge than ever.

There are ways to connect and re-engage, prompting better participation, classes, and grades.

That first day in the classroom is bound to provoke some anxiety. But it can go much more smoothly if you're well-prepared and take a breath before every class.

Especially when you have to give criticism. It's something we must do to help students learn. But people get defensive when they hear bad things about their work, so we try to convey it in a way that encourages them to continue the good stuff and constructively addresses the not-so-good.

We often need to realize that achieving excellence only happens after we have failed at something repeatedly. Framing learning as a process and a difficult one can make those setbacks seem less devastating. Episode 10 shares some ways to do that.

Thinking about that first day in the classroom can be nerve-wracking. How do you win them over, get their attention, and make them want to participate? You may know your subject matter well, but do you know how to make it attractive to a student audience?

There are strategies to get them on your side so they want to follow you toward enlightenment. But those strategies aren't usually shared with you when you're an adjunct or a new professor. It's usually sink or swim.

Episode nine has some floaties for you; tools of engagement, tools to keep them interested, and tools to make them want to have conversations and think critically about the professions, lessons, and skills you want to share.

Getting familiar with the LMS (Learning Management System if you haven't heard the previous episodes) can help streamline your course delivery. Being consistent in other ways can be crucial too, not just to help your students learn but to save you time and grief.

Learning how people learn is also one of the ways we can create more effective teaching tools. If the phrase Bloom's Taxonomy sounds like it might as well be about taxidermy, don't worry. It's not a term that gets thrown around a lot in the real world. However, it can be a crucial tool when developing assignments and assessments.

This episode walks you through Bloom's Taxonomy and provides other tips to make you a more effective professor. And that will go a long way to reduce your stress and anxiety about being new in the classroom.

The times constantly change, and students no longer expect to turn in handwritten or typed assignments. It's all about the Learning Management System (LMS) now. Why would you want to consider using it?

These systems allow you to organize, assign, receive submissions, grade, communicate, and more, all online. But, like any system, you have to learn how to use it, which takes time. Is it worth it?

If you plan to teach more than one semester, it can save you a lot of time. This episode discusses ways to organize your online class so you can be more efficient and effective.

Cheating. It shouldn't occur in the classroom. Chances are, it will at some point though. And Artificial Intelligence is providing even more ways to do it.

AI impacts various professions, from art to journalism, coding to the law. Teaching is no exception. Many universities still need to figure out how to deal with the ramifications of AI in the classroom. But you can ensure your students are clear about cheating and academic dishonesty and what happens if you discover it in your classroom.

Finding a cheater isn't pleasant. But you can make it easier for yourself if you address it at the beginning of the semester. If you're unsure how to do that, you need to hear this episode.

If you haven't been in college for a while, think back to what you remember about the syllabus. Not much? Students often treat it like a handout someone gives you outside the supermarket about a cause they're not interested in. They nod, take it and toss it.

But it could be much more than that. A place to set your expectations about attendance, assignments, and behavior: and, perhaps more importantly for the new professor, it can serve as a way to head off problems, thus, saving precious time.

Students also expect a semester outline these days. Including even tentative one (and it should be tentative; things change once class begins) addresses the inevitable "what are we going to cover and when" questions.

Are you starting the semester with a few old syllabi and a "good luck with that?" Before you throw your hands up and copy and paste bits from this one and that, consider this.

Your syllabus is a contract between you and your students. Tell them what you expect, what's acceptable, and what isn't. It can head off some big problems.

It should also share what students will get out of the class - in other words, what YOU are supposed to teach them. If that information is not in the syllabi you have been given, you must find out what the SLOs or CLOs are. And if you don't know what those abbreviations stand for, you really need to listen to this episode.

Professors are no longer considered the rarified, removed formal imparters of knowledge they used to be. But many students are usually still intimidated by us. Getting to know them can break down barriers, but it takes work, and there are many ways to do it.

We need to be seen as knowledgeable, accessable, and supportive. And a little empathy goes a long way. Showing them you are a life-long learner, that you understand how hard it is to master skills and topics, and sharing a bit about yourself.

I begin one of my lower-level classes with something that shows me a bit vulnerable and having difficulty learning something as an adult - flying trapeze. It serves several purposes, not the least as a conversation starter.

You get your book and syllabus and are off to the races, creating lesson plans and preparing to grade. You're connecting with students, and that's rewarding.

But so many of them are dealing with severe mental health issues, and the pandemic has only exacerbated the problem. Would you know what to do if a student in crisis reached out for help?

It's an issue professors are increasingly facing, and there are things you can and should do to prepare.

You get a book and syllabus and are told "make a class!" If that isn't hard enough, being a new professor comes with some not-so-obvious things, some of them legal.

You may be required to do things a certain way because students have rights under a federal law called FERPA. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act has rules about information - what information can be shared with whom and under what circumstances. Hint - grades are a sticky subject.

There are also times when you have to tell. If you've learned about sexual harassment or gender discrimination, you will likely be a "mandated" reporter. We'll flesh all that out in this episode.

We want to be effective teachers. We want to be efficient with our time and our students' time. And we don’t want to make mistakes that could easily been avoided, if only someone warned us ahead of time.

Universities need committed teachers like you, now more than ever. Adjuncts and non-tenured faculty are crucial to today's higher education system.

We need your enthusiasm, knowledge, and willingness to work with students. And we should make it easier for you to do that if you're willing to put in the time and effort.

That's why I created "Adjunctitis: A Teaching Podcast." This 2024 Webby Honoree can help you reclaim your classroom and your sanity.