The Importance of Inquiry
During the seventh semester of my undergrad, I took a course that changed the way I think of courses. It was dismal — so much so, that even to this day I cringe at the way it was administered. The...
View Article8 Steps for Rolling Out Social Features in Canvas LMS
A perpetual question that we face as designers of online instruction, in the era of rapidly evolving communication technologies and learning management systems, is: how do we create a vibrant community...
View ArticleLate Work
An instructor comes to me with a quibble about late policies in his department’s composition courses. I’m feeling ornery and rushed when he e-mails, I’m feeling curious and obstinate, so I ask him:...
View ArticleSyllabus as Manifesto: A Critical Approach to Classroom Culture
Syllabi that reflect the mundane, bureaucratic requirements of the University are at risk of setting an equally banal classroom atmosphere. While administrative personnel may argue otherwise, the...
View ArticleLossless Learning: an Interview with Jared Stein
The following is an excerpt of an interview with Jared Stein, Vice President of Research and Education at Instructure, the makers of the Canvas LMS. Following a press release in June that announced a...
View ArticleRhetoric of Design: A Pedagogical How-to
The word ‘rhetoric’ has a bad reputation. When most people use it, they use it negatively: “That company just spews rhetoric about their political views.” But most of us who live in the academic world...
View ArticleLearning beyond the Course
This piece was previously published at Educating Modern Learners in September 2014. A lot of the most valuable learning that occurs for students is not easily visible or measurable. But this should not...
View ArticleStudent Agency in Canvas Groups
College students want opportunities to practice being professionals, but they infrequently have those opportunities because so much of their lives are scripted or pre-defined. Their class schedules...
View ArticleIf You Can’t Change Higher Ed Overnight, Change Your Classroom. Here’s How!
The following article was published on HASTAC on April 18, 2015. We’ve chosen to repost it here because of its relevance to the current theme on Keep Learning, student-centered learning. We found the...
View ArticleFlipping an Online Class
This article was originally published on Kris Shaffer’s blog on May 13, 2015. Dr. Shaffer will be offering a three-week online course, “The Flipped Classroom”, starting July 19, 2015 through Digital...
View ArticleOrganized Chaos: How Active Learning Impacts Organizational Structures in...
As hinted in the EDUCAUSE Review for July and August, active learning is one of several concepts that are changing the ways we are looking at educating students and the public. In all fairness, active...
View ArticleSocial Connectedness Through Digital Feedback: Connecting the Whole Class
The positive feeling people get from staying in touch with friends and family can extend to students and teachers in a digital learning community. In face-to-face classrooms there are a wealth of...
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