Why I Stopped Starting Class with Content—and What Happened Instead
Let me tell you something no one wants to admit: content is boring. There. I said it. It’s not that the ideas themselves aren’t important—it’s that we’ve turned teaching into…
Lifting as We Climb: A Reflection on Mentorship, Growth, and Leadership in Nursing Education
I had the privilege of attending a nursing conference at Creighton University. From the moment the first keynote speaker began to share, I felt deeply inspired. Her words focused on…
A Values-Based Approach to Using Gen AI
As a learning designer in a centralized teaching and learning unit, it's my job to explore new technologies, particularly AI. But I’ll admit, I didn’t jump right in. As Generative…
Making a Meaningful Environment for Belonging
Belonging and mattering are crucial for creating educational environments where learners feel connected to their department and classmates (Hale et al., 2019). Student success has become a major outcome measure…
Reviving Engagement in the Spanish Classroom: A Musical Challenge with ChatGPT
Halfway through the semester, it’s not uncommon to notice a shift in your students’ energy levels (Baghurst and Kelley, 2013; Kumari et al., 2021). The initial enthusiasm for learning a…
How Students Use Generative AI Beyond Writing
Over the last two years, I’ve witnessed the rise in students’ use of generative AI as whole. Not surprisingly, more students are using generative AI to assist them in writing. …
My Journey in Alternative Grading: From Curiosity to Clarity
I read Susan Blum’s Ungrading as a first-year graduate student and was immediately smitten. At the same time, COVID-19 forced many seasoned instructors to grapple with assessing their students, making…
How to Significantly Improve Student Engagement and Retained Learning in Higher Education
After 13 years of testing higher-order active learning modalities in the classroom, collecting data, building a database, and analyzing student learning results in bi-annual principles of marketing classes, my colleague…
Job Satisfaction and Retention in Higher Education
Have you ever felt the weight of being overworked and underpaid? Do you find yourself questioning your value in your workplace? Are you contemplating exploring new employment opportunities in the…
Supporting Student Mental Health in the Classroom: A Faculty Guide to Compassionate Engagement
In recent years, higher education has witnessed a surge in conversations around student mental health. National surveys consistently report escalating rates of anxiety, depression, and loneliness among college students (American…