The time between semesters is not just a time to refresh personally; it is also the time when we tend to think about the ways we can improve our teaching or something we might do differently to try to engage more of our students. It is time when we are most open to inspiration. Here are ten online resources that are sure to help you explore new approaches, techniques, and learning paradigms. 

We hope these resources are useful as you plan and innovate.  Try something new! 

The Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University

This extensive site has fantastic resources focusing on topics such as course design, informal and formal assessment of both teaching and learning, and educational technology. Want to rethink how you design or assess a course or lesson? This site is for you. 

The Faculty Development Teaching Tips Index, Honolulu Community College. 
Simply put, this site is a compendium of just about every practical thing that makes for good teaching (other than experience!). This site has it all. 

Tools for Teaching Diversity, School of Education, USC Rossier 
This site is dedicated to exploring the ways in which instructors create an inclusive classroom environment. It links to articles and resources that focus on teaching in racially diverse college classrooms, managing student resistance, identifying your own biases as an instructor, as well as numerous articles on the effect that gender, sexuality, religion, and ability status can have on college students’ learning experiences. 

The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University
You don’t have to teach at Harvard to benefit from this site, and students at any college would benefit from instructors who draw from the Resources available here. Interested in reading tips on active learning, grading and feedback, syllabus design, or how to lecture well. 

The Center for Universal Design, University of Washington
Universal design (or inclusive design) in higher education refers to ways that instructors can design courses and instruction so as to make them universally accessible to students of varying ability statuses without the need for academic adjustment or accommodation. 

The Foundation for Critical Thinking 
Yes, there is a foundation for critical thinking! This site is dedicated to great faculty resources for fostering and assessing critical thinking. This site also has resources for college students that emphasize the function of critical thinking and focus them on things like “how to study and learn” or “the art of close reading.” 

The Walker Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Chattanooga
A great site with lots of teaching resources. Interested in course redesigns, critical thinking, instructional technology, and teaching tips? 

Instructional Development at the British Columbia Institute of Technology 
Interested in managing classroom behavior, developing written tests, increasing student motivation, or creating interactive lectures? 

The Cooperative Learning Institute 
One of the most clearly defined approaches to active learning is “cooperative learning”. Cooperative learning means that student must work together, that projects must require them to work together in significant ways, and that the group’s project is graded as just that – a group project. Here are the people who first pioneered the cooperative learning idea. 

The Eykamp Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Evansville 
This is another great compendium of teaching resources from multiple institutions, including tips on topics such as reducing student anxiety, office hours, active learning, and diversity and inclusion in teaching.