7 Ways to Show Presence and Compassion in Online Spaces

graphic of instructor popping out of computer monitor lecturing

Reading Time: 4 minutesEssie Childers is a Professor of Student Success at Blinn College in Bryan, Texas.   Do you feel as if you are building a boat while sailing? Figuratively speaking, many of us are doing just that. You’ve been called upon to move to an online environment, creating a replica of your face-to-face classes. I teach […]

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What Works in Online Teaching?

image of a keyboard key with a symbol of the word chat on top

Reading Time: 2 minutesProfessor Lisa Lawmaster Hess mentions a few tools and techniques that worked for her in her online classes (Seven Things That Worked in My Online Class) and many of them were also discussed here in the Cengage Blog. Here are some articles where we discuss these tools: Tools for Online Teaching Professor Hess prefers an […]

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Student Retention in the COVID-19 Era: What to Know

masked student writing a paper at computer outside

Reading Time: 3 minutesJanet Mizrahi is a continuing lecturer who teaches professional writing at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is also an author at BizCommBuzz.   One of the most pressing problems facing colleges during the COVID-19 crisis is retaining students—especially at-risk, low-income or underrepresented students who attend institutions of higher learning to gain social mobility. […]

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Contracts “Worth” Millions, But Having No Tax Basis or Value

closeup of the word "contract"

Reading Time: 7 minutesBy: Steven C. Dilley, Contributor to the South-Western Federal Taxation series   Professional sports teams have their players and management under contract, and these player contracts are often traded for other teams’ player contracts. The media refers to these transactions as trades of the players, but they are not, they are trades of the player […]

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Highlights from the Back to School Better Conference

Highlights from the Back to School Better Conference

Reading Time: 2 minutesAuthor: Audrey Wick, a full-time English professor at Blinn College in central Texas  To help instructors at all levels prepare for their first fall semester during a pandemic, Cengage hosted the 2020 Back to School Better virtual conference during the summer of 2020. Hundreds of instructors, administrators, Cengage authors and other thought leaders gathered to discuss problems […]

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6 Ways to Create Meaningful Learning Experiences Online

graphic of person sitting on couch cross legged with laptop

Reading Time: 3 minutesElyse Adler is an Assistant Professor of Information Technology   Online learning is something that is new to many faculty and students. When building an online course, it is important to create quality learning experiences for your students, understanding that you may not have the opportunity to interact face-to-face with them throughout the class. With […]

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What’s Next? How I’m Planning for Success Amid the Unknown

a bunch of newspaper headlines containing words about the virus

Reading Time: 3 minutesSherri Singer is a professor and Department Head for Social & Behavioral Sciences at Alamance Community College in North Carolina.   The pandemic is not over! While many states have lifted some restrictions, predictions are that we will have a rough fall semester. The problems our students experienced in the spring are now compounded by […]

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The Fight for Racial Justice in the Classroom: One Educator Weighs In

Fighting Racial Injustice in the Classroom

Reading Time: 4 minutesChristal E. Carmichael is a Professor of Psychology at North Carolina Central University.   It takes a very strong and confident individual to identify, acknowledge and work to rectify an issue that forces us to look within. Doing the self-work can in many ways be uncomfortable. Yet that same discomfort and fortitude can be the […]

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