Center for Teaching & Learning

Instructional scaffolding provides students with supports to facilitate more advanced mastery and skill development. Effective scaffolding also includes the gradual reduction in supports as students become increasingly independent in their learning. In this session, we will discuss strategies for implementing scaffolding to help students achieve course learning goals. Topics will include potential benefits of scaffolding, common challenges and pitfalls of scaffolding, and strategies for addressing these challenges. Although we will focus on scaffolding in writing assignments, we will also discuss how these principles can be used in other types of assignments and course activities. This workshop is especially well-suited for faculty who are teaching new courses or revising course assignments to increase student learning, as the workshop will include time for course-specific consultations.

Facilitated by Annie Murray-Close (Psychological Science) and Nicole Phelps (History).