Letters of recommendation are often the silent gatekeepers of opportunity. They can open doors to jobs, internships, scholarships, graduate programs, and professional schools. Yet, for
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Building strong collaborative learners
It’s natural for students to feel hesitant about working in groups—juggling communication, responsibilities, and schedules isn’t easy. Yet collaboration is a powerful skill that supports
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The superpower of faculty and instructional designers working together
Someone said you’re an SME, but what does that even mean? In the instructional design field, our faculty are highly regarded subject matter experts (SME).
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Holding space for compassion: Trauma-informed teaching in an era of immigration crackdowns
As educators, we often talk about creating an effective learning environment in our classrooms—but what does that look like when students are living through trauma
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Office of Online Learning launches “Wellness Wednesday”
At NIU, we know that student success extends far beyond the classroom, and for our online Huskies, connection and well-being are central to thriving in
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How you can make quick PDF fixes in Anthology Ally right now
Adapted from an article originally published to the Anthology Community Blog by Mindy Mekhail, Director, Product Marketing, Anthology PDFs are among the most frequently used file types
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Writing like you teach: Making course materials clearer and more human
In “4 Ways to Adjust Your Prose Style for a Public Audience,” James Lang reminds us that writing for non-experts—whether in essays, books, or blog
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Bringing critical thinking to life in your classroom: Lessons from Linda Elder
Here’s something that keeps me up at night: we’re living in an age where misinformation spreads faster than wildfire, and our students are caught right
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Forward focus book club first read: The Great Upheaval
Higher education stands at a crossroads. Just as previous generations navigated the shift from agricultural to industrial society, we face transformative challenges of our own.
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When students don’t do the reading (and what we can do about it)
It happens from time to time—students come to class unprepared or without having finished the assigned readings. This may happen for any number of reasons:
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New Resource for Students – Getting Started with Blackboard Tutorial
It is important for students to be comfortable using Blackboard so that they can focus on the content and not how to use the system.
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Building self-directed learners: From theory to practice
My social identities include a variety of educational “firsts”—first-generation immigrant from Vietnam, first-generation college graduate, and the first in my family to pursue a Ph.D.
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