Designing effective learning experiences that prioritize student-centered outcomes requires a solid foundation in course design fundamentals rooted in pedagogical principles. In this workshop, participants collaborate to create a learning activity that incorporates recognition of prerequisite skills and learning outcomes aligned with both…

This paper explores the development of a flexible, free, online certificate program built on open educational resources to support instructors transitioning to online and non-traditional teaching modes. The program offers multiple pathways to completion, including recognition of prior learning and immersing participants in the online learning…

During the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference 2014, a workshop was held three consecutive times as part of the Pedagogical Speed Dating sessions to introduce experienced college/university faculty and instructional designers to an approach to instructional design that is based on increasing motivation. The purpose of…

The rapid and widespread adoption of competency-based education (CBE) has brought into sharp focus long-standing tensions built into education systems, particularly for graduate and professional schools. We all share the desire to produce graduates equipped to respond capably in a rapidly changing world. However, many of us struggle with the…

Experiential learning has the potential to enhance students' success and prepare them for the job market, including through class experiences that mirror experiences in the workforce. In this article, I lay out the process of incorporating experiential learning in a global health course. I have derived three key lessons from the design and…

One of the dilemmas faced by today's faculty is assuring quality in online courses. As one solution to that dilemma, Quality Matters (QM), a program of MarylandOnline, built a rubric of design standards informed by existing research literature and best practices. The rubric was implemented within a faculty-centred, peer review process in which…

An instructional method is described that was used in a large, introductory organic chemistry course to ask online, post-class questions and to use the students' answers to design the lesson and learning activities for the following class. Additional goals of this method were to provide relevant, regular, and prompt feedback to students and the…

Educators know that to engage learners in the enterprise of critical thinking, learner's need to care enough to pay attention, and feel safe enough to take intellectual risks. When interacting asynchronously in online forums, it can become even more challenging to create a space that encourages reflective, integrative, and higher order thinking.…

First-year university students are a diverse group of individuals with various abilities and needs. Failure of the university and its teaching faculty to meet the needs of first-year students may result in abandonment of the pursuit of a degree. This project informs instructors about the practices that strengthen a learning-centred approach and…

If a liberal arts education should prepare our students to participate in a meaningful way in democracy, what does that mean for how we design our courses across disciplines? In this paper, I first address the question: who should teach democratic skills? Using an upper-level course in Canadian politics, I then illustrate how to explicitly…