Frequently we spend our time giving students information and ask for them to give it back in some form on an exam or paper. What if we think about learning differently? For students to think deeper, assignments and learning tasks must be facilitated with learning supports, tools, and resources to help them along the way.  

Ken Bain, in his 2004 book What the Best College Teachers Do, helps us see how we can encourage deeper learning in our students. He interviewed more than 100 faculty who had been deemed to be the "best" in some way. Here's what they said: 

The best faculty:

• understand how students learn.
• understand that students use their current knowledge to construct their own meaning.
• understand that change is slow, and that sometimes learners must face an uncomfortable situation.
• foster intrinsic motivation.
• build confidence, not competition.
• ask questions and provide problems to solve that students care about. 

1. Make content relevant.
   Making content relevant keeps students' interest and helps them make connections to what they already know. Let them choose the topics they study and the products they create. Ask students to create the guidelines for projects or facilitate discussions. Use current events, current references and current entertainment sources to inform your teaching. 
    
2. Give them choices.
   Giving students autonomy and choices can give students motivation, ownership, comfort, different viewpoints, early success and a way to explore their own interests. Let them choose their own sources to read or watch. Allow them to create timelines, mind maps, posters, podcasts, web pages, videos or games instead of writing a paper.
    
3. Ask messy questions.
   Frame all assignments around questions. Encourage students to explore course questions on social media by asking their friends and family what they think. Allow students to explore the big questions in your field.
    
4. Force reflective writing.
   Reflective writing forces students to think more deeply about an issue or assigned topic. Require a journal and provide thought-provoking writing prompts. Provide questions for further thought and discussion outside of your course. Assign short writing reflections throughout your course and ask students to pair with another class member to discuss. Provide opportunities for students to discuss their reflections in small groups.
    
5. Share your story.
   When you share bits about yourself with your students, you show them that it's okay for them to be who they are and that they belong. Tell them about your professional journey and talk about your failures. Tell them how your own thought processes have changed as you've learned more about a topic.
    
6. Tell them why.
   Knowing why makes it easier for students to connect the dots. Tell them how they will use this new information in the future. Talk about your learning outcomes. Connect everything in your course to real life examples and current events.