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Taking Stock at the Midpoint of the Term

March 15, 2024
Halfway through the term isn't a great time to change around a bunch of materials or assignments in your course. However, it is a useful moment to evaluate how the course is going, realign to match the goals you set out at the beginning of the term, and determine what you may be able to tweak to make your course work more effectively for you and for your students. This piece suggests actions you can take at midterm to help shape the second half of the course.

LMS Analytics: Supporting Your Students With Data

December 29, 2022
With the help of tools like Canvas New Analytics, faculty can leverage learning management system (LMS) data to hone their instructional techniques and improve their online students' experience. In this piece, we provide an introduction to learning analytics in online higher education and detail some analytics best practices.

Navigating Canvas New Analytics

December 29, 2022
At the end of 2019, Canvas rolled out New Analytics, a new version of their former analytics tool, Course Analytics. By Canvas's own description, New Analytics retains the core functionality of Course Analytics while offering a simplified user experience. In this piece, we share our recommendations for leveraging New Analytics to support students.

Engagement Series: Student-Student Engagement

January 08, 2025
This is the third in a series of pieces exploring different types of course engagement. This piece focuses on how course developers and instructors can foster student-student engagement in online courses.

Authentic Activities

September 27, 2021
The majority of online learners seek formal education for a multitude of reasons but can be frustrated by the lack of transferrable skills. Online education can bridge this gap by utilizing authentic activities, allowing learners to gain skills that directly connect to their professional lives.

Clear and Quick: The Why and How of Rubrics

September 24, 2021
Rubrics provide students with insight into their performance and mastery of learning outcomes, providing clarity on how grades are assigned and teaching students how to tailor their work. For instructors, rubrics take the guesswork out of deciding how to grade, saving valuable time.

Building Your Online Course With the Lister Model

September 27, 2021
You are building a course for the online environment. What an exciting adventure! When building an online course, you might use a similar method to what you used when developing a course previously, or you might use an entirely new technique. Either option is a good option. But you may have a few questions when you first begin: How do I organize my materials? How do I display my materials? How do I make sure my students work together?

Harnessing the Third Space Theory for Effective Learning and Instructional Design Consultation

March 26, 2025
The Third Space theory, introduced by postcolonial theorist Homi K. Bhabha, explores a transformative space where new identities and meanings emerge through the interaction of diverse cultural elements. This "third space" is characterized by hybridity, challenging rigid, binary notions of identity and culture, and emphasizing fluid negotiations between dominant and marginalized perspectives (Burke, 2012; Lin, 2014). Bhabha’s theory builds on Ray Oldenburg’s (1999) concept of the "third place"—an informal public space where people gather to form a community that is neither home nor work—and extends it into the realms of cultural and social discourse, creating a broader framework for negotiating power, identity, and cultural exchange (Bhabha, 2012). These third spaces can emerge in a variety of contexts, including both physical locations like cafés or parks and virtual environments such as online forums or social media platforms, making the theory applicable to both in-person and digital interactions.