What’s the Story Your Syllabus Tells?: Setting the Stage for Learning
Once upon a time, there was this brave professor, who opened a word processor app to develop one of their most important tools in life; the syllabus. When we design courses,…
The Pedagogy of Trading Places: Lessons from an Unexpected Role Reversal with AI
True Confessions from the Grading Trenches It happened on a Wednesday—the kind of Wednesday that arrives in the middle of a grading cycle and quietly steals your personality. I had been…
Each Student Has a Different Door: What I Learned About Learning Styles from Andrew Cohen — and from My Own Students
After attending a summer workshop on learning strategies led by Professor Andrew Cohen, I returned to my Spanish classrooms at Northwestern University with a simple question: What would happen if my…
The Cognitive Concern: Why AI Needs a Nutrition Label
In the late 1970s, America had a collective awakening. For decades, the food industry had flourished, offering convenience and endless variety, largely in the absence of robust public health oversight. It took…
Five Things I Wish I Knew My First Semester
My first semester as a faculty member taught me something I wish I had understood on day one: most of the stress did not come from teaching itself. It came…
Still the Teacher: How California’s AI Law Keeps You at the Center
Picture this: A colleague spends Sunday night feeding her lesson outline into an AI tool, gets back a polished set of discussion questions, and walks into class feeling prepared. When…
Designing a Course Students Want to Screenshot
He was there to learn accounting, not comment on my course design. But midway through a Zoom call in the fall of 2025, one of my online adult learners paused and started…
AI Didn’t Break Assessment: It Exposed What Was Already Broken
In a world of instant content, the value of learning lives in how students think, apply, and transform understanding over time. The recent attention around tools like the now-offline Einstein, an AI agent…
The Importance of Recognizing Innovative Part-Time Instructors
Historically, higher education has been at the forefront of social change, not only in the United States but also in classrooms and cultures around the world. Considering the many challenges facing American…
Tech Change: A Faculty Survival Guide from the IT Side
Faculty are not resistant to technology — they’re overwhelmed by how quickly it arrives. Faculty today are navigating more digital transitions than ever before, including new learning platforms, AI policies, assessment tools, cloud systems, security…