This week’s issue is curated by Zachary Adams. Zach is the Assistant Director, Center for Teaching and Learning and Instruction Specialist at Hope College.
Dear Colleagues: The NOTW is heading off for its summer break and will return in August. This semester, we moved to an every-other-week format with guest curators from across the GLCA. What did you think? Let me know! Wishing you all a joy filled summer!
Teaching & Learning
Bringing Learning to Life with ThingLink (Georgette Kluiters & Ally Fleischer, The Teaching Professor, April 13, 2026): ThingLink lets faculty turn static images, videos, and 360-degree media into interactive course materials with clickable hotspots for text, links, audio, and quizzes. Kluiters and Fleischer offer cross-disciplinary examples, making this a practical tool to explore before fall. Free account required to read.
Teaching Toward Slow Hope (John Warner, Inside Higher Ed, March 11, 2026): Warner interviews Douglas Haynes, whose new book connects place-based, community-rooted learning to a basic question prompted by pandemic-era burnout: What is college for?
Grading That Feels Good (Molly Gutilla, Alyson Huff, Mark Hussey & Jess Rushing, Grading for Growth, May 4, 2026): Four faculty ask whether alternative grading made them like their jobs more. Their answer is yes: specs-based and outcomes-based approaches reduced end-of-term stress, improved student relationships, and better aligned grading with their reasons for teaching. Published on the Grading for Growth Substack, edited by Robert Talbert and David Clark at Grand Valley State University.
Surviving Peak Higher Ed with Bryan Alexander (Derek Bruff, Intentional Teaching Podcast, May 5, 2026): Bryan Alexander joins Derek Bruff to discuss enrollment contraction, campus closures, faculty implications, and what AI may or may not change.
Why Civil Discourse Powers New Levels of Engagement (Alcino Donadel, University Business, May 13, 2026): Pandemic-era students often arrive on campus without practice navigating disagreement. This piece profiles institutions using structured civil dialogue programs to rebuild those skills in low-stakes settings, with benefits that extend well beyond the political into critical thinking, communication, and career readiness.
Tech-ish
Maintaining Academic Integrity in the Age of AI (Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Kansas): A free faculty resource with syllabus language, policy frameworks, and guidance for student conversations about generative AI. Useful as a working document for fall course prep.
2026 Student Guide to Artificial Intelligence: Human Wisdom for the Age of AI (Elon University, AAC&U & The Princeton Review, 2026): This free guide helps students build human capabilities that remain essential in an AI-rich world: curiosity, critical thinking, creativity, ethical reasoning, and relational skills. Institutions may share, distribute, and adapt it under a Creative Commons license.
Book Recommendation
Purpose and Joy: Pursuing a Meaningful Career in Christian Higher Education (Dr. Elisabeth E. Lefebvre & Dr. Kristin VanEyk, ACU Press, June 2, 2026): Essays by and for faculty navigating promotion, leadership, research, sabbath rest, and vocation in Christian higher education. GLCA connection: co-author Kristin VanEyk is Assistant Professor of English Education at Hope College. Pre-order now; releases June 2.
Editor: Colleen Monahan Smith, GLCA, [email protected]