Category: Articles

The LEC published several articles in 2021 ranging with topics from Classroom Management, Teaching, and Instruction, BlendFlex, Instructional Strategies, Accessibility, Writing Course Objectives and took a deep dive at the Role of Motivation in Online Learning. If you missed them, here are some of the articles we published throughout the year.

The Learning and Educational Center built and equipped a Faculty Studio in the Carl DeSantis Building. In this studio, you can film videos and record audio for course content. A highlight of this studio is the new 66” lightboard that will allow you to craft engaging content and illustrate concepts while maintaining a connection with your audience. This year the LEC introduced the MAKO Commons, a virtual community of practice for faculty to come together and share their teaching and learning practices and research. Additionally, the LEC was inspired by an idea brought to us by Dr. Emily Schmitt of the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences to create the LEC Thank-a-Professor Program. Thank-a-Professor seeks to recognize faculty members who create meaningful and impactful experiences in the classroom. So far we have received over 2,000 thank-you notes and we cannot wait to highlight and begin sharing them in 2022. Capping off a busy year of initiatives, we also launched the LEC Advisory Council to provide guidance and strategic planning support for how the LEC can best serve the faculty.

The LEC published brief summaries of article highlights that you may find helpful. We reviewed these articles and shared them with you. You’ll find articles on The Role of Tempo in Good Teaching, Creating Online Field Labs, How to Structure Your Online Class for Inclusion, Encouraging Self Advocacy, and Using Inclusive Teaching Strategies to Promote Greater Success Among Minority Students.

Creative thinking tends to play a crucial role in the progression of humanity. Examining situations through fresh perspectives can often lead to finding better solutions or gaining a deeper insight into what already works well and why. However, creative thinking can also require a greater amount of effort when trying to do something new or something different. Over the past two years, hybrid and blended learning models morphed into a universal large-scale learning experience galvanized by technology. Instructors and learners had to quickly invent and adapt to new classroom practices using digital tools. Since expectations have changed, we thought it would be helpful to explore some creative approaches to leveraging technology in blended learning experiences.

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. 

The LEC is proud to share its recently launched Thank-a-Professor program!  Students can choose to write thank-you notes via a webform submission and let everyone know how their amazing professors have created meaningful classroom experiences and helped them achieve learning goals.  Through this program, we will recognize instructors for their efforts by publicly sharing student thank-you notes.  This is a celebration!  We look forward to hearing all about our outstanding faculty through the experiences of our students. 

After a year of online synchronous video communication via web conferencing tools such as Zoom, Skype, and others, it is likely that we are tired of the hours and hours of synchronous video. As we transition from remote instruction back to more traditional forms of teaching and learning and using technology to help facilitate our face-to-face, blended, and online courses, we can leverage the benefits of video in asynchronous environments. In particular, video is becoming more popular in asynchronous discussions as a way to create an online community, construct knowledge, have meaningful discussions, and strengthen student-to-student and student-to-instructor interactions.

The Learning and Educational Center supports all instructors in the development and advancement of their courses. We developed a checklist based on the Quality Matters Rubric and adapted it from a similar checklist from Western Kentucky University which allows instructors to quickly determine their course readiness as it relates to the Quality Matters (QM) Rubric. The Course Readiness Checklist was designed and aligned with the 8 Standards of the Quality Matters Rubric.  For reference, we have documented the relevant QM Standard in the checklist.  

Motivation and engagement are essential in online teaching and learning contexts. The challenge of keeping our students motivated and engaged is common across all disciplines in online learning. Online courses, however, may present some unique challenges. Without face-to-face interaction, faculty may not be able to pick up nonverbal cues from students that can indicate when students may be disengaged. Faculty may also not be able to share their emotions and may find it difficult to express enthusiasm or concern. The online environment can make it easier for students to disengage and consequently participate minimally in your course. Sometimes students may choose to enroll in an online course because they perceive it to be easier. This can lead to students finding it more difficult to engage.

The Learning and Educational Center supports all instructors in the development and advancement of their courses. We developed a checklist based on the Quality Matters Rubric and adapted it from a similar checklist from Western Kentucky University which allows instructors to quickly determine their course readiness as it relates to the Quality Matters (QM) Rubric. The Course Readiness Checklist was designed and aligned with the 8 Standards of the Quality Matters Rubric.  For reference, we have documented the relevant QM Standard in the checklist. Over the next two weeks, we will break down the checklist and review a section or two each week.