When students are asked to respond—in writing or speaking—to course texts, they gain a deeper understanding of the texts and they may be more likely to retain what they have learned. In most of the upper-level majors courses I teach, I typically assign weekly reading responses that challenge students to summarize, reflect on, and develop two discussion questions about that week’s reading assignments. Last winter I also asked my WRT 3030—Literacy, Technology, and Civic Engagement—students to develop some more creative responses, including a zine addressing a single course text.

Brief History of Zines

Zines (pronounced “zeens”), short for “fanzines,” refer to self-published, printed works of personal expression. While they’re typically made from paper, zines can also be created and distributed digitally. Although the term emerged in the 1930s among science fiction fans, the practice of creating DIY publications existed long before then. Zines can be used to tell stories, showcase artistic expression, promote social and political movements, and bring together niche communities. 

How to Assign a Zine Reading Response

Students had less than a week to complete this assignment, but their paper zines demonstrated that they had spent considerable time engaging with both the assigned reading for that week and some supplemental texts that introduced zines. While one student used their zine to create a single argument related to the assigned text, among the most successful zines were those that included a combination of verbal and visual responses: short arguments, then-and-now comparisons, “two truths and a lie,” concept illustrations, timelines, short observations, pull quotes, cartoons, sketches, etc.

To use zines for reading responses, your assignment description might include

• Specifications for the type and size of the zine (paper or slideshow);
• A link to an online tutorial showing students how to fold their paper zines to meet those specifications or where/how to develop a zine slideshow;
• Information about how zines circulate and what they may be used for;
• Links to model zines for students to explore;
• Questions, prompts, or other information about what students should address with their zine;
• A list of acceptable responses—review, editorial, 6-word summary, poetry, collage, puzzle, slogan, interview, question, pull quote, meme, photo, personal artwork, song lyric, cartoon, instructions, etc.; and
• Instructions to students on how to share their zines with you and with the class—either by bringing their paper zine to class, uploading photos of it to Moodle, or linking to it in Moodle or another class site.

To encourage students to take some creative risks in this work, I used a labor-based grading system that rewarded students for meeting the basic requirements of the assignment.

Student Perspective Piece

The zine assignment in my Literacy, Technology, and Civic Engagement class (WRT 3030) introduced me to the diverse creative direction students, scholars, and activists can take to advance their cause. As someone who had never heard of zines before, the assignment left a lasting impression on me. Zines have been around since the introduction of paper and writing tools; unknowingly, I had learned about them in my past history classes. 

Professor Ostergaard’s incorporation of zines in the classroom introduced a student-centered approach to learning that was particularly effective in a civic engagement class. The emphasis on engaging with differing perspectives while creatively devising a product was intellectually stimulating and enjoyable. The assignment not only helped me explore my own perspectives on various issues and ideas but allowed me to better understand my classmates’ passions and viewpoints. It was also helpful to have the opportunity to use my research skills and creativity in an assignment where I got the opportunity to consider the framework of my design and what kind of message it may send. Most importantly, it was a fun assignment that broadened my worldview, strengthened my creativity, and provided an engaging way to connect research, expression, and civic engagement. 

Conclusion

Ultimately, zines are an opportunity for students to explore creative expression and meaningful self-reflection. The pedagogical appeal of zines is that there is no one “right” way to make them: the zine genre is diverse and accommodating, so students are encouraged to focus less on adherence to any particular template or model. Instead, students are prompted to consider the ideas and values most important to them and how to translate those ideas into a deliberate design. Moreover, zines are materially accessible, requiring only paper, writing tools, scissors, and an idea to get started, underscoring  their value as an inclusive and empowering teaching tool.

Resources

• How to Fold a Zine
• A Brief History of Zines and Why You Should Make One
• Are Artist-Produced Zines the Antidote to Social Media?
• The Oakland Post’s “Arts Zine”
• Barnard College’s Zine Collection

About the Authors

Lori Ostergaard is a professor in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric. She wrote this tip with Emma Sikora, an Editorial Assistant at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) who will graduate in spring 2026 with a degree in Professional and Digital Writing.  

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

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Oakland University uses an early alert system called “Faculty Feedback” in all 1000- and 2000-level courses. The general purpose of any early alert system is to help instructors identify students at risk of failing their courses and to allow an efficient mechanism for the faculty member to follow up with each identified student. Currently, the OU Early Alert System consists of 5 separate student-focused goals and suggested strategies to achieve these goals (OU Early Alert System). The two major components of OU’s System are a mechanism for (a) faculty to identify students who exhibit behaviors associated with increased risk for failure and (b) an automated email system sending each identified student an email referring the student to advising and other support services available.

Timing of Early Feedback Matters

The OU Data Literacy Institute (DLI) studied aspects of faculty feedback and determined that the timing of communication and feedback is critical for student success and retention. The DLI data indicates the first two weeks may be a more/most critical period of time to reach out to students.  Since institutional alert systems often don’t open this early in the semester, I created a straightforward mechanism to identify at-risk students early on and to provide them feedback I named “Super Stat Feedback (SSF).  

SSF involves assigning a small stakes formal assessment (~10% of the total Exam points) within the first two weeks of class and using an established score cut-off of 75% to identify students who may be at-risk of not succeeding in my class. Using Moodle’s class roster, I select the students who scored below 75% on this first assessment and send them a ‘generic feedback’ message offering words of encouragement and reminding them of the various resources available to help them improve their grades. Most critically, I schedule the early assessment to close the evening before the tuition refund date and I send this feedback email to the selected students the morning of the last day for 100% refund.

How to Perform a Super Stat Feedback

To provide students with early academic success feedback beyond simple class attendance, a more formal assessment needed to be intentionally created and assigned within the first two weeks of the course. Below is an outline of this process for my BIO 2006 Clinical Anatomy & Physiology course I taught this past winter 2025 semester:

Making the Early Assessment

I assign a low-stakes online ‘exam’ that mostly covers material students have seen before. For BIO 2006, this exam includes chapter 1, chapter 2 (Chemistry), and chapter 3 (The Cell) which are full reviews of material covered in BIO 1200. I use the McGraw Hill Connect platform to create and assign the exam. The exam is composed of 30 questions randomly drawn from different sets of pooled questions covering the material. The question pools are large enough that the probability of two students taking the exam alongside each other and having the exact same sequence of 30 questions is quite unlikely.  This 30-point assessment represents 10% of the total Exam points available in the course.

Taking the Early Assessment

The online exam opens at the end of the first week of classes, and allows them a 6-day window within which they take the exam outside of class without proctoring. In lieu of proctoring, and to more accurately assess their current knowledge and understanding, the students are given one attempt with a 35-minute time limit. 

Reviewing Results for Prompt Follow-Up

After the exam closes, I scan the results to identify the students who scored below 75% and send them a batch email (see full message after the references). The easiest way to facilitate this is to open the full participants list of your course on Moodle and then check the empty box to the left of each of the student names you would like to send feedback to. Then at the bottom of the participants list page, where it says “With selected users. . .”, click on the drop down tap and select “send a message”. This is the first option in the list. For additional Moodle-based communication options such as Quickmail, check out the Moodle Help Library.

Conclusion

Although I developed and use the SSF system in my biology classes, this technique can be easily adapted to other classes, and to a wide range of potential assessment formats such as a short in-class quiz, short writing sample, or other appropriate assessment. The most crucial component of any early alert system is to provide students with actionable information in a timely manner, which allows students to make the best-informed decisions regarding their course loads, schedules, and work-life responsibilities. Since the timing of early feedback may directly impact our students’ success, every effort should be made by the University and by faculty to identify and notify at-risk students as early as possible. This Super Stat Feedback system provides students with pointed, content-based feedback regarding their potential success at a most critical time in the course.

References and Resources

Villano, R., Harrison, S., Lynch, G. Chen, G. “Linking early alert systems and student retention: a survival analysis approach”. Springer Nature 2018.

FACULTY FEEDBACK, STUDENT SUCCESS, OU DATA LITERACY INSTITUTE. August, 2022. Sarah Hosch, Sara Webb, Ngong Kodiah Beyeh, Tricia Westergaard, Amy Tully.

Email Script Example to Send Out to Students

“I am reaching out to you with some feedback on your current performance in BIO 2006.  I use the 30-point Connect quiz to be able to give students who may struggle with this class a little 'heads up'.  You are receiving this email because your score was below 75% - the threshold I have set. I provide early feedback in time so that students who are unsure about whether to continue in a particular class will have a bit more information to base any decision on. The official deadline for dropping a class this semester and receiving 100% of your money back is today (January 17th) at 4pm in-person or by email with the Registrar's office or 11:59pm for adjustments via SAIL.

I am not telling you to drop the class. Quite the opposite! I am saying you can succeed in this class but you will need to perhaps incorporate some new study methods and commit to putting in more effort and work to obtain the grade you desire in this class. And I am here to HELP!  Please do not hesitate to reach out to me, attend review sessions, set up an appointment, come to Student Hours, drop by the Bio Learning Lounge. . . there are a lot of ways to engage with the material.  So pick one or two new things to try and then put in some regular "practice" time.”

Jonathan

About the Author

Jonathan Yates is a Very Special Instructor in the Department of Biological Sciences and is the Director of the BIO Learning Lounge. His area of interest is the scholarship of teaching and learning with a focus on student success in large lecture class environments. Dr. Yates is also the Course coordinator for BIO 1200. Outside of the classroom, Dr. Yates can often be found playing golf at the OU courses, weather permitting!   

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

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This learning tip is written for a student audience. Adapt and share with your students ahead of common stress points or whenever works best.

There is no reason that any student should suffer alone, and I want them to know, both as president and as a physician, that we have help available for every single student.” - Ora Pescovitz, OU President

Research continually finds that certain conditions and behaviors are essential to learning, such as safety, sleep, peace, planning ahead, and a growth mindset. Make sure these conditions and behaviors are in place so that all of your studying and hard work pays off. This being said, you can’t work with completely depleted bandwidth. If you feel like some of these conditions are out of your control, take advantage of the support offered right here on campus.

Safety

We cannot focus on learning if our basic physical and emotional needs are not met. It can be a vicious cycle: If we are suffering physically or emotionally, we may not be able to pass our courses, which can cause financial hardship that worsens our problems. Oakland University is very aware of how physical and mental well-being are essential to being able to learn. If you or a fellow student carries the burden of a significant life issue (housing, food security, unhealthy relationships, illness, trauma), contact campus support to get assistance (listed below).

Sleep

More than just a wellness luxury, sleep plays an integral role in learning. It is difficult to overstate its power: by clearing toxins it literally solidifies the facts you memorized and applies what you have studied to other life contexts. In some ways, it does your homework for you, with no conscious effort on your part! If you are in a situation where you say you cannot get enough sleep, dig deeper: 

• Is sleep lost at the expense of less healthy habits, like TV or parties?
• Are other good but non-essential priorities overshadowing sleep? 
• Is sleep reduced for other life needs (child care, financial needs)? 

While there can be complicated issues surrounding lack of sleep, do everything in your capacity to get a solid night’s sleep every night, and consider other solutions to ensure you get this sleep. Naps can help compensate for getting less than seven hours at night, but nothing beats a good night’s sleep.

Peace, Not Anxiety

You may be sitting in your PSYC 1000 class trying to take notes, but if you are worried about something else, your notes might not make sense to you the next day. In short, anxiety blocks our brain from learning. Anxiety comes in different forms, such as something temporary around one situation (situational) or a heavy feeling that consumes most of your waking moments (chronic).

Test Jitters: Situational Anxiety

In her MOOC Learning How to Learn, OU professor Barbara Oakley addresses strategies for test-taking, specifically how to address this anxiety. While we usually can’t control our body’s reaction to stress, we can control what to do with stress. Instead of interpreting stress as fear of failure, interpret stress as the opportunity to do your best, to grow, and to achieve. This can also be distinguished as “good worry,” the type that drives motivation and focus, as opposed to “bad worry,” which only paralyzes action.

Chronic Anxiety

College life often brings swift and significant life changes, creating prime conditions for anxiety. Anxiety can creep into our lives as stress builds up from relationships, grades, and other responsibilities. If you find that your anxiety stays for long periods of time, regardless of whether you are in class or away from campus, call the Counseling Center to use one of your free visits--let a professional hear you out and provide some support.

Procrastination

Why do we procrastinate? It gives our brain a satisfaction “bump,” almost like a drug, because doing the task ahead makes us wince with pain. But procrastination ultimately leads to more stress, poorer performance, and inability to enjoy the learning experience you’re here for! Even if you manage to eek out a decent grade while procrastinating, the cramming required to procrastinate shows that you remember only a small fraction of what you learned, and what you remember is entirely random.

So how do you beat the bad habit? Think about the challenging work ahead in terms of process rather than product: Instead of telling yourself, “I have to sit down and write four pages,” try “I’ll work on this for 20 minutes.” This has been called the pomodoro technique, named after a “tomato” timer, which makes a dreaded task less daunting and tricks your brain into getting started. What’s likely to happen at the end of 20 minutes? You’re in the groove--no point in stopping now! OU professor Barbara Oakley talks about this strategy and more about procrastination in her fun videos on procrastination (available in her free MOOC on Learning How to Learn).

Failure and Growth Mindset

Failure--why the ugly word? Let’s put it this way: it’s important to get stuff wrong if you want to learn. You don’t have to fail a class, but learning requires trial and error, and a willingness to swing and miss. Learners have to check their understanding early and often if they want to know the material well enough to score high on the exam. This means you

• Ask and answer questions in class.
• Do the practice problems in your reading--don’t skip them! The act of reading might make you feel like you know it (called the illusion of competence), but you don’t know until you have to do something with what you have read.
• Go to supplemental instruction and other practice-based sessions offered with your class.
• Seek out practice exams and problems online related to what you are learning.
• Form a study group dedicated to testing your knowledge.

This does not require a lot of extra time! The key is in how you study and what it means to know the course material. It’s better to study for 75 minutes and have a solid understanding of the material instead of spending 40 minutes reading only to forget everything!

We might avoid challenging ourselves because failure is unpleasant. The power of failure depends on how you react to it. People with a growth mindset look at their ability as something that can be cultivated and expanded, while those with a fixed mindset concede that they can never get better. When a student gets a C on a math test, a growth mindset will determine how the next test can earn a B or A while a fixed mindset will make the student accept that they’re simply bad at math. A growth mindset will get you further than you can imagine!

OU Support

OU Resources for Student Immediate Needs. At any point you of those around you may find their basic needs access to food, shelter, and clothing, among others--strained if not depleted. This doc lists the range of support offered at OU. Not sure where to start? Your academic adviser and Dean of Students can point you in the right direction. Depending on your major, each school has advisers that help students. 

• Golden Grizzlies Pantry Community Resource Guide.
• OU Counseling Center (in Graham Health Building)  
• Counseling does not impact academic records
• Six counseling sessions are free to registered OU students
• Counseling is confidential
• Graham Health Center - medical assistance on OU campus
• Common Ground Crisis Center  
• Macomb County Crisis Center  
• Crittenton Medical Center 

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

About the Author

Christina Moore is the Associate Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and lecturer in Writing and Rhetoric. This semester she is teaching the University as Science Fiction for the Honors College.   Others may share and adapt under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC.

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