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Tuesday Tips

A refined watercolor portrait of a smiling woman with layered short blonde hair, glasses, a bright pink top, and a black cardigan. She is writing in a small spiral notebook with a black pen. The background features neat, colorful doodles representing tips and ideas: a calendar, a checked checklist, sticky notes, a steaming cup of coffee, lightbulbs, coins, a small plant, and stars.

Meet Dr. Ann McCoy!

The creative mind behind our weekly Tuesday Tips!

With a career in education spanning more than four decades, Ann brings a wealth of experience as a classroom teacher, mathematics educator, faculty member, and academic leader. Since joining UCM in 2006, she has served in a variety of roles, including Chair of the School of Teaching and Learning, Associate Dean, Dean of the College of Education, and currently Interim Vice Provost of Academic Programs & Graduate Studies.


Each week, Ann draws on her years of teaching and leadership experience to share a practical Tuesday Tip designed to support UCM faculty. Whether it’s a simple teaching strategy, a fresh way to engage students, or a reminder that small changes can make a big difference, her goal is to offer ideas that are easy to use and meaningful for both faculty and students.

We hope you’ll make Tuesday Tips part of your week and find a few ideas along the way that inspire your teaching!


 

September 8, 2026

Good morning!

Last week, we shared a bit about the importance of building community in the university classroom. Today we would like to focus on one aspect of community - peer-to-peer connection. 

Peer-to-peer connection and interaction in the classroom helps to transform passive listeners into active participation in the learning process. The benefits of peer-to-peer collaboration include:

  • Deeper comprehension of subject matter: Explaining concepts to a classmate reinforces knowledge and reveals gaps in understanding.
  • Exposure to cognitive diversity: Collaboration introduces new perspectives on course material.
  • Increased confidence: Collaboration builds the feeling of safety needed to speak up or take an academic risk.
  • Enhanced communication skills: Small group discussions help students articulate ideas clearly and listen critically. 

Our UCM The Teaching Toolkit shares some ways to foster peer-to-peer connection. First, have students work in recurring pairs or trios for brief learning tasks such as comparing a solution, identifying a reading takeaway, testing an explanation, or naming one question before returning to the whole group. You may choose to ask students to share a study strategy, a confusing concept, a project idea, or a question they expect on the exam with a partner. 

You may also want to consider forming study groups for the first few weeks of the semester to help students feel supported on assignments and projects. The informal relationships you facilitate initially may lead to self-organized study groups and friendships as the semester progresses.

Finally, this includes some additional ideas for enhancing peer interaction in your classroom.

Have a great week!

September 1, 2026

Good morning and happy September!

The term community is used in many contexts but can generally be described as a supportive group in which members have common interests or goals, and feel a sense of belonging. Community building in university classrooms is essential to active student engagement - regardless of course modality. Research has shown developing community in the classroom also leads to greater active participation in dialogue and reflection, and an increase in students taking ownership and responsibility for their learning (Baker, 2010; Berry, 2019; Brown, 2001; Bush et al. 2010; Cowan, 2012; Lohr & Haley, 2018; Sadera et al., 2009). Columbia University’s provides additional information about the idea of community in the university classroom.  

Our UCM The Teaching Toolkit (located on Brightspace and on the DLII website) has a section on Building Community with many easily implemented ideas for you to use. Be sure to take a look! In addition, Faculty Focus, a division of Magna Publications, lists the 15 ideas below for the first five minutes of class to help build community. Intrigued? Here is the to learn more!

  • Play some music
  • Greet students as they walk in
  • Move the tables and chairs into something other than rows
  • Start with epiphanies
  • Use entry tickets
  • One quote: Five minutes of reflection and discussion
  • Quickly create and share something
  • Remember those current events
  • Bring something important
  • Journaling
  • Say hi to a neighbor
  • Celebrate a success
  • Taking the temperature
  • Mindfulness activities
  • The classic overview

Have a great week!

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