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 122

Syllabus Instructors Assignments Faculty Development 122

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 111

Feedback Course Design Instructors Education 111

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 107

Learning Evaluation Students Course Design 107

Faculty Focus

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

In higher education, there has been an over-reliance on administering summative assessments and simply assigning student grades, often with minimal to no feedback provided prior to the conclusion of the course. Providing student feedback on an assessment, or any assignment, provides extensive value.

Fairness 122

Fairness Instructors Feedback Evaluation 122

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 105

Syllabus Instructors Assignments Faculty Development 105

Faculty Focus

SEPTEMBER 24, 2023

Oftentimes, putting a brick-and-mortar course online begins by preserving the readings and assessments, and then considering adaptations to replace all or some of the “live” elements of interactive lectures. This requires considerable planning and development since most students may come to the course with little relevant experience.

Lecturing 126

Lecturing Feedback Evaluation Course Design 126

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 122

Students Motivation Feedback Communication 122

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 27, 2024

Be Present Being present in your online course goes beyond delivering the curriculum and providing assignment feedback. Let students know when they may expect announcements, feedback on assignments (along with where to access them), and office hours. It is an ongoing process that fosters a sense of connection and builds trust.

Instructors 116

Instructors Students Minute Papers Course Design 116

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 101

Learning Evaluation Students Course Design 101

Faculty Focus

FEBRUARY 11, 2024

This faculty member may give exams and may collect student artifacts, such as projects or papers, but the faculty really doesn’t connect student performance with the course design or classroom experience. During one particular total football practice, Ted assigns each player the name of another player.

Feedback 126

Feedback Course Design Assignments Evaluation 126

Faculty Focus

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

In higher education, there has been an over-reliance on administering summative assessments and simply assigning student grades, often with minimal to no feedback provided prior to the conclusion of the course. Providing student feedback on an assessment, or any assignment, provides extensive value.

Fairness 111

Fairness Instructors Feedback Evaluation 111

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. Lastly, we map the various due dates onto a calendar.

Syllabus 132

Syllabus Exams Students Motivation 132

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 27, 2024

Be Present Being present in your online course goes beyond delivering the curriculum and providing assignment feedback. Let students know when they may expect announcements, feedback on assignments (along with where to access them), and office hours. It is an ongoing process that fosters a sense of connection and builds trust.

Instructors 105

Instructors Students Minute Papers Course Design 105

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 111

Students Motivation Feedback Communication 111

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 98

Student Engagement Assignments Instructors Students 98

Faculty Focus

JULY 4, 2023

In 2005, Marks, Sibley, and Arbaugh published a study to evaluate the impacts of all three forms of course interaction through a student survey. Chang and Smith (2008) studied student engagement in a computer science course, again through a student survey. The article has been cited 268 times.

Exams 116

Exams Students Instructors Evaluation 116

Faculty Focus

SEPTEMBER 24, 2023

Oftentimes, putting a brick-and-mortar course online begins by preserving the readings and assessments, and then considering adaptations to replace all or some of the “live” elements of interactive lectures. This requires considerable planning and development since most students may come to the course with little relevant experience.

Lecturing 109

Lecturing Feedback Evaluation Course Design 109

Faculty Focus

FEBRUARY 11, 2024

This faculty member may give exams and may collect student artifacts, such as projects or papers, but the faculty really doesn’t connect student performance with the course design or classroom experience. During one particular total football practice, Ted assigns each player the name of another player.

Feedback 111

Feedback Course Design Assignments Evaluation 111

Faculty Focus

JUNE 16, 2024

This requires thoroughly self-examining personally held biases and evaluating our social connectedness (Dewsbury & Brame, 2019). In the design stage, the educator will need to organize the information gathered from the research and decide on the focus of the education.

Learning 111

Learning Universal Design Course Design Fairness 111

Faculty Focus

JUNE 16, 2024

This requires thoroughly self-examining personally held biases and evaluating our social connectedness (Dewsbury & Brame, 2019). In the design stage, the educator will need to organize the information gathered from the research and decide on the focus of the education.

Learning 111

Learning Universal Design Course Design Fairness 111

Faculty Focus

JULY 7, 2024

This requires thoroughly self-examining personally held biases and evaluating our social connectedness (Dewsbury & Brame, 2019). Empathy – The educator will want to research students’ needs through a student-centered approach. Prototype –The educator will develop a plan for the content and the environment in which it will be taught.

Learning 111

Learning Universal Design Course Design Fairness 111

eSchool News

JULY 26, 2016

The program used Brightspace to deliver blended learning courses designed with experiential learning elements that allowed them to be offered with significant cost savings. The University of Akron launched the GenEd Core Pilot Program in Fall 2015 to help increase access to higher education.

Online Learning 133

Online Learning Quizzes eLearning Learning 133

Faculty Focus

JUNE 25, 2023

Later in life, after nearly three decades of teaching in higher education and serving my division as chair, which included professor evaluations, I came to believe that there were essentially two types of professors: ones who taught their discipline to students and ones who taught students their discipline. table of contents) in the text(s).

Coaching 105

Coaching Syllabus Confidentiality Assignments 105

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 5, 2025

In essence, an instructional designer leverages technology by marrying pedagogy and practice with selective and useful innovations. Technology is not always the answer, and the ID must evaluate each innovation thoroughly before implementation. The word selective is important. Is an ID a Consultant or Admin?

Schools 122

Schools Syllabus Authentic Assessment Evaluation 122

Faculty Focus

JULY 4, 2023

In 2005, Marks, Sibley, and Arbaugh published a study to evaluate the impacts of all three forms of course interaction through a student survey. Chang and Smith (2008) studied student engagement in a computer science course, again through a student survey. The article has been cited 268 times.

Exams 98

Exams Students Instructors Evaluation 98

Faculty Focus

JUNE 25, 2023

Later in life, after nearly three decades of teaching in higher education and serving my division as chair, which included professor evaluations, I came to believe that there were essentially two types of professors: ones who taught their discipline to students and ones who taught students their discipline. table of contents) in the text(s).

Coaching 98

Coaching Syllabus Confidentiality Assignments 98

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 30, 2024

In fact, several of my colleagues who have been invited to my class as a teaching effectiveness peer-evaluator have commented on how quickly students get to work when they have a task and that they sense a strong understanding of the course expectations.

Syllabus 124

Syllabus Lecturing Discussions Science 124

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 14, 2024

This approach enables students to evaluate and showcase their proficiency in both academic and career-related competencies. Notable classroom activities include explicitly identifying transferable skills, such as project management, critical reasoning, and creativity, and clearly communicating the rationale behind assignments.

Interdisciplinary 124

Interdisciplinary Assignments Participation Exams 124

Edsurge

MARCH 7, 2017

In fall 2016, Mote integrated the MyWays framework into Cortex so that when creating an assignment or assessment, a teacher could select the specific quadrant and competencies being targeted. In some cases, the framework’s quadrants are central to course design, impacting curriculum, instruction and the student experience.

Schools 140

Schools Laboratory Languages Language 140

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. Lastly, we map the various due dates onto a calendar.

Syllabus 101

Syllabus Exams Students Motivation 101

Faculty Focus

APRIL 10, 2025

The second type of curriculum consists of the set of plans made for guiding learning, which includes the learning experiences and interactions that students have with the content, materials, resources and the process for evaluating mastery of the objectives (Glatthorn, Boschee, Whitehead & Boschee, 2019).

Course Design 62

Course Design Students Active Learning Activities 62

Faculty Focus

APRIL 6, 2023

Finally, I place a strong emphasis on assessment as a tool for both learning and evaluation. A well-written teaching philosophy statement should act as a guide during course design, development, instruction, and assessment as well as through programmatic development and revision.

Teaching Philosophy 111

Teaching Philosophy Teaching Beliefs Universal Design 111

Faculty Focus

APRIL 10, 2025

The second type of curriculum consists of the set of plans made for guiding learning, which includes the learning experiences and interactions that students have with the content, materials, resources and the process for evaluating mastery of the objectives (Glatthorn, Boschee, Whitehead & Boschee, 2019).

Course Design 61

Course Design Students Active Learning Activities 61

Faculty Focus

JULY 7, 2024

This requires thoroughly self-examining personally held biases and evaluating our social connectedness (Dewsbury & Brame, 2019). Empathy – The educator will want to research students’ needs through a student-centered approach. Prototype –The educator will develop a plan for the content and the environment in which it will be taught.

Learning 92

Learning Universal Design Course Design Fairness 92

Faculty Focus

MARCH 30, 2025

This article addresses these questions through a three-part exploration: tracing AI’s historical development, critically evaluating its role in community college classrooms, and offering practical, evidence-based strategies for faculty. How can it enhance teaching without diminishing faculty agency?

Faculty Development 90

Faculty Development Teaching Instructors Academic Integrity 90

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 5, 2025

In essence, an instructional designer leverages technology by marrying pedagogy and practice with selective and useful innovations. Technology is not always the answer, and the ID must evaluate each innovation thoroughly before implementation. The word selective is important. Is an ID a Consultant or Admin?

Schools 105

Schools Syllabus Authentic Assessment Evaluation 105

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 30, 2024

In fact, several of my colleagues who have been invited to my class as a teaching effectiveness peer-evaluator have commented on how quickly students get to work when they have a task and that they sense a strong understanding of the course expectations.

Syllabus 111

Syllabus Lecturing Discussions Science 111