Low-Tech, High-Impact Teaching with Dr. Micah Oelze

For the past five years, Micah Oelze, PhD, Associate Professor of History in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been transforming Adelphi University classrooms into spaces of active learning and student engagement.

He focuses on ensuring that students learn by listening, thinking, participating and creating.

Dr. Oelze has formed a collaboration with Adelphi's Faculty Center for Professional Excellence (FCPE) that brings simple but effective tools into the classroom. Whiteboards, colorful butcher paper, a laminating machine and even a beach ball help students test their knowledge, share ideas and find their voice. These tools and methods-available in the Faculty Learning Commons (Alumnae Hall, Room 001) to all faculty-can be adapted across disciplines, from math problem-solving and chemistry diagrams to history timelines and primary source analysis.

Dr. Oelze's approach stands out for its blend of accessibility, creativity and practicality. Through color-coded document analysis, low-stakes knowledge checks and hands-on collaboration, he offers students multiple pathways into the material. His simple tools reinforce a powerful truth: students learn best when they are engaged and heard.

His goal is "to make sure that even as new technologies come out for the classroom, we don't abandon things that are low-tech, practical, and hands-on-approaches that keep the in-person learning space accessible, engaging, and participatory."