Maintaining Emotional Balance While Teaching in a Pandemic

graphic of standing person pulling up another person up out of chaos

Reading Time: 3 minutesThis post’s authors, Anitre Bell and Essie Childers, are college educators and Cengage Faculty Partners   Ready or not, colleges and universities are opening doors to students, offering different learning formats. Some classes will be entirely online, while others are planning for hybrid formats, including HyFlex. Then there are those campuses that are returning to […]

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How to Prepare Prerecorded Presentations That Work

graphic of students looking at a large device where an instructor is popping out of the device and drawing a graph on another large device

Reading Time: 3 minutesJoseph Ferrantelli is a Professor of Education at Hunter College   If you’re teaching a college course online like so much of the country, it’s likely you’ve recorded or prerecorded presentations for your students. But chances are, if you do record presentations, you don’t think too deeply about the process, you just do it. In […]

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How Teaching Online Can Make Your Life Easier

graphic of student holding phone at their open computer

Reading Time: 4 minutesDr. Jenny Billings is a faculty member at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College   The past six months have taught me a lot, especially about online instruction. Due to COVID-19, I have been working remotely since mid-March. I used to think that I wanted to work from home. Not anymore—I miss my students and faculty so much! […]

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The Importance of Recognizing Constitution and Citizenship Day

Constitution and Citizenship Day 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutesAuthor: Emily Farris, Texas Christian University September 17 is primarily known at most universities as Constitution Day, but it is also designated as Citizenship Day. In fact, Constitution Day originated as a celebration for U.S. citizenship. In 1940, Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing the President to set aside the third Sunday in May as […]

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Classroom Activities to Commemorate Constitution Day 2020

Constitution Day 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutesAuthor: Emily Farris, Texas Christian University Constitution Day takes place this year on Thursday, September 17; it serves as the day to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787. Constitution Day happens to fall early in the semester when I’m already covering the Constitution in my Introduction to American […]

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Online Learning Tools – What Instructors Learned from Taking the Digital Leap [INFOGRAPHIC]

Online Learning Tools – What Instructors Learned from Taking the Digital Leap

Reading Time: < 1 minuteCengage examined data from various surveys of higher education faculty and students to examine their perspectives on using online learning tools and incorporating technology into their courses. While many students believe that easily accessible digital tools would positively impact their grades, many instructors were initially apprehensive about making the shift from a print-only strategy to […]

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4 Tips for Writing Good Online Assignment Instructions

Crafting Online Assignments

Reading Time: 2 minutesAudrey Wick is an English professor at Blinn College in central Texas.   Instructors in higher education classrooms want students to rise to their expectations. They also want students to be academically successful because effective completion of a college course is a win-win for both the student and the instructor. To help students meet the […]

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Helping Students and Instructors Help Themselves with SAM [VIDEO]

Helping Students and Instructors Help Themselves with SAM

Reading Time: < 1 minuteOne of the best features of SAM (Skills Assessment Manager) is that it offers instructors automatically graded assignments. This functionality helps faculty focus on what they do best: teaching and engaging their students. When students get “stuck,” SAM has many tools to help you guide them on the path to remediation. SAM Study Guide Reports: […]

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