Author: Kristi Verbeke
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Winter semester! For my kickoff column of the semester, I’d like to start by telling you about some of the Winter events occurring at the OTL. We started the semester in January with our annual Semester-Start Up. A four-day series of workshops for faculty designed around [...]

Author: Kristi Verbeke
The study highlighted in our newsletter this issue examined the nature of mentoring in a doctoral program at the University of Hawaii. As the authors note, mentoring has been associated with many positive outcomes for both mentors and mentees and has the potential to contribute to positive institutional outcomes. Using focus groups and [...]

Author: Anne-Marie Armstrong
Blackboard can be a great tool, but its limited formatting options sometimes results in all courses looking the same. How can you set your Blackboard course site apart from others? Add some color, eliminate clutter, and provide information at your students’ fingertips! Simple changes in your Blackboard course will not only [...]

Author: Julie Thompson Klein
In our last newsletter, we introduced a new topic for the 2008-2009 academic year – interdisciplinary studies (IDS) and integrative learning. The last issue focused on IDS, and this issue begins a parallel conversation about integrative learning. “Integrative learning” is the broader of the two concepts. It is an umbrella term for [...]

Author: Annette Feravich
Many of you likely noticed a change to Blackboard last semester or over the summer if you were teaching. WSU recently upgraded to a newer version, and for those of you unable to attend our “What’s New” workshop, highlighting the major changes, we wrote an article detailing the new features. The major change [...]

Author: Bill Warters
Many of our readers are now familiar with RSS news readers and the valuable role they can play in organizing and tracking multiple sources of information. If you aren’t clear on how they work, have no fear. You can get up to speed quickly by watching the online video “RSS in Plain English.”

Most [...]

Author: Kimberly Conely
Nominated for consideration by students and peers, WSU faculty and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are eligible and encouraged to compete for various annual teaching-related awards, including the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award, Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award, and the Garrett T. Heberlein Excellence in Teaching Award for Graduate Students. [...]

Author: Annette Feravich
Teaching courses online has created a paradigm shift from structured learning of content to resource-based learning, whereby instructors guide students in acquiring strategies to manage information efficiently and effectively.  The authors of this book focus on current research and proven strategies that help ensure successful online learning and teaching.

Effective online learning and teaching [...]