Blogs

We’ve all experienced the feeling of “Zoom Doom”, whether we’re attending a class session, conference presentation, meeting, or family get-together. While Zoom is an amazing collaboration tool, it can fall short if engagement strategies aren’t incorporated into class meetings. Continue reading for some ideas and techniques to help you and your learners stay engaged throughout the semester.

There's something especially frustrating and exhausting about sitting in an empty Zoom room waiting for folks to drop-in. But, this is the reality for many instructors conducting office hours during the pandemic. In this article, I posit a few theories as to why the Zoom void feels worse and suggest a few ways to make Zoom office hours more beneficial for you and your students.

The most important time in ANY semester is the beginning. As the instructor, you get one shot at that critical first impression. One shot to set the initial tone. Whether the semester is standard... or a little weird. Here are three steps we suggest for getting started this spring.

The Office of eLearning delivered an optional survey for students at the end of the fall semester aimed at learning more about their experiences online and in the blended environment. The goal of this article is to provide a quick preview of the major themes that surfaced from four questions in hopes that it will be helpful as you prepare for the spring term and build on what you did in 2020.

In Dr. Steve Wilhoit's Honors Writing Seminar this past semester, students write a final essay about their life goals. As part of the writing process, students workshop their writing together, which requires sharing this personal information. During a typical semester, Dr. Wilhoit has no trouble establishing the camaraderie required for students to trust each other, but how can this be accomplished with students split between online and in-person learning? In this post, Dr. Wilhoit explains how "Bring Your Pet to Class" day helped bridge this divde.

Since the inception of the FlexTeaching listserv at UD in June, 229 participants have joined the listserv. There have been 202 unique discussion threads and 885 messages exchanged throughout those threads. If the goal of the listserv was to enrich the faculty-to-faculty support network, then I think the listserv has been a resounding success. In this post, I summarize some of the insights shared by instructors this past semester. 

There is a common sentiment in COVID-era higher ed that if we muddle through and do the best we can, everything will eventually go back to normal; Once we survive this, we can get back to providing the optimized learning experiences University of Dayton students expect. And that is a problem. Our attitude should be one of positivity and determination.

Over the summer months, as many faculty dug deep and began their work to prepare for the semester, I was keenly aware of how daunting and monumental the task felt. How could faculty make sense of the huge amount of information being shared? In my interview with Dr. Andy Slade, Chair of the English Department, I learn how he helped English faculty support each other by creating "E-Learning development groups" where they shared their struggles, their successes, and their questions.

Help students stay on track by adding weekly checklists to your Isidore course sites.

Instructional designer Kent Darr shares 4 alternative approaches to assessment and how to accomplish them using UD's technology and tools.