Reading Time: < 1 minuteIs there one definition for active learning? Or does it vary for every teacher and every class? Dr. Rob McDole and Jared Pyles ask Dr. Tracey Birdwell—a self-proclaimed “teaching nerd”— to help pinpoint a true definition for active learning. Dr. Birdwell is the Assistant Director for Faculty Support in the Center for Instructional Excellence at Purdue University. Podcast links Resources What is Active Learning? – CRLT of the University of Michigan Connect with us! Transform Your Teaching is also launching a monthly newsletter where we reflect on the past series, preview our upcoming content, and share an exclusive article. Subscribe today to get our inaugural June…
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Generative AI, In Practice: Assignment Creation
Reading Time: 4 minutesLast spring, I taught an online course. In the middle of the semester, a student did not do well on one assignment and asked if I could give him another set of questions to review. I said yes. The assignment was a database design task that involved a business case and a dozen sample data rows – for example, a fictional medical clinic that uses Excel sheets to manage its appointments. The table in the image below contains sample data from last year. The most time-consuming aspect of creating a similar assignment was developing a new case and generating sample data which must represent as many unique…
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Transform Your Teaching: Understanding Active Learning
Reading Time: < 1 minuteRob and Jared start a new series on active learning and active learning spaces. They begin by setting a foundation by defining key terms (or at least attempting to) and previewing what’s coming up in the series. Podcast links Connect with us! Transform Your Teaching is also launching a monthly newsletter where we reflect on the past series, preview our upcoming content, and share an exclusive article. Subscribe today to get our inaugural June issue!
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Generative AI, In Practice: Using GAI for Course Planning
Reading Time: 10 minutesRecently, I was tasked with creating a remedial English course for dual-credit students – but for this course, I needed to expand beyond my standard role as the instructional designer and also be the subject matter expert. Playing both roles is difficult, so I decided to employ ChatGPT to help with parts of the design. I started with what I knew. Because this is a dual-credit course, I knew there would be English content the students were passing over and, as a result, not getting in their high school courses. I also knew that the learners in this course would go directly into another college writing course.…
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Transform Your Teaching: A Conversation with Dr. Jeff Guernsey and Dr. Kyung-Hwa (Christine) Kim
Reading Time: < 1 minuteWhat is a servant teacher? How does someone practice servant teaching? Rob McDole and Jared Pyles chat with two professors at Cedarville University—Dr. Jeff Guernsey who teaches in the School of Business and Dr. Kyung-Hwa (Christine) Kim who teaches in the History and Government Department—about their professional development through multiple sessions on servant teaching. Transform Your Teaching has also launched a monthly newsletter where we reflect on the past series, preview our upcoming content, and share an exclusive article. Subscribe today to get our next issue! Podcast links Resources Connect with us! Transform Your Teaching is also launching a monthly newsletter where we reflect on the past series,…
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Generative AI: Current State and Future State (e.g., tomorrow)
Reading Time: 3 minutesWriting a blog post detailing the current state of Generative AI (GAI) feels like a futile exercise. Why? During the writing of this post, the state of the industry will change. So, read with caution because like GAI, I can make mistakes. Having dispensed with the disclaimer, let’s get into what you are looking for in this post—the current state of GAI. First, OpenAI’s ChatGPT continues to lead the GAI industry, but Microsoft and Google are making advances with Copilot and Gemini, respectively. Amazon, Mistral, Facebook, and other open source models continue to push OpenAI to innovate and produce more value, but they cannot compete with ChatGPT.…
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Competency-Based Education: Lessons Learned
Reading Time: < 1 minuteWhat did Rob and Jared learn about Competency-Based Education? Is Jared fully on board with it? What questions remain? Listen to hear their lessons learned as they wrap up the series. Podcast links Resources Acton Academy Connect with us! Transform Your Teaching is also launching a monthly newsletter where we reflect on the past series, preview our upcoming content, and share an exclusive article. Subscribe today to get our inaugural June issue!
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Transform Your Teaching: Competency-Based Education with Dr. Aleda Chen
Reading Time: < 1 minuteWhat impact is competency-based education currently having in the pharmacy education world? Dr. Rob McDole and Jared Pyles chat with Dr. Aleda Chen—Associate Dean and Professor in the School of Pharmacy at Cedarville University—about the possibilities of CBE curriculum in training future pharmacists. Podcast links Resources Join us on Flip to discuss this series! Contact us at ctlpodcast@cedarville.edu with any questions. You can also visit our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog for additional resources. Want to never miss a post? Subscribe here!
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Canvas Update: Discussions Enhancements
Reading Time: 4 minutesLast week, we talked about the updates Canvas is making to assignments. This week, we’re turning our focus to the discussions redesign in preparation for the changes to go live this weekend. These updates go a little deeper and have some added functionality. Let’s jump in and see what’s changed! 1. You can mention users in your posts! Canvas has added the ability for you to mention specific people in your posts. Simply type the @ symbol, and Canvas will give you a drop-down of all the people able to be tagged. 2. Canvas collapses threads automatically Canvas will collapse discussions threads so you only see the…
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Transform Your Teaching: Competency-Based Education with Dr. David Croteau
Reading Time: < 1 minuteWhat does Competency-Based Education look like in theological education? What does CBE look like in a hybrid format? What are some of the ground-floor decisions that need to be made when starting a CBE program? Dr. Rob McDole and Jared Pyles cover this and more with Dr. David Croteau, the Dean of the Seminary and School of Counseling at Columbia International University, as they talk about the origins of CIU’s Competency-Based Theological Education program. Podcast links Resources Join us on Flip to discuss this series! Contact us at ctlpodcast@cedarville.edu with any questions. You can also visit our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog for additional resources. Want to never…