Struggling to find a balance between answering email constantly and forgetting to follow up with someone? Set your own expectations and boundaries, and then make a plan for communicating these to students and colleagues. Robert Talbert, mathematics professor at Grand Valley State University, argues such a policy should be simple, clearly and ubiquitously stated, and strike a balance of generosity to yourself and others. His article Crafting a Communications Policy offers examples and guidance in creating these policies. In addition to reading Talbert’s excellent piece, this teaching tip offers complementary resources related to his advice.

OaklandU-Specific Resources on Communication and Digital Organization

Students Sign Up with Google Appointments
Talbert recommends using an appointment calendar to reduce the back-and-forth of coordinating a time to meet with students and collaborators. Our past teaching tip favorite Students Sign Up with Google Appointments explains how to set up an appointment schedule. 

Digital Organization and Productivity Guide
e-Learning and Instructional Support’s Digital Organization and Productivity Guide matches communication and organizational needs to tech supported at OU plus other favorite tools. Sections include communication, scheduling, project management, and storage.

Organize and Save Class Messages
With many different courses and policies to manage, students appreciate clear, timely directions, but they can be timely to write anew each semester. Create a document for saving messages you tend to write semester to semester, and reuse them with customized updates for each class. Check out our growing Class and Student Communication Templates for a few messages to save and adapt. 

For more practical ways to create reliable systems for communicating and managing tasks, see communication tips and productivity tips from our series.

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About the Author

Written and designed by Christina Moore, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Oakland University. Others may share and adapt under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC.

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"Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought."
Albert Einstein

It is commonly believed that a primary teaching goal is to help students learn facts and procedures, and a professor’s role is to transmit these facts and procedures to students. But, the world is more technologically complex and economically competitive, so having the facts isn’t enough. Students need a deeper, conceptual understanding of complex concepts and should learn to work with these concepts creatively to come up with new ideas, theories, etc. This teaching tip offers a variety of class activities for cultivating creativity across discipline. 

Creative Benefits

Creative thinking involves synthesizing and combining course information in new ways characterized by innovation, risk-taking, and divergent thinking (AAC&U; Association of American Colleges & Universities). Creative thinking is considered an essential skill along with critical thinking in tackling modern problems, and the university classroom provides the perfect environment to help students get their creative juices flowing. Creative thinking has been tied to happiness, well-being, and student success through:

• increased imagination and originality,
• the promotion of openness to new ideas and perspectives,
• improved critical thinking,
• increased academic performance,
• improved self-esteem and optimism, and
• reduced stress and anxiety.

Creative Caveats

Creativity can be any expression, formal or informal, big or small, goal-oriented or personal — like role-playing, journaling, gardening, collecting, video game playing, and music making. One model describes creativity as existing on a continuum — ranging from mini-c (personally meaningful) and little-c (everyday creative) to pro-c (professional creative) and big-c (eminently) creative (Kaufman & Beghetto, 2009). But:

• All types have positive implications. Personally meaningful and everyday creative, however, may have the biggest impact.
• Creativity is not a finite set of things; many things qualify as creative endeavors.
• It requires one to lose their fear of being awkward, wrong, or odd, so it’s important to first create a classroom environment that supports creative thinking by having students get to know one another and interact to become comfortable taking risks, offering suggestions, and asking questions in front of their peers.
• It’s important to structure creative projects to promote engagement and integrity. Think about ways to break down ideas and activities into smaller assignments that build upon each other. Activities can be used to scaffold complexity.

100 Uses and Other Creative Teaching Tools and Techniques

Creative assignments can be incorporated into any course context to increase student engagement and motivation. Many are brief enough to be used as a module within a normal class session and do not require any special equipment.

100 Uses

To promote a creative classroom environment, start with 100 Uses, an easy-to-adopt strategy to warm up a group and make them more comfortable sharing their ideas.

• Task: In 10 minutes, ask students to come up with 100 uses for wire hangers, pizza boxes, pens, etc. Choose an object that ties in with your learning goals.
• Goal: Because the team needs all ideas to reach the 100, the group typically reserves their criticism for ‘bad’ suggestions and learns the value of building on each other and not inhibiting other’s ideas.

Mind mapping

Mind mapping is a visual representation of information, where a main topic branches out into related sub-topics. It allows your students to organize their thoughts and ideas and make connections in a non-linear manner. Mind mapping can cultivate creativity by encouraging students to brainstorm ideas about complex concepts freely and visualize relationships between the concepts, thinking outside the box. There are many ways to use mind mapping in the classroom to foster creativity:

• Host brainstorming sessions. Start with a central theme related to a topic and have students individually or in groups add related ideas as branches, encouraging diverse perspectives and unique connections. For new concepts - create a mind map together as a class to visually map out key aspects, allowing students to see the bigger picture and identify potential areas of exploration.
• Use creative writing prompts. Use mind maps to generate ideas for creative writing by starting with a central prompt and branching out with character traits, plot points, settings, and themes.
• Develop Pros and Cons. Use mind maps to brainstorm potential solutions, list pros and cons of each option, and analyze different perspectives.
• Use it in project planning. Create a mind map to outline project goals, tasks, timelines, and responsibilities, allowing students to visualize the project's different components and potential challenges.

Design for Play

Play with a purpose can support your learning goals. Play builds a low-stress, inclusive environment and enables students to connect with a new topic, strategy, or idea. Try trivia games, puzzles, video games, or role-playing. Structured, educational games can be used to support a new idea or connect with their learning experience. Check out this Reacting to the Past, an example of role-playing for student engagement.

References and Resources

Brosowsky, N. P., Barr, N., Mugon, J., Scholer, A. A., Seli, P., & Danckert, J. (2022). Creativity, Boredom Proneness and Well-Being in the Pandemic. Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 12(3), 68. 

Cavanagh, S. R. (2021). How to Play in the College Classroom in a Pandemic, and Why You Should. The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (2022). Getting Started with Creative Assignments. Columbia University. 

DiYanni, R. (2015). Critical and creative thinking : A brief guide for teachers. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. 

Kaufman, J. C., & Beghetto, R. A. (2009). Beyond Big and Little: The Four C Model of Creativity. Review of General Psychology, 13(1), 1-12. 

Tan, C. Y., Chuah, C. Q., Lee, S. T., & Tan, C. S. (2021). Being Creative Makes You Happier: The Positive Effect of Creativity on Subjective Well-Being. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(14), 7244. 

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About the Author

Rebecca Malatesta, PhD, is a Special Instructor and Student Success Coordinator in the Psychology Department. She is very interested in understanding barriers to student success and discovering evidenced-based strategies to address inclusion and belonging in the classroom and students’ subjective well-being. Rebecca loves to read, especially the classics. 

Others may share and adapt under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC.

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“The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.”

Malcolm S. Forbes

You may not have grown up in a single-parent household or struggled to pay your bills. You may not know the first thing about breeding horses or how to play the saxophone. But I’m sure you know people who have or do. Being receptive to others’ ideas, arguments, and information and having a desire to discover something new is important for learning. Curiosity and open-mindedness have also been connected with:

• increased academic achievement.
• greater work and life satisfaction.
• decreased mental and physical decline.
• an increased understanding of our changing world.
• the release of dopamine and other positive chemicals (when we are exposed to new things).
• stronger relationships as well as sense of belonging.

A willingness and desire to consider others’ perspectives and try new experiences make us more interesting, compassionate, approachable, and successful. These strengths can and should be cultivated in the classroom. This teaching tip, lists many ways to cultivate curiosity and open-mindedness, with a deep dive into doing so through debate.

Gaining Perspective

Being open and curious has influenced my approach to teaching. For example, my kids and my students have taught me the latest slang terms (like ‘rizz’ – which roughly translates to charisma) and challenged my expectations and views of their generation. Their input has been valuable to me in designing my courses to best meet their needs.

Developing Open-mindedness Through Debate

There are many ways to encourage students' curiosity and open-mindedness to promote learning and success. One strategy that can be used to increase students’ understanding of other ideas, perspectives, and arguments is the debate.

Challenge Assumptions and Encourage Debate. 

With this strategy, you simply provide a structured debate on a topic to encourage the consideration of alternative views and practice respectful argumentation. The suggested steps are to:

1. Pick a topic.
   Depending on your purpose, choose a funny topic or one that is in line with your course content or learning objectives, and have students argue a view that is different from their own (e.g.,  pineapple on pizza, cats vs. dogs, the drinking age, whether or not social media makes us smarter). Perhaps start with a low-stakes, less serious topic as an icebreaker or for practice.
   Note: It’s important to set ground rules for respectful discourse before the debate.
2. Divide the class into teams.
   Have students identify their side (e.g., by a show of hands or secret ballot) and then assign them to the opposite view (placing them in groups of students who hold the same or similar views). You can have them move to the same side of the classroom or have them find a location near your room for a more private discussion.
   You may even ask a third team of students who are “on the fence” to record the debate content and interaction.
3. Generate reasons or arguments.
   Have them write reasons/arguments to support this view (as a group or individually). Remind them to consider potential objections someone from the other side may have to their arguments.
   It’s a good idea to assign specific roles, such as primary speaker, note-taker, and rebuttal speaker.
4. Present the arguments.
   Have groups present their arguments, allowing the other side to refute them. Here are some links for inspiration and suggestions on structure.

Other Considerations

It’s important to define the format of the debate, including opening statements, arguments, rebuttals, closing statements, and potential question-and-answer sessions. You need to: 

• allocate appropriate speaking time for each group (perhaps 10 minutes per group and 5 minutes each for rebuttal)
  actively monitor student engagement throughout the debate, ensuring all team members contribute meaningfully, and,
• if this exercise is for class credit, you should develop a rubric to evaluate student performance based on criteria such as:
  • the strength of the arguments
  • evidence (facts vs. opinion)
  • delivery
  • adherence to debate rules.

Classroom Activities to Promote Curiosity and Open-Mindedness

Need more inspiration? Here are some other strategies that are easy to integrate into most course designs.

• Focus on questions, not answers. Teaching students to ask and use their own questions can impact curiosity.
• Try out the Question Formulation Technique (QFT). Question formulation is a skill not widely taught, but important for students in every discipline. It teaches students to devise and ask questions that foster their learning and encourage them to take ownership of their education.
• Let Students Lead. Give students the reins and let them create their own project-based learning.
• Model Curiosity. Show them you are open to new ideas, suggestions, and activities. Try things and talk about these experiences with your students.
• Encourage Collaboration. Have students work together to solve problems and listen to each other's ideas.
• Promote Critical Thinking. Encourage students to look for solutions and consider alternative perspectives.
• Teach Perspective Taking. Challenge students to take another person’s position or perspective. For example, turning in a late assignment may be the result of working overtime to pay for classes.
• Provide a Variety of Viewpoints. Invite guest speakers with diverse views or have them read about or watch Podcasts on different experiences, perspectives, and struggles.
• Discuss Culture. Give assignments that have students immersed in another culture. For example, suggest getting involved in community service or attending a multicultural event on or off campus.
• Use a Variety of Learning Strategies. Case studies, visual aids, and group projects, for example, can be given that highlight different perspectives.
• Encourage Diverse Experiences. Take students on virtual field trips or encourage them to participate in an activity that may not be on their dance card, but can expand their thinking (e.g., attending an OU symphony event, enrolling in a photography class, or visiting the Meadowbrook Mansion).

Conclusion

Research shows that open-minded, curious people are happier, healthier, and more successful in all life domains. Try some of these strategies in your classroom to instill curiosity and improve student success – or use them to boost or reinforce your own curiosity.

References and Resources

Burgess, A., Shah, K., Hough, O., & Hynynen, K. (2016). The psychology and neuroscience of curiosity. Neuron, 15(5), 449-460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2015.09.010. 

Dolbier, S. Y., Dieffenbach, M. C., & Lieberman, M. D. (2024). Open-mindedness: An integrative review of interventions. Psychological Review, https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000491

Kashdan, T. B., & Steger, M. F. (2007). Curiosity and pathways to well-being and meaning in life: Traits, states, and everyday behaviors. Motivation and Emotion, 31(3), 159-173. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-007-9068-7

Litman, J. A. (2005). Curiosity and the pleasures of learning: Wanting and liking new information. Cognition and Emotion, 19(6), 793–814. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930541000101 

Lord M. (2015). Group learning capacity: the roles of open-mindedness and shared vision. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 150. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00150

Nurishlah, L.i & Budiman, N. & Yulindrasari, H. (2020). Expressions of curiosity and academic Achievement of the students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 10.2991/assehr.k.200130.101. 

Save and adapt a Google Doc version of this teaching tip.

About the Author

Rebecca Malatesta, PhD, is a Special Instructor and Student Success Coordinator in the Psychology Department. She is very interested in understanding barriers to student success and discovering evidenced-based strategies to address inclusion and belonging in the classroom and students’ subjective well-being. Rebecca loves to read, especially the classics.

Rebecca served as guest editor for the Happiness Factor in Academic Success: Boosting Well-being and Performance series. Contribute to the Teaching Blog as a guest editor.

View all CETL Weekly Teaching Tips.