Category: Articles

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.

This year’s professional development opportunities continued to be diverse and impactful, featuring a range of workshops, trainings, and rich discussions led by LEC staff and University partners. The LEC was honored to host University experts who shared their knowledge in various areas, such as student engagement and Generative AI.

In higher education, while intellectual growth is often prioritized, students’ mental health plays a critical role in their success. Research shows that mental health challenges can lead to academic struggles and limited career opportunities (Hughes & Spanner, 2019). Faculty can support students by fostering a compassionate and inclusive learning environment, using open communication, flexible course design, and practices that help students feel valued and supported.

Are your students groaning at the thought of yet another discussion post? In online education, discussion boards are essential for engagement, but too often they become mechanical and uninspiring tasks. This article explores creative strategies to transform discussion assignments into dynamic conversations that spark critical thinking and genuine interaction. From reshaping prompts to incorporating multimedia and fostering instructor participation, discover how to revitalize your online discussions and enhance the learning experience for your students.

Incorporating in-video quizzes into your Canvas assignments is an excellent way to enhance student engagement and reinforce learning. These quizzes allow students to interact with video content by answering questions as they watch, helping to ensure they are actively processing the material. In this article, we will discuss the steps to create an in-video quiz within an assignment in Canvas, utilizing the Annoto integration. 

Feedback from students can be an important source of information about what is working or not working in a course. Most often, student feedback comes in the form of a summative course evaluation. Here at NSU, students fill out course evaluations at the end of each semester. While these evaluations have value, they also carry limitations.

Gamification is defined as “using game-based mechanics, aesthetics, and game thinking to engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems” (Kapp, 2012). Gamification is the incorporation of game design elements into non-game contexts (Deterding et al., 2011). As a strategy in education, gamification has garnered increasing attention, offering several key advantages including increased motivation, enhanced engagement, sense of achievement, real-world application, and reduction of anxiety. The application of gamification in education can lead to a more motivated, engaged, and successful learning experience for students, catering to a variety of learning styles and preferences. 

Today’s students are just like the rest of us – they use their phones for everything. And this includes accessing their courses, communicating with their professors and fellow students, and staying on top of grades and upcoming deadlines. Do you know how your course displays on a phone? Have you considered whether your course content can be accessed on one? Why are these questions important to consider?