Course Design

Teaching Creativity

The ability to be creative is valuable in any profession. But is it something that can be taught? Are we doing anything to cultivate students’ creativity? If so, what?

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My Class Was Framed

In Slaughterhouse-Five, the narrator explains why Ilium is a good place to be an optometrist. The General Forge and Foundry is in Ilium, and every employee is required to own a pair of safety glasses. With 68,000 employees, that “calls for a lot of lenses

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Universal Design: What, How, and Why?

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is guided by three key principles: providing multiple means of representation, the “what” of learning; providing multiple means of action and expression, the “how” of learning; and providing multiple means of engagement, the “why” of learning. We would like to

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Creative Assignments: Where Do They Belong?

Can you teach students to be creative? Most of us would say no. It’s more like trying to teach for it—encouraging it, promoting it, acknowledging when it happens, and rewarding it. Despite the difficulties associated with teaching creativity, teachers shouldn’t be excused from trying to

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Threshold Concepts: Portals to New Ways of Thinking

A threshold concept is discipline-specific, focuses on understanding of the subject and … has the ability to transform learners’ views of the content.” (Zepke, p. 98) It’s not the same as a core concept, although that’s a useful place to first put the idea. “A

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Does Use of Course Materials Placed Online Improve Performance?

Course websites now include such things as the course syllabus, PowerPoint slides, study guides, discussion questions, links to online content sources announcements, reminders of due dates, and opportunities for online discussion via e-mail and discussion boards. Most faculty put materials online to help students learn

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Assignment Options

No, the objective isn’t to make assignments optional. But the article referenced below raises the possibility of giving students some choice over the kinds of assignments they complete. In previous issues of the newsletter, we have shared systems that give students some discretion in the

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