Course Design & Plannning
Explore this curated selection of resources aimed to help you improve your courses, whether you are embarking on creating a new course from scratch or revising a current one.
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Inclusive Syllabus and Course Design Tips
As instructors begin to think of the start of the upcoming semester, many start with a review and revision of their course syllabus. As you think of how you might prepare your syllabus, we wanted to s...
Commonwealth Connections: Instructor Day Spring 2023
Join us for a half-day, virtual event focusing on strategies for teaching the whole student. This event will feature an instructor panel and a student panel, followed by an open discussion. Topics of...
Commonwealth Connections: Instructor Day, Spring 2023
Join us from 9am to 1pm on January 4th for a half-day, virtual event focusing on strategies for teaching the whole student. This event will feature an instructor panel and a student panel, followed by...
Gathering Student Feedback: Tips and Examples for Online Courses
Feedback is ever-present in many aspects of our lives. We get feedback on our job performance. We get asked for our feedback from almost every business we interact with. Have you bought a new car? You...
Welcome from Dr. Richard Brazier
Please join us for a welcome address with Dr. Richard Brazier, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research & University College Interim Dean. Dr. Brazier oversees all aspects of faculty development...
Too Much or Not Enough: Quantifying the Time Students Spend in Engaging Courses
Instructors thoughtfully create high-quality, engaging course design experiences, but is time dedicated to assessing the rigor that’s placed on students? This session will first focus on the benefits...
Too Little or Too Much: How to Gauge the Right Amount of Course Content
In this session, presenters will share resources that will help you decide the appropriate amount of content and activities for your course. Participants will have the opportunity to assess the existi...
Quality within Constraints: Course Design in a Hurry!
Join us to discuss how a rapid prototyping model was used to design a quality online course in a hurry. We will also share how we prioritize enhancements and use an iterative design strategy to achiev...
Planning for Student Engagement
Presentations and workshops, both live and archived, designed to help deliver online coursework that gets students involved.
Open and Affordable Teaching and Collaboration – Two Examples
This session will present two faculty approaches to working with open and affordable educational materials. Half of the session will focus on potential sources of OER materials for Math and Statistics...
Make Discussions Great Again: We Actually Mean It
Nurturing professional outcomes in asynchronous online discussions.
Lessons Learned from Small Teaching
In his book Small Teaching, James Lang explains how minor modifications to our teaching can have a major impact on student learning. In this session, faculty discuss the ways they have incorporated th...
Introspection Toward Academic Engagement
Back to basics reflection on our core principles and broader professional goals and the value of these reflective “real life” practices for our students and ourselves. The session examines several ins...
Instructor Panel (Instructor Day, Spring 2022)
Instructors will share their perspectives, experiences, and tips for starting the semester in a way that fosters a sense of community, motivation, and inclusivity in their classrooms.
Increasing Student Engagement with Top Hat
The University has a new tool to enhance student participation in your courses. Top Hat is a cloud-based audience participation solution with presentations, questions, and assignments built-in. In thi...
Fostering Engagement in Asynchronous Courses
Ensuring supportive and productive student-faculty engagement can be challenging in any learning environment, but particularly in the asynchronous online setting. In this session, faculty share some o...
Facilitating Effective Group Work
Group projects are very useful assignments but are hated equally by both students and instructors when things don’t go as expected. This session will provide strategies for effectively setting up and...
Engaging Students Through Assessment (SITE Version)
Are you looking for ways to revise and improve your online assessments? This session covers using online assessments (both formative and summative) to engage students. Topics include making changes to...
Engaging Students Asynchronously
Topics include how to help students engage with the content, you, and their fellow students, as well as how to structure asynchronous discussions, group work, lecture content, and more to benefit stud...
Embedding Retention Strategies into Teaching Practices
Retaining students starts with experiences in the classroom and interactions with faculty. In this session, faculty will share their teaching practices that promote student retention, including settin...