Finishing Your Course on a High Note

Originally published March 27, 2026

Reflecting on the Term

It’s the end of March.

Despite spring’s arrival, it’s still dark and cold, everyone is feeling a bit worn (and maybe a bit grumpy), and winter semester feels like it’s dragging on. Student attendance may be getting patchy, even as we try to bring it all together for success on final assessments. It’s in this context that we’re wondering, how might we end our courses with some of that impactful energy that we started the term with? How might we exhale rather than sigh? At this point in term, we can look for insights in the cycle of reflection. As Regan Garung notes, “[e]ndings are the best time to set the stage for better next beginnings.”

To set the stage for your ‘next beginning’, TEI has gathered together a few tips and ideas for finishing the term with purposeful learning for both students and instructors, threading in along the way some wisdom from teaching award winners drawn from our Teaching Excellence Conversation Series.

Don’t Try to Cram In the Material

“Always teach from the viewpoint of being a student, not how to get the material out there, what facts you need to present.”

- Max Gwynn, Psychology, 2024 Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award recipient

Perhaps you didn’t quite get through all of the content you had planned for the course and now you have only a few lectures left. If you have fallen behind, trying to cram in all that is left can be stressful for both instructor and students – and students aren’t likely to be able to take it all in. Garung advises that instructors, “[b]e judicious and make the call on what material you can leave out. Your students will probably remember what you DO cover better.” Use this opportunity to reflect on what is essential learning for this course in the program path and evaluate where changes might be made for the next offering.

Encourage Students to Reflect

“Give [students] opportunities to make the connections within the class itself, rather than [them] trying to piece it together outside of the classroom.”

- Sara Klinck, Music Therapy, 2023 Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award recipient

We start the term by laying out for students the aims of the course. Reflections at the end of term help create a ‘bookend’ for the course, encouraging students to see the bigger picture after 12 weeks of classes and consolidate their learning. A few exercises to encourage student reflection:

In groups, ask students to create Mind Maps of the content they learned in the course. They will start by identifying the central theme of the course (they can be cued to look back at their notes from the first classes). This is the “node” of the map, and from there they work outward to create “branches” in all directions composed of concepts, categories, keywords, phrases, and facts. These mind maps can be shared with the class, to ensure that key messages are highlighted and misperceptions corrected. A ‘Gallery Walk’ works the same way.
Students can engage in a "3-2-1" exercise: (3 things learned, 2 interesting facts, 1 question remaining). Students’ questions can be shared and addressed with the whole class. Instructors can collect responses via cue cards, a MyLS survey or live through Microsoft Forms.

Involve the Students in your Future Planning

“So I say [to students]: You can impact right now. Every section coming through here is different. So tell me, what do you want to see more of, less of, what can I improve on?”

– Steve Risavy, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, 2025 Sustained Excellence in Teaching recipient

There is perhaps nothing more engaging and empowering for students than asking their advice on what went well and what could be done better next time. Some ideas include:

Have current students write a letter to future students with advice for next semester's class, which helps them synthesize their experience and provides useful tips for the instructor.
MaryBeth White, 2024 Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award recipient, encourages students to ‘Vote the Book off the Island’ at the end of the term, where students choose which of the required books/articles they found less engaging or helpful to their learning.
Jonathan Finn, recipient of the 2023 Innovation in Teaching Award, administers an additional evaluation (at the same time as the institutional evaluation) which asks two questions: “list three things you would change about the course”; and “list three things you would not change about the course.” An additional space for comments is also provided.

Leave Students Inspired

“I want you to lean into your strengths […] not just fit this mold of what has to be.”

– Lisa Kuron, 2025 Leo Groarke Award recipient

A few ideas for highlighting the relevance and value of the course to students’ academic, career, or civic development:

Students can be asked to discuss how course skills apply to future careers, community involvement, or academic research. Future iterations of the course can formalize this practice through integration of Career-integrated Learning which links course exercises and assessments with career competencies. As 2023 Hoffman-Little Award recipient Hind Al-Abadleh shared:

“If we have talented [students] that have hidden potential [...] and we missed them because we did not pursue, and this talent was not polished, that's a loss to society.”

Ask students to identify their “fireworks” (their moments of joy and learning). This is both an opportunity to enhance your own joy by recognizing your impact on students and as an opportunity to better understand your teaching effectiveness beyond what appears in assessments.
Invite or share stories of former students who recognize the value of this course in their own professional or personal development. If you haven’t already, consider sharing your experience of this subject as a student and its meaning within your own learning journey and professional trajectory. 2025 Innovation in Teaching Award recipient Christos Shiamptanis invites alumni into his class for students’ final presentations to support the relevance of their work: “You need [students] to be able to practice giving presentations, thinking on their toes, defending their answers and their recommendation in front of [the alumni] experts in the field."

Notations for Next Time

“You could do something for a few years and it's a grand success. And then you try it again in the next year. It's not. Because successive cohorts are very different. […] And so then we kind of have to adjust on the fly.”

– Tracy Snoddon, Economics, 2023 Sustained Excellence in Teaching recipient

How many times are we partway through our course, thinking “I need to change this exercise/lecture/assessment/engagement activity before the next iteration.” Before you transition into the Sprummer period, set aside time to assess how you thought the course went.

Loleen Berdahl, a national 3M Teaching Fellow, recommends, “taking 15-30 minutes for each course you taught in last term – to take stock of how things went and to make some notes for the next time you teach the class,” even if its “the last thing you want to do right now.” She suggests a structured and timed review, setting a stopwatch so that you are focused on top-level reflections only:

Review the syllabus: Did the course materials and assessments meet the course learning outcomes?
Record your feelings: How did you feel about the course during the term and how to you feel now that it is over?
Evaluate: What went well for you and your students? What challenges did you and the students face? (schedule, assessments, workload)
Analysis: How to tighten the fit between course learning outcomes and assessments? How to address challenges?
Action Plan: What do you want to keep for next time? What do you want to change?

Continuously revising our courses is a normal part of the teaching cycle; if instructors are teaching the students in front of them (rather than covering content), there will always be some differences in effectiveness and impact year-over-year.

Be Kind to Yourself

“Over the years, each time you teach a course, you’ll know what works and what doesn’t work. It’s not something that you have to get 100% right the first time.”

– Max Gwynn, Psychology, 2024 Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award Recipient

Finally, end-of-term is not the time for self-criticism, even if things did not go as planned when you are trying something for the first time (or the second or even the third time 😊). Keep iterating, collect feedback from students (but maybe wait a little to review it), capture your reflections and notes at the end of term to review alongside student feedback. And share your reflections with colleagues and the educational developers on the TEI team for continued support and ideas!

Inspiring Conversations about Teaching

All of these Laurier award winners’ quotes were drawn from our Teaching Excellence Conversation Series which features award-winning faculty discussing innovative and inclusive approaches to teaching, mentorship, student-centred learning, and the future of higher education. We invite you to explore the series to find more approaches, ideas and inspiration you can draw into your own teaching.