The FACILITATOR

Shella & Mike talk about keys to the start of class for both first day and week to set the table for success, engagement & retention: Curiosity, Community, Expectations & Getting Comfortable with Required Tools. Teaching Resources Mentioned: Ep 30 - Hacking Quality Matters: Standard 1 Course Intro OnlineEssential Questions TechniqueBackground Knowledge ProbeK-W-L ChartThink-Pair-ShareUsing Discussion Forums to Set ClimatePerusall Social Annotation Tool

Shella & Mike talk about the oldie but a goodie of the 'Flipped' Classroom for live session classes (Hybrid or traditional). What, Why & How & its relevance to the AI age. Teaching Resources Mentioned: Flipped Classroom Tips & Rsrcs.Zoom Lecture Chunk RecordingLearning Glass StudioBest Practice Active Learning TechniquesTeam-Based Learning

Shella & Mike talk about one of the indispensable teaching tools to any college teacher- Grading Rubrics. They discuss different kinds, how to get started and top tips for getting biggest learning and success bang for the buck with them. Teaching Resources Mentioned: Grading Rubrics Rsrcs & TipsSingle-Point Grading RubricRubistar Rubric Repository/ Builder Canvas Rubric Tools How Tos Canvas Rubrics ToolCanvas Rubric Grading in SpeedGraderCanvas Peer Review (w/Rubric) Tool

Shella & Mike looks at some of the silver linings AI offers professors that can make good things happen in our teaching, as well as current crop of helpful AI teaching tools and general tips for maximizing AI. Teaching Resources Mentioned: Episode 21 - Redesigning Assignments for AI ProofingAssignment Stress Testing/ Enhancement PromptAI Prompts for Instructors Repository Effective Prompts for AI AI Tools Mentioned: ChatGPT (uses DALL-E for images)CoPilotClaudeGammaGeminiGoogle Notebook LMGrammerlyHemingway App NapkinOpenArtPerplexity

Shella & Mike talk tips for how to have online 'office hours' that Students will utilize, as well emerging trends for re imagining office hours to defuse student anxiety & build connections with students to help them persist. Teaching Technique/ Tools Mentioned Resources: Zoom for Virtual Office Hours Tips & Rsrcs"With Card Games, Coloring Sessions & 'Hang Out Times', Professors Rethink Office Hours" "Academic Success Tip: Rebrand Office Hours"

Shella & Mike delve into the WHAT/ WHY & HOWs for adding different levels of interaction to your live Zoom online classes to engage students for enhancing success. Teaching Technique/ Tools Mentioned Resources: Active LearningFishbowl DiscussionBackchannel Chat TechniqueChat WaterfallZoom Raise Hand ToolZoom ReactionsZoom Breakout RoomsThink-Pair-Share

Shella & Mike talk about the What, why & how to tap into the great power of giving your students voice & choice. As well as best practice safety guardrails to get the full bang for the buck. Teaching Technique/ Tools Mentioned Resources: Pedagogy of Students Creating OER for the courseStudent Voice/ Choice Rsrcs/ TipsMidterm Soft Course EvalsBackground Knowledge ProbePassion Based LearningProblem-Based LearningTeaching with AI Tools/ Prompts

Interview with North Central State College English Adjunct Kristina Butke (MFA -, Seton Hill University, BA - English Literature, Capital University) on distilling teaching tips & lessons learned about teaching from her Adjunct Teaching Journey. Teaching Technique/ Tools Mentioned Resources: Activating Prior LearningBlooket Interactive QuizzesGrading RubricsRespecting Diverse Talents/ Ways of Learning

Shella & Mike's chat about tips to Hack Quality Matters (QM) Course Design Rubric- Standard #5 : ACTIVITIES. Three specific levels of building the key parts of this standard into your courses are discussed - Beginner (quick & dirty), Intermediate (little bit more time/ tinkering) & Advanced (digging into it). Episode Resources: Regular & Substantive Interaction (RSI) StandardsCanvas 'Message Student Who...' Gradebook ToolCanvas Record Personalized Audio/ video Feedback w/ GradeActive Learning CycleActive Learning Frameworks Ep 18-TBL at NCSCEp 19-TBL Online Project Zero's Thinking Routines Toolbox

Excerpt of Shella & Mike's Live workshop on tips to Hack Quality Matters (QM) Course Design Rubric- Standard #3 : Assessment. Three specific levels of building the key parts of this standard into your courses are discussed - Beginner (quick & dirty), Intermediate (little bit more time/ tinkering) & Advanced (digging into it). Episode Resources: Developing Fair, Consistent & Transparent Grading PracticesDerek Bruff's 6 Questions for Assignment Makeovers for AI AgeGrading Rubrics Tips & ResourcesStudent Self Assessment with RubricsPeer Review with RubricsAssessment ResourcesAuthentic AssessmentCourse Sequencing of Assessment & Feedback

Excerpt of Shella & Mike's Live workshop on tips to Hack Quality Matters (QM) Course Design Rubric- Standard #2 : Learning Objectives. Three specific levels of building the key parts of this standard into your courses are discussed - Beginner (quick & dirty), Intermediate (little bit more time/ tinkering) & Advanced (digging into it). Episode Resources: Aligning Objectives with Assessments & ActivitiesEditing Canvas AssignmentsCanvas Outcomes Tool Video Walk ThroughCanvas Learning Mastery Gradebook

The primary method to assess what our students know, throughout Higher ed, remains stuck in a silo to simply audit and provide a grade, rather than a fully integrated learning tool itself. L. Dee Fink in Creating Significant Learning Experiences (& others) have advocated for applying the research for an intentional shift to "Educative" Assessment. Mike unpacks the 4 pillars of this approach to assessment. Episode Resources: Educative AssessmentGiving Prompt FeedbackGrading RubricsPeer Review

'Death by Powerpoint' is real. We know from the literature that doing default Powerpoint presentations reduces comprehension, retention and engagement out of a classroom, with time for active activities being lost as well. However, hacking PowerPoint by using the 'Pecha Kucha' (or its cousin Ignite Talk) format, make TED-talk style, engaging, cognitively effective and time efficient presentations of material that opens up time for application and active activities follow-up. Episode Resources: Pecha Kucha (Ignite Talk) Presentation Example, Tips & Resources"The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within"Five Ways to Reduce PowerPoint Overload

Excerpt of Shella & Mike's Live workshop on tips to Hack Quality Matters (QM) Course Design Rubric- Standard #1 (Course Introduction). Three specific levels of building the key parts of this standard into your courses are discussed - Beginner (quick & dirty), Intermediate (little bit more time/ tinkering) & Advanced (digging into it). Episode Resources: Quality Matters Course Design BenchmarksCTE's START HERE/ Week 1/2 Module QM Templates Harvard's Project Zero Thinking Routines: Introducing & Exploring IdeasInstructor Presence & InteractionRecording Mini Zoom VideosRegular & Substantive Interaction (RSI) Standards

Mike does a brief dive into a collection of top tips for making cognitive friendly, reusable and easy to maintain mini lecture 'chunks' with a professional polish. Episode Resources: Zoom Tips (Live or Recording)Mini Lecture Recording with ZoomTaking Teaching Online: The Micro-LectureWhy Long Lectures Are IneffectiveCheapest Way to Soundproof a Room

Mike takes a spin at a brief WHAT/WHY/HOW of James Lang's "Small Teaching." Now in its 2nd edition, Lang's book wonderfully lays out and distills 3 key elements form the science of learning - KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING & INSPIRATION. A starter for each of the HOW for the three specific principles under each of the headers can be done in Low/ No Prep by faculty in any area. Episode Resources: Episode 25 - Activating Prior LearningSmall Teaching Faculty Hub Summary/ Resource PageSmall Teaching Book

Flying solo, Mike dives into how application of principles from usability research to our course sites & materials can promote student success, engagement & Retention. Mike introduces the WHAT of Usability with ISO 9241 & Nielsen Norman Group's definitions. The linkage to WHY is addressed with intersection of several course design quality rubrics and teaching best practices. Then the application with HOW starts with Modules Usability (& common misuses). Next, chunking topical content via PAGES, as well as Optimizing Text for reading on screens., Naming Conventions & Consistent formatting is discussed. Our Usability world cheat sheet concludes with looking at LEGIBILITY & READABILITY of course materials - whether digital or hard copy etc. Episode Resources: 5 Ways to Optimize Canvas Sites Tips, Examples & How Tos8 Ways to Optimize Course Content Tips, Examples & How TosThe Hemingway appLegibility Readability & Comprehension: Making Users Read Your Words

Amid the ongoing scrutiny of the value of higher ed education, Shella & Mike dive into the timely topic of how to increase the learning value of classes with alternatives to lecturing. While lecture lurches on in higher ed (for now) as a predominant teaching technique, science and mounds of data tells it is a poor teaching tool with 5% of info being retained on average from a lecture. As such, we turn to the WHAT/ WHY (see above) & most crucially the HOW to diversify our teaching toolbelt! Episode Resources: NCSC Ctr for Teaching Excellence Non-Lecture Teaching Techniques226 Active Learning Techniques

Wading into the WHAT/ WHY & HOW of levering the powerful learning science of Activating Prior Learning for Engagement, support student (& Faculty!) time on task and promoting success. Episode Resources: NCSC Ctr for Teaching Excellence Activating Prior Learning Tips/ Resources

Tackling the HOW of Best Practices for teaching condensed/ accelerated 8 week courses for optimizing student success. Shella & Mike get into Sequencing (1:35) - what happens when with integrated 'Spiral' Design reinforcement; Managing Cognitive Load (3:14) on Students; Scaffolding with Support Resources (3:55) to offer built-in recovery/ time efficiency/ engagement; Time Efficient Canvas Tools: Canvas Pages (6:55) for reusable evergreen remedial built in support resources; Early Publishing of Your Canvas Course Site (8:20) to allow for a bonus 'Week Zero' of student prep/ orientation for success; Canvas Quizzes for Self-Check/ Practice (10:26) to allow students to be active learners and build confidence for applying/ higher order use of material; Canvas Modules Optimization (11:48) applying best practices for lean but content packed modules; Grading Rubrics (12:33) for supporting student practice & faculty time efficiency; Canvas Mastery Paths (14:31) to efficiently automatically connect students to appropriate level work; Communication Strategy/ Reinforcement (15:32) for ensuring students get the word/ know what to focus on; Kicking 'Coverage' Fallacy (16:44); Outcomes Focus (17:37). Episode Resources: Sequencing a Course Tips/ ResourcesManaging Cognitive Load of StudentsWays to Optimize Your Canvas Sites (Pages, Modules , Assignments etc)Canvas Early Access for StudentsChickering & Gamson Respecting Diverse Talents/ Ways of LearningLang's Small Teaching ResearchGrading RubricsUsing Rubrics in Canvas SpeedGraderCanvas Mastery Paths