Have you ever taken a "mental health day?" Or wish you could? Hailey Hardcastle's Ted Talk, "Why students should have mental health days" addresses benefits of treating our physical health and our mental health as equal and related needs. Travis Bussler, Assistant Professor in the College of Business, shares his presentation on mental health resources used with his classes.
Category: Social Presence
Some faculty at Ferris State University have devoted extensive time creating high-quality online courses through the Course Development Agreement (CDA) process. The process uses backward design (McTighe & Wiggins, 2012) through three short online courses with the focus of: online instruction, pedagogy design, and developing the course in Canvas. Regardless of a faculty member’s online … Continue reading Ferris Faculty Moving Forward
Much like saying, "I love you" can change the course of a relationship, these three word sentences can change the course of students' academic future. Ever been stuck yourself, until someone pointed you in the right direction--then everything seemed possible again? "I struggled, too." For many students, especially those from underrepresented populations, the gap between … Continue reading Three Words Students Want to Hear to Succeed
Despite most people's wish for a calmer 2021 to catch up from pandemic-driven changes of 2020, January's events showed this as unlikely. Wallstreetbets' stock manipulation using game theory principles and the insurrection in our capital over the election may have seemed surreal as we watched them unfold in the media, but these events are as … Continue reading Are You Teaching Students How to Change the World?
Dreading days of Zoom-based conference sessions for the Association for Educational Communications & Technology's virtual convention (#AECT20), I was hooked as speakers from all over the world shared COVID-pandemic approaches! The theme, Towards Culturally-Situated Learning Design and Research, hit home along with this priority list to meet COVID-19's educational and societal challenges: People first. Content … Continue reading People, Content, Technology in Course Design
This is the first edition in what I'm referring to as the "Maker Space Online" series--a set of short videos sharing the basic elements of teaching strategies. Examples are included for you to use as a guide for creating activities in your course--regardless of your teaching modality! This week's edition shares an adaptable formula to … Continue reading Maker Space Online–Use this easy formula to create engaging discussions in your course!
With only 25 more days left in this world-changing semester, it's a critical time for students and faculty looking to finish the semester successfully. In this time of emergency teaching and learning, it's important to adjust our expectations and focus to model for students how they can and will succeed. Help! We're drowning in emails! … Continue reading Less Is More to Support Student Success
Are you worried about how to get everything done now that you're instantly having to move your course online? Wondering how you will transfer your face-to-face content into online-friendly materials? It may seem counter-intuitive, but in early stages of this sudden shift, focusing first on the online teaching and learning process is more important than … Continue reading Teaching Online During Coronavirus: Focus First on Process, Not Content
Students are experiencing anxiety about course changes and relocating away from their campus homes as anxious faculty rush to put course content online. We are the leaders to their future, and we can do a lot to reduce their stress. Beyond basic college student challenges, they now worry about how to learn online, how this … Continue reading Communicating to Students about Coronavirus Course Changes
