Recent Posts

Supporting Neurodiverse Students Through Course Design

You’ve doubtless heard the expression “Great minds think alike,” but the reality is that great minds work in countless different ways. There is no “right”...

Cognitive Load Essentials for Effective Instructional Videos

An effective instructional video effectively communicates information and knowledge to its audience in a clear and engaging manner. There are several key elements that can...

Using Breakout Rooms in Zoom

When teaching online and synchronously in Zoom, hosts and co-hosts can use the Breakout Room tool to split students into separate Zoom meeting spaces where...

Helping Students Get Started in an Online Class

First impressions make a big difference in the online classroom. How can you ensure that your online learners feel welcome in the class and that...

Leveraging Zoom Tools to Facilitate Engagement

How can you promote active learning and help keep your students engaged during your course meeting in Zoom? What tools are available? How do you...

Step-by-Step Online Course Creation Guide

This guide covers basic steps for creating an online course at NC State. The resources will help you incorporate some best practices and instructional design...

Exam Best Practices

Unmonitored Assessments If possible, use alternative authentic assessments to assess your students in an unmonitored setting rather than using an exam. If your exams are...

Rubric Best Practices, Examples, and Templates

A rubric is a scoring tool that identifies the different criteria relevant to an assignment, assessment, or learning outcome and states the possible levels of...

Best Practices for Group Work Evaluation

NC State students report that one of the ways faculty could improve online courses is through building in more student-to-student activities (DELTA, 2015). Benefits of...

Large Course Redesign Best Practices

Course Redesign (CR) involves the redesigning of whole courses to achieve better learning outcomes and accommodate enrollment growth. CR is much more extensive than simply...

Group Work in Google Apps

NC State students report that one of the ways faculty could improve online courses is through building in more student-student activities (DELTA, 2015). While group...

Best Practices for Creating Multiple-Choice Questions

When teaching online, instructors often turn to multiple-choice quizzes and exams to assess student learning. This option provides many benefits, including instantaneous feedback to students...

Discussion Forum Best Practices

Discussion Forums play a key role in online learning. When used effectively, they can provide many learning benefits that do not always occur in the...