One of the most challenging aspects of education is getting our students to use prior knowledge and to connect that with the new information we are trying to teach them. It seems as if students walk into each class and compartmentalize it in their brain, often, it feels as if they do this for each […]
“I miss getting to really know my students. It’s just not the same.” “There’s no way of knowing who is on the other side of the screen.” Sound familiar? If so then you aren’t alone. Not only do some instructors feel this way about online learning, but students do as well. Often they feel isolated, […]
Many of us arrive to our classrooms without time to spare. We then concentrate on taking attendance, turning on the computer and projector, or reviewing our lecture notes. Meanwhile, our students sit silently, gazing at their phones. We may not consider the minutes before class begins as consequential, but they offer a fertile opportunity to get […]
Starting a new semester can be daunting but let us help you with our Start of Semester Checklist! This checklist gives you a list view of important tasks to complete to make sure your semester starts off smoothly, it also tells you how to complete most tasks. Some of the tasks and include: Verifying your course shell […]
I am a huge fan of Microsoft Excel. It’s my second favorite application, after Photoshop. However, I’ve been attempting to move all of my work to Google Apps for Education and I felt like Google Sheets was just not as robust a program as Excel. That being said, I’ve been working with Sheets exclusively for several […]
Last week, I was commiserating with an instructor about her struggle to engage students in discussion during class. “Sometimes it’s like talking to a brick wall,” she lamented. Facilitating lively conversations that require students to apply, synthesize, and evaluate their knowledge is one of the most challenging aspects of teaching. Even the most brilliant lecturer […]
There are many ways in which faculty can extend the classroom conversation online; OAKS Discussion board, VoiceThread, and blogs to name a few. However, there is an art to getting students to actually think critically and discuss thoughtfully in an online environment. The document below outlines a few tips to help you get more out of […]
As instructors, we try to anticipate problems and challenges that may come up in our courses. One thing we sometimes forget to plan for is weather and natural disasters. Do your students know what is expected of them in a situation when class must be cancelled? Of course it is impossible to predict whether our […]
What are instructors spending time on? Below are the five most mentioned teaching behaviors identified in the research and from the feedback of online instructors. The ranking begins with the teaching activity that involved the highest time commitment, and descends from there. This is not a scientific analysis, but I included the list to provide […]
We have reached that glorious time of year when students are starting to plan for the future (i.e. – register for Fall semester). As we wrap up the current academic year, you may start thinking about the future yourself. What courses will I be teaching next year? How will I do that? What assessments am […]
