Using a Research-Based Approach – It’s Up to Us

December 4, 2019.Reading time 14 minutes.

Today we welcome Andria Schwegler, Associate Professor and Program Coordinator for the Master of Science Educational Psychology at Texas A&M University – Central Texas. Andria joins us to discuss the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and the opportunity such scholarship provides for improving education, teaching, and hiring. In addition, she discusses whether there is […]

What We Talk About When We Talk About Student Engagement

November 20, 2019.Reading time 9 minutes.

At a recent #DLNChat, one of the questions, answers, and resulting discussion prompted me to ask Karen Costa (writer, faculty member, and faculty development facilitator extraordinaire) to write a piece for us on her comments. Today’s blog post is thought-provoking and, I hope, word-changing for you. Thank you, Karen, for reminding us about the importance […]

Finding Quality in All the Right Places: Promoting Online Course Reviews to Faculty Designers

July 11, 2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

How do you ensure quality in online courses? That word gets a lot of buzz in higher ed! Today’s Frontiers post is all about quality and how to implement a course certification process. Joining us from the University of Central Florida is Senior Instructional Designer Aimee deNoyelles, who co-designed an online course review process for […]

Breathing New Life into the Collaboratory, Reviving an Innovative Teaching Space

August 31, 2018.Reading time 14 minutes.

Many of us have an interested in increasing the opportunities for our students to work collaboratively. An excellent way to help facilitate group work is to make sure our learning spaces are conducive to group conversations, work, and study. Many in higher education are also interested in making sure our learning spaces are equipped with […]

Rigor, Meet Reality

April 5, 2018.Reading time 15 minutes.

text box which reads: …Faculty members must plan collaboratively beyond the courses they teach to design program-level strategies to demonstrate rigor.

How do you define academic rigor? I know when I was completing my undergraduate and graduate coursework, I could tell the difference between a rigorous course and one that would be a little less time consuming. I also understood, especially in graduate school, that the more rigorous a course was, the more I “got out […]

Supporting Faculty Through a Learning Community

February 22, 2018.Reading time 11 minutes.

How do faculty at your institution enhance their teaching skills or discuss best practices with their peers? Today, we’re thrilled to learn about Louisiana State University’s Online Teaching Cohort program from Hala Esmail, the Manager of the Faculty Technology Center for LSU. This group meets several times a semester to hear presentations from experts, participate […]

Open Textbooks and OER in Colorado: Lots of Interest and Great Promise

February 9, 2018.Reading time 12 minutes.

image of quote: {“Use of OER is a very clear strategy to speak to two very important concerns/barriers to education for today's learner populations: cost and convenience. Judiciously applying OER to these two critical decision-making issues can lower the barriers for a wide variety of students.” Mike Abbiatti, Exec Director of WCET

This week on WCET Frontiers Blog, Tanya Spilovoy, Ed. D., Director of Open Policy for WCET, discusses the outcomes of the Colorado Open Educational Resources (OER) Council recent work in open textbook initiatives, her research and consulting role with WCET, and how OER can be leveraged to meet state higher education goals. WCET is thrilled […]

Adaptive Learning: Research-Based Principles for Developing Effective Courses

January 18, 2018.Reading time 8 minutes.

This week on WCET Frontiers, we are happy to welcome back Niki Bray, Instructor and Instructional Designer with the School of Health Studies at the University of Memphis. Niki is here today to discuss another aspect of adaptive learning: research-based principles for developing effective courses. Niki reviews why higher education leaders should have a solid […]