Teaching Resources

Looking for resources to improve your class? MTEI offers assistance with forming student groups in courses. We also can provide information and pointers for course design and planning, exams and grading, course syllabi, and Academic Integrity. We even have a lending library of books on teaching.

Group Work

Group work can be tricky to implement. How do students form groups? How do they hold each other accountable? Here are two tools that help:

MTEI supports GroupEng, a free open-source software tool for assigning students to groups for projects or assignments. It was written specifically to help instructors follow education research guidelines for improving student, and especially minority, performance in group project based classwork. It allows instructors to think at an abstract level about what properties they want student groups to have; GroupEng handles the details of optimizing the groups to meet those criteria. Contact Kathy Dimiduk for assistance with running GroupEng.
CATME is a research-based web tool for group formation and peer assessment. It is not free.

Information and links:

See the “Course Design and Planning” directory of our Box folder, which includes slides from an MTEI workshop on this topic, a design worksheet, a planning spreadsheet, and advice on textbook selection.
SDS has recommendations to make courses accessible to all learners through Universal Design for Learning.
The Cornell Academic Calendar, Cornell Registrar Key Academic Dates (which has more information than the Academic Calendar), and Engineering Registrar Dates and Deadlines (which adds college-specific information) are useful for course planning.

Information and links:

The Registrar publishes information about prelims and finals and final exam policies. Exam calendars, once published, can be found in the drop-down menu at the top of this page.
The Cornell Faculty Handbook contains policies on prelims and on finals.
The Registrar maintains this page about how and when to enter final grades in Faculty Center. Grade corrections can later be made in OLGAA. Your department course coordinator can also help you.
The Cornell University Grading System describes the grades in use at Cornell and their meaning.
The Registrar states a policy about using the grade of Incomplete (INC). In summary, students must have substantial passing equity, and be prevented from completing by circumstances beyond their control.
See the “Course Design and Planning” directory of our Box folder, which includes a document with tips on writing exams.

Information and links:

CTI has recommendations for writing syllabi, include a syllabus template resource in Canvas that indicates some syllabus requirements mandated by NYSED.
SDS recommends a statement about accommodations for inclusion in your syllabus.
Student attendance is mentioned in the Faculty Handbook. Accommodations for attendance are mentioned in the Handbook and on the SDS website.
Faculty absences are governed by policy in the Faculty Handbook.
See the “Syllabus” directory of our Box folder, which includes a document with tips on writing your syllabus, some papers about syllabus writing, and some example Cornell syllabi.

Information and links:

The Dean of Faculty website maintains the official policies on Academic Integrity at Cornell. Instructors should familiarize themselves with these guidelines on Primary Hearings, penalties, and appeals.
See the “Syllabus” directory of our Box folder, which includes a document with tips on writing an Academic Integrity statement in your syllabus.
In light of changes to the academic environment with the advent of broadly available Generative Artificial Intelligence, the Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs put together some additional advice about how to reduce academic integrity issues, and how to address issues when they arise.

MTEI has a library of books on teaching that faculty can borrow. See the “Lending Library” directory of our Box folder.