Teaching is a profession that has few concrete and immutable truths. Each group of students will have its own personality and its own needs. As an instructor, you should always be willing to adapt as needed to meet the goals of your course. Always keep in mind the most important goal of the profession of teaching: the education of the students. Facilitating the development of well-informed critical thinkers is the ideal role of an instructor, and you should never cease aiming for this goal. This tutorial has hopefully provided a useful starting point or refresher, but it should by no means be considered conclusive. Remember that you, as an instructor, should always also be a learner. 

To end, take a moment to listen to some reflections by long-time teachers.

• How can you best determine if your students are learning what you want them to learn? If there is a gap between your expectations and student achievement, how can you determine where and why deviations occurred? How can you adjust your course for future students or even the next part of the current semester?
  • For some helpful information about these topics, visit the Center for Teaching and Learning's Are You a Reflective Practitioner tutorial.
• What are the differences between fully online courses and face-to-face instruction? What are the benefits of each? What is lost in each? How can you mitigate the negative aspects of each type of course instruction? Alternatively, can you craft an online course that delivers the communal aspects of in-class teaching?
  • CTL has a number of tutorials that can help answer these questions and help you develop effective online courses: Instructional Design for Elearning, Getting Started Online, and Active Learning in an Online Environment
• How can you expand student learning beyond the classroom? Can you add practical and active applications of the content to your course? 
• For more information about learning outside of the classroom, take a look at the Service-Learning tutorial