How I Used the Parking Lot to Turn Quiet Rooms into Engaged Classrooms
When students of different years of study share a common class, their levels of experience and confidence differ. Students from lower years of study may hesitate to speak up in…
Relational Communication Theory in Action: Enhancing Learning and Competence
Interpersonal communication theories not only help students navigate personal and professional relationships but also strengthen teacher-student connections. Drawing on Orón (2018) and Orón Semper & Blasco (2018), we encourage instructors…
Regurgitative AI: Why ChatGPT Won’t Kill Original Thought
Parents who grew up in the ’80s and '90s know the feeling: you're listening to your kid’s playlist, and suddenly a song hits you with a wave of uncanny familiarity.…
From Task Completion to Cognitive Engagement: Making the Case for the Hourglass Paradigm of Learning
College students are mastering the art of “doing school” – but far too few are actually learning (Geddes et al., 2018; Stevens & Ramey, 2020; Weinstein et al., 2018). The…
Unlocking Learning Potential with Concept Maps
If you’ve ever tried to make sense of a big, messy topic, whether it’s anatomy, psychology, or even planning a family vacation, you know how easy it is to get…
Empowering Students to Use Their Voice
Quality education must go beyond textbooks and lectures. It should connect students with current events and equip them with skills for real-world engagement. When teaching a theoretical framework, for example,…
Supporting the Supporters: Promoting Educators’ Mental Health
If we do not take care of our teachers, we risk losing them, or worse, leaving them in classrooms too burned out to do their best work. Teaching at the…
The Black Box Problem: Why Cameras Matter in the Online Classroom
It started with small talk at one of those laid-back faculty mixers—the kind designed for exchanging ideas and sparking new connections. As an online graduate psychology professor, I find these…
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Game On: Competitive Gamification in Diverse ESL Classrooms
In many diverse English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms, sustaining student motivation can be difficult, especially when it comes to vocabulary learning. Traditional drills often fail to spark excitement,…
The Importance of Connection in the Age of AI
As educators, we must stay current. What could be more current than Artificial Intelligence? Our students are using this tool at an unprecedented rate, and every technological tool we have…