• Educational Tools,  Teaching & Learning

    Generative AI, In Practice: Using GAI for Course Planning 

    Reading Time: 10 minutes Recently, 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…

  • Educational Theories,  Podcast,  Teaching & Learning

    Transform Your Teaching: A Conversation with Dr. Jeff Guernsey and Dr. Kyung-Hwa (Christine) Kim

    Reading Time: < 1 minute What 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…

  • Educational Tools,  Teaching & Learning

    Generative AI: Current State and Future State (e.g., tomorrow)

    Reading Time: 3 minutes Writing 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…

  • Podcast

    Transform Your Teaching: Behind the Scenes with Jacob Lashuay

    Reading Time: < 1 minute What does it take to get rid of the crazy things that Jared and Rob say? In this episode, Dr. Rob McDole and Ryan Liming chat with Jacob Lashuay, podcast editor.   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!

  • Educational Theories,  Podcast,  Teaching & Learning

    Competency-Based Education: Lessons Learned 

    Reading Time: < 1 minute What 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!

  • Educational Theories,  Podcast,  Teaching & Learning

    Transform Your Teaching: Competency-Based Education with Dr. Aleda Chen

    Reading Time: < 1 minute What 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!

  • Canvas,  Educational Tools,  Teaching & Learning

    Canvas Update: Discussions Enhancements 

    Reading Time: 4 minutes Last 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…

  • Educational Theories,  Podcast,  Teaching & Learning

    Transform Your Teaching: Competency-Based Education with Dr. David Croteau

    Reading Time: < 1 minute What 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…

  • Canvas,  Educational Tools,  Teaching & Learning

    Canvas Update: Assignments Enhancements 

    Reading Time: 3 minutes Canvas has been working on modifications to both assignments and discussions – and the changes are now ready to be live! In these two weeks leading up to the release of the updated assignments and discussions, we’ll be going through everything you need to know about the changes.   This week, we’re looking at the assignment enhancements. These are primarily student-facing interface adjustments to track the “life cycle” of an assignment more easily. Let’s take a look!  Here’s a screenshot of an updated assignment page.   With the update, Canvas has moved or added a few things:  The next chunk of the page is very much the same…

  • Educational Theories,  Podcast,  Teaching & Learning

    Transform Your Teaching: Competency-Based Education – A Student Perspective with Genny McDole

    Reading Time: < 1 minute In this episode, Dr. Rob McDole and Jared Pyles chat with Genny McDole who has an MEd in Instructional Design from Western Governors University. Check out the episode to hear a student’s perspective on competency-based education and how CBE has influenced her teaching practice. Podcast links Show notes Genny was drawn to CBE courses because of the flexibility it provided. During that season of her life, she needed a flexible option that fit their family, could be done quickly, and would fit within their budget. CBE allowed her to take as many courses as she wanted, access all the resources she needed, and show mastery…