Category: Articles

Faculty and students at NSU now have access to Adobe Express for Education, a cloud-based platform for creating visual presentations, graphics, multimedia projects and more. The platform includes thousands of templates that can be utilized, “remixed”, and assigned as a starting point for assignments, along with access to Adobe stock photos and generative AI features, giving your students creative tools to demonstrate knowledge in ways other than written text.

There are many intriguing technology resources that are available for teaching and learning. Psychology professor Richard Mayer, whose research on The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, explores how blending various forms of media can help learners with retention. The integration of video, audio, and images in online course design offers alternative avenues for student engagement, particularly for those who face reading challenges or may benefit more from visual and auditory learning modalities.

As educators, we are often exploring the science of how learning works, and how teaching can be most effective. Naturally, we want our students to absorb and retain information at the highest rate possible. It is therefore valuable to explore the science of memory and retention of information. When do the things we learn become encoded in our memory and how can we maximize retention through our understanding of how the brain works? It turns out that the brain needs to be in a period of restfulness in order to have the capacity to consolidate new information.

Did you know that you have access to resources that you can use to make your course content more relevant and interesting? Sometimes available resources get lost in the mix, so we’d like to highlight a few of them for you now. 

We most often think of testing as a way to assess what was learned by a student. And it is. But it is also more than that. The act, itself, of being “tested” also produces measurable learning and long-term retention of material and may even be more effective at long-term retention than studying is. The following article explores this idea, and gives insight into how testing can be used to improve learning in the classroom, as well as improving outcomes for students studying on their own.

Mindset science reveals that students’ beliefs about their abilities strongly influence their learning motivation (Dweck, 2006). Students’ academic mindsets are crucial for their achievements in their classes. Research reveals that teachers can significantly improve student mindsets, leading to better perseverance and learning outcomes, by adapting their instructional practices (Farrington et al., 2012).  

Do you want to captivate your students with high-quality, engaging content while saving time on lesson preparation? Integrating LinkedIn Learning videos into Canvas offers faculty a powerful way to enhance their courses. By embedding these professionally produced videos, instructors can boost student engagement with visually appealing content that encourages interaction and deeper learning.

As 2024 draws to a close, the Learning and Educational Center (LEC) proudly reflects on an extraordinary year filled with many achievements and milestones. This year has been especially significant, highlighted by an increase in faculty participation in our annual Teaching and Learning Conference, along with significantly increased participation in workshop offerings, as well as our collaborative Generative AI Series among many other accomplishments. This success is a testament to our growing engagement within our NSU teaching and learning community.

The LEC Instructional Design team authored several articles in 2024 tackling topics such as Strategies to Foster Students’ Mental Well-being, Fostering Students’ Critical Thinking, or Teaching and Learning with Podcasts. If you’ve missed this wealth of information, we encourage you to take a look!

This year, the LEC hosted its third annual Teaching and Learning Conference, “Raising the Bar: Educating the Modern Learner,” with hundreds of NSU Educators attending. Our popular Thank-A-Professor program was a hit, receiving over 2,000 thank you messages. Additionally, our DesignLink program continued to thrive, connecting Instructional Designers with faculty to enhance course design and materials across the University. Learn more about each of these initiatives and how they are making a difference in our NSU community.