Communication

Increasing Student Success Through Effective Task Management

Instructors attempting to address students’ workload and tasks from within a course alone can be challenging. While features like activity completion, due dates, and access...

Tips and Strategies for Successful Group Work

Planning an assignment or project to be completed by a group of students can raise lots of questions and concerns for an instructor: How should...

Course Introductions: Forums, VoiceThread, Padlet

Course introductions provide instructors with the first opportunity to connect with their students on a personal level. Traditional methods often fell short in fostering meaningful...

Get Your Students Talking Online

Interactions between students are a valuable part of online learning. Multiple studies (see Liu et al (2024) and Azizan et al (2023) for examples) have...

Get Your Students Talking with Yellowdig

Yellowdig is an online discussion platform that puts students in the driver’s seat. It’s designed according to the Community of Inquiry framework, which highlights the...

Use an Online Learning Expectations Template

Providing a course overview can help your students orient themselves to your course and connect with you as an inProviding online learning expectations will clearly...

Use a Syllabus Template

A clear and complete syllabus for your online course is the most important document you can provide for your students. This syllabus template provides example...

Use a Welcome Letter Template

Sending a welcome letter that gives students necessary information and resources to get started,  to students before class begins will help build a sense of...

Use a Course Overview Template

Providing a course overview can help your students orient themselves to your course and connect with you as an instructor. A course overview provides details...

Perusall: Interactive Reading Assignments

Workshop Links If no workshops are available, you can contact learntech@ncsu.edu to request a consultation about using Perusall in your courses. Perusall is a text-based...

Mid-Semester Check-Ins

Mid-semester is a great time to check in with your students in order to make any adjustments or course corrections based on feedback from them....

Digital Whiteboards for Teaching and Learning

Whiteboarding is a well-established active learning practice used in many classrooms. Students and instructors can use in-classroom whiteboards to brainstorm, create connections between ideas, draw...

Engagement in Synchronous and Asynchronous Environments

Students must engage in their courses in order to learn. But what, exactly, do we mean by “student engagement?” And what teaching practices and strategies...

Creating Student Learning Communities Online

For all its advantages, sometimes “online learning can be a lonely experience” (Kaufmann & Vallade, 2020). Building community in an online course can combat this...

Using Breakout Rooms in Zoom

When teaching online and synchronously in Zoom, hosts and co-hosts can use the Breakout Room tool to split students into separate Zoom meeting spaces where...

Helping Students Get Started in an Online Class

First impressions make a big difference in the online classroom. How can you ensure that your online learners feel welcome in the class and that...

Leveraging Zoom Tools to Facilitate Engagement

How can you promote active learning and help keep your students engaged during your course meeting in Zoom? What tools are available? How do you...

Communication

Communication is critical in any course. Students benefit greatly from regular interactions with instructors and other students. Establish your instructor presence in an online environment...

Real-time Assessments and Check-ins

Workshop Links If there are no workshops available, you may request an instructional consultation about this topic. Great teachers understand that learning is a conversation,...

Providing Effective Feedback

Instructor and peer feedback have a profound effect on the quality of student learning. When teaching online, it is important to foster both learner-instructor interaction...

Netiquette—Or Best Practices for Interacting Online

Netiquette is the term used to describe the special set of rules for online communication. Because students in the online learning environment are unable to...

Discussion Forum Best Practices

Discussion Forums can play a key role in online learning. When used effectively, they can provide many learning benefits including: enhanced critical thinking, more thoughtful...