Timesavers: The Buzzword of the Day

Let’s face it – if you were going to list the top ten buzzwords that are circulating around academia at the moment, “timesavers” would certainly be up there (along with “budget”, “werkdruk”, and “coffee”). But here at the FMG Teaching & Learning Centre, we want timesavers to be more than a buzzword – we want them to actually work.

We believe it is possible. Many of our colleagues have smartly thought of ways to trim time, and we believe that #SharingIsCaring. So, on 14 October, we had a crowded room of FMG’ers gather together at CREA to share their teaching timesavers in the form of 1-minute “pitches”. It was awesome.

Did you miss our Teaching Timesaver event? No worries. We will publish the timesaver on our YouTube channel in the coming weeks.

And what did we learn? So much. Ranging from classroom setup to assessment to student engagement, our teaching community is really thinking differently about good practices in teaching – and we loved it!

While you should definitely check out the YouTube recap when you have time (see what I did there?), let me share the tips that really stuck with me:

• No More Doodles! How often do you respond to doodle-polls-from-hell? Make your life easier. Download your teaching rooster into your UvA calendar, and then your calendar will be automatically up-to-date for meeting requests. Yay technology!
• To Write or not to Write. Take a look at your paper assignments. Do they really need to be that long? Maybe they do. But, for many of us, we can probably reduce the length and still achieve our learning goals. Even more, ask yourself if you really need a paper for your learning goals? Instead, maybe consider a new format to meet those goals. We like the pecha kucha presentation (20 slides, 20 seconds per side). Learn more here.
• Thumbs Up to Discussion Boards. Did you know that you can use Canvas for Discussion Boards? Even better, did you know you can include a “like” feature on the discussion board? I didn’t, but it’s been a MASSIVE timesaver for me. Tell students they can discuss and exchange ideas on the board throughout the class (#engagement) and – to minimize your need to respond to every post – tell students you will comment on the top 3 liked posts. Brilliant, right?
• Rethink Feedback. Spend the time to set up a rubric for your assignment at the outset using SpeedGrader on Canvas and use that. This is FEEDBACK.
• In-Person #ftw. How long do you spend answering email to students? Opt OUT of email for student communication and instead plan a weekly office hour for student questions.
• Be Honest with Yourself. How much time is allocated for grading that particular assignment? Maybe 7 minutes per student? Stick to this. Devise a way to grade that fits into that time. It might be a simple +/ – system, or something similarly minimal. Pushing yourself well-beyond does a disservice to yourself, and in the long run, your health.

These are just some of my favorites. There are many more so definitely check out on our YouTube TLChannel.

Finally, at the risk of taking more of your time (#pun), I want to highlight one more thing that resonated with me deeply. At one point during our event, there was a powerful moment when an audience member noted feeling guilty about trying to save time. The shared feeling was palpable. It was as though every teacher in the room experienced this. But then, Chip Huisman took to the microphone and reminded us all that that there is NOTHING to feel guilty about. Being a good teacher means ensuring we are meet our learning goals, yes. But that doesn’t, and shouldn’t, come at the expense of our health and wellbeing.

Students need healthy and happy teachers, too.

So, the next time you feel guilty about figuring out a way to be a bit more efficient so that your Saturday morning remains YOURS, know that you have your FMG-TLCommunity behind you, supporting you. Every teacher needs a little TLC, right?

On behalf of your FMG-TLCore team, thank you for being such an inspirational teaching community. It’s our privilege to work with all of you.

Best wishes,
Jessica Piotrowski
Co-director, FMG-TLC