eSchool News

APRIL 23, 2020

Most teachers don’t have prior experience or professional development in teaching online courses effectively. Related post: Leading eLearning and a Future Ready library opportunity.

eLearning

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 9, 2024

Reflecting on our approach to course design—particularly with attention to how we build community and cultivate belonging—couldn’t come at a more crucial time. Intentional course design, it turns out, emphasizes many of the very same things that support student well-being (Slavin, Schindler, & Chibnall, 2014).

Course Design

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 29, 2024

The Assignment: Exploring Leadership Through Superheroes In this assignment, students are asked to compare five leadership styles—autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire (sometimes called free-rein style), transactional, and transformational—with the leadership qualities of at least three superheroes.

Assignments

Faculty Focus

MARCH 18, 2025

While many of our conversations have focused on what generative AI means for student assignments and learning outcomes, there’s another question faculty are askingoften individually and quietly: How can we leverage AI in our own academic and administrative work? Then, share the assignment prompt. And more importantly, should we?

Assignments

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 29, 2024

The Assignment: Exploring Leadership Through Superheroes In this assignment, students are asked to compare five leadership styles—autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire (sometimes called free-rein style), transactional, and transformational—with the leadership qualities of at least three superheroes.

Assignments

Faculty Focus

MARCH 18, 2025

While many of our conversations have focused on what generative AI means for student assignments and learning outcomes, there’s another question faculty are askingoften individually and quietly: How can we leverage AI in our own academic and administrative work? Then, share the assignment prompt. And more importantly, should we?

Assignments

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 1, 2017

An online discussion platform called Piazza has taken off among faculty at the University of California at Berkeley in recent years. Professors can easily integrate the platform into an LMS, allow students to engage with one another and course material online, and faculty see data on how student are learning. But there’s a catch.

Discussions

Edsurge

APRIL 26, 2018

On Tuesday, April 24 the #DLNchat community got together to discuss and debate: How Can Alternative Assignments Effectively Assess Student Learning? But why, then, do so many courses still rely on exams? Digital tools used for assessment can also increase access and support collaborative assignments. Cali Morrison, Ed.D.

Assignments

Edsurge

APRIL 8, 2020

The instructor can lecture and students can ask questions, or the instructor can lead a live discussion. She’s also the author of the book “ The Perfect Blend: A Practical Guide to Designing Student-Centered Learning Experiences ,” published by ISTE, EdSurge’s parent organization. Everyone sends in their reply by a set deadline.

Teaching

Edsurge

MAY 6, 2020

Recent class discussions have focused on the difficulties of getting through to students without in-person contact, especially during a time of enormous stress. Being an engaged teacher online means being visible in the class, whether that’s through discussion posts, announcements or assignment feedback.

Motivation

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 22, 2017

But Chatterjee, an international student from India, did not feel confident about the assignment, and thought it was Western-centric and focused on physical powers associated with attractive males. Based on that feedback, the professor, Julia Parra, says she changed the assignment to make it broader, and more inclusive.

Culture

Edsurge

MARCH 7, 2024

That’s an approach that’s grown over the past decade or so where colleges try to harness the digital breadcrumbs left by students as they move through digital platforms and online course materials to find patterns that can improve course design and even personalize material for individual students. “AI

Intelligence

Faculty Focus

JUNE 2, 2024

Most of our grade was supposed to come from a single class project, but no assignment instructions were ever posted. But what about this assignment that was worth so much of our grade? When students know the purpose of the work they’re being asked to do, they have greater buy-in than if they see the assignment as mere “busy work.”

Syllabus

Edsurge

JANUARY 2, 2019

In addition to using technology in my own biology courses, I also work with faculty across the country on how to teach with technology through an inclusive lens. In my experience, graduate training in STEM tends to lack any discussion of this. Provide opportunities for students to reflect. Leverage partners.

Technology

Faculty Focus

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

By informal, I mean posting a short video inviting them to participate in a discussion forum, journal entry, or an anonymous online poll. My rationale here is to not make it a mandatory assignment, but an extra credit opportunity to know more about their current learning experiences. Adding small activities for engagement.

Student Engagement

Faculty Focus

APRIL 18, 2023

I support both groups by engaging the synchronous students in activities and discussions during our time together and posting a recording of the session for those who do not attend. All sections of bi-modal courses receive a copy over of the asynchronous LMS master course. Every educator has the same course design and materials.

Exams

Faculty Focus

MAY 7, 2024

With a commitment to ensuring educational excellence and student success, in 2020, UF CJC Online developed a comprehensive course design strategy to elevate its online courses, a mission mandated by the State University System of Florida’s 2025 Strategic Plan for Online Education.

Feedback

Faculty Focus

NOVEMBER 27, 2022

2011) into all parts of our courses (see Saucier et al., 2022 for a discussion of the empathetic course design perspective). This ranges from our syllabi to our course structures and policies, to our assignments and assessments. This empathetic course design perspective is important to us.

Course Design

Faculty Focus

MAY 7, 2024

With a commitment to ensuring educational excellence and student success, in 2020, UF CJC Online developed a comprehensive course design strategy to elevate its online courses, a mission mandated by the State University System of Florida’s 2025 Strategic Plan for Online Education.

Feedback

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 21, 2025

Trusting students does not mean ignoring accountability; it means designing courses, policies, and practices that build their confidence and skills while treating them as equal partners in their education. Transparent policies: Clearly outline expectations while building flexibility. 2014; Agarwal, 2019).

Plagiarism

Faculty Focus

JUNE 2, 2024

Most of our grade was supposed to come from a single class project, but no assignment instructions were ever posted. But what about this assignment that was worth so much of our grade? When students know the purpose of the work they’re being asked to do, they have greater buy-in than if they see the assignment as mere “busy work.”

Syllabus

Faculty Focus

APRIL 18, 2023

I support both groups by engaging the synchronous students in activities and discussions during our time together and posting a recording of the session for those who do not attend. All sections of bi-modal courses receive a copy over of the asynchronous LMS master course. Every educator has the same course design and materials.

Exams

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 21, 2024

Flexible policies such as dropping the lowest quiz/assignment score and offering one free pass for a “no-questions-asked” due-date extension can reduce anxiety and logistical rigor. This type of intellectual rigor is desirable in course design. I often embed study and time management strategies into the curriculum.

Syllabus

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 13, 2024

In a recent survey, undergraduate students reported several concerns around Canvas use, including: Too much variability and lack of consistency across instructors and courses – all faculty use it differently which leads to challenges in finding information, resources, assignments, etc. So how do we begin to address these concerns?

Syllabus

Faculty Focus

MAY 30, 2023

To counter this, I offer an alternative approach: integrating student choice into course assignments. Assignment structure In an online general psychology course, I experimented with an alternative assignment structure that centered around student choice. Outcome The results were compelling.

Student Engagement

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

University of Michigan marketing professor John Branch rebuilds the learning experience by taking a precision engineering approach to course design. Source: Course Hero. He engineers every aspect of his courses, down to which students he’ll shoot the breeze with before class. Why did it fail?

Quizzes

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 9, 2025

When our students overcome obstacles in their learning due to our support and encouragement, or experience transformations from our well-constructed course design and subsequent instruction, we succeed in cultivating spaces where their success is made possible. Student success is teacher success.

Students

Faculty Focus

APRIL 16, 2023

Educators are available to students and are responsible for designing bi-modal content. Content should incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and offer choices to students. IT-ready classrooms may not be available for all courses. These are not challenges associated with online courses. Daunting for educators.

Learning

Faculty Focus

MARCH 19, 2023

The Business Education Design Thinking Instructional Model (Wickam et al., For example, written papers and class discussion are assignments that can be used to aid students in reflecting on each stage of the design thinking process (Clark & Brennan, 1991; Grandzol & Grandzol, 2006; Wickam et al.,

Course Design

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 12, 2025

When completing assignments or preparing for tests, there is a concern that they might be “faking it until they make it.” For instance, is there a quiet student who excels in written assignments but struggles with a course outcome tied to public speaking?

Learning

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 13, 2024

In a recent survey, undergraduate students reported several concerns around Canvas use, including: Too much variability and lack of consistency across instructors and courses – all faculty use it differently which leads to challenges in finding information, resources, assignments, etc. So how do we begin to address these concerns?

Syllabus

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 9, 2025

When our students overcome obstacles in their learning due to our support and encouragement, or experience transformations from our well-constructed course design and subsequent instruction, we succeed in cultivating spaces where their success is made possible. Student success is teacher success.

Students

Faculty Focus

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

By informal, I mean posting a short video inviting them to participate in a discussion forum, journal entry, or an anonymous online poll. My rationale here is to not make it a mandatory assignment, but an extra credit opportunity to know more about their current learning experiences. Adding small activities for engagement.

Student Engagement

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 18, 2024

In preparing that first course, I focused on what I thought were the essentials of teaching: finalizing the syllabus, picking the readings, and writing the assignments. You could also integrate videos or podcasts into your course materials, in addition to assigning readings. Encourage student participation.

Teaching

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 8, 2023

I’ve seen it create (in a flash) movie scripts and comic strips, sonnets and grant proposals, graduate course syllabi and lessons. We’d have loads of discussions on what constitutes ethical use of AI in this brave new world and ethics in general. It can execute math problems, showing all its work with written explanations.

Metacognitive Skills

Faculty Focus

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

What would happen if we connected our courses? Over coffee, we met several times and came up with a list of shared activities and projects, ranging from a student-created pop-up exhibition to a discussion panel on harm reduction that would bring university faculty and staff together with front-line public health workers.

Interdisciplinary

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 27, 2024

Be Present Being present in your online course goes beyond delivering the curriculum and providing assignment feedback. Provide options such as virtual meeting links for office hours and a discussion board for questions. It is an ongoing process that fosters a sense of connection and builds trust.

Instructors