Online Teaching and Learning

Successes and Challenges with Implementing Personalized Adaptive Learning

Baiyun Chen, James R. Paradiso, Joseph Lloyd, and Rebecca McNulty October 3, 2022

Personalized adaptive learning (PAL) is a software platform approach that provides each student with an individualized learning experience by allowing them to progress along their unique learning path through the course content based on their knowledge, skills, and learning needs. Adaptive learning systems customize the presentation of the content or present new

Contract Cheating—and What to Do about It

John Orlando September 12, 2022

Contract cheating is a relatively new phenomenon that is gaining attention in higher education because it is particularly difficult to detect. Instead of purchasing a paper from an outside source, contract cheating involves hiring someone specifically to create that work for the student. The problem

Jump-Start Online Discussion with Unconventional Prompts

Katherine Senko September 6, 2022

Discussion forums are ubiquitous in online education despite getting mixed reviews from students and teachers. Faculty complain of students giving only perfunctory responses, while students lament discussion questions that allow only cursory answers.

The problem is the prompt is often written in language requesting a mini-academic

Turn Breakout Rooms into Escape Rooms

Stephanie Parisi August 22, 2022

Escape rooms are becoming more and more popular in higher education. Participants solve a series of problems—each correct solution unlocking a clue or item to the next—while racing against the clock (or other teams). Knowing that this type of gamified learning format could potentially excite

Strategies for Using Flipgrid to Engage Students

Stacia Miller, Christina McIntyre, and Suzanne Lindt August 15, 2022

Flipgrid is becoming increasingly popular for use in the classroom due to its interactive nature and similarity to widely used social media platforms. Faculty first create groups or classes on the site for students to join. They then create topic cards that provide prompts to

Using Design Thinking for Course Development

John Orlando August 8, 2022

The term design thinking has cropped up in education journals and conference brochures more and more over the past few years, but its meaning remains a mystery to most instructors. The term comes from the business sector, where it refers to a process of learning

Colors of different stripes to illustrate color-coding course design strategy

Visual Strategies for Cohesive Course Design

Cecile G. Paskett and Qin Li August 8, 2022

Most instructors and instructional designers are already familiar with the basics of developing well-aligned, robust course designs, such as writing measurable course objectives using action verbs to clearly describe what students will know, do, practice, or apply; aligning tools and technologies to the learning objectives

Enhancing Instructor Presence through a Liquid Syllabus

Nugrahenny T. Zacharias August 1, 2022

Instructors who teach online do not share a physical space with their students, and therefore they need to establish their presence in creative ways. One tool to effectively enhance instructors’ presence is a liquid syllabus. A liquid syllabus is published on a public website, allowing

Using an Interactive Tutorial to Teach Students How to Conduct Evidence-Based Research

Madeline Ruggiero July 25, 2022

In today’s Google Search world, many students are used to simply typing a question into their browser and looking at whatever pops up on the screen. As a result, they struggle with finding good resources through their library databases. Refining a search and discerning which