Recent Posts

Supporting Neurodiverse Students Through Course Design

You’ve doubtless heard the expression “Great minds think alike,” but the reality is that great minds work in countless different ways. There is no “right”...

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 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...

Gradescope at NC State

Gradescope is grading software that is designed to make assignment submission, and grading easier. It allows instructors to create variable-length assignments (problem sets & projects)...

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...

Using Top Hat for Student Engagement

Do your students struggle to stay engaged during class? Do you want to encourage more participation, engagement and active learning, even in large courses? Top...

Mid-Semester Check-Ins

What are 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...

Humanizing Your Online Course

Humanizing your course means taking intentional steps to create a human connection with and between learners in your course. Contrast this to learners interacting only...

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

Online courses offer great advantages, not the least of which is that they provide students flexibility in location and schedule of learning, thereby creating more...

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...

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

Great teachers understand that learning is a conversation, not a monologue.  – Sir Ken Robinson Simple and quick, real-time assessments and check-ins are excellent tools...

Rubric Best Practices, Examples, and Templates

A rubric is a scoring tool that identifies the different criteria relevant to an assignment, assessment, or learning outcome and states the possible levels of...

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...