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As educational videos grow in popularity recreationally – especially with students – it makes more sense than ever to incorporate them into our classes. But video creation requires careful planning to ensure that it’ll meet our teaching objectives and effectively impact our students. While this might require more work than some forms of lecture preparation, a video can be reused verbatim across courses and semesters; if we put in the time and effort up front, we can reap the rewards for years to come. 

In synchronous courses and research presentations, many instructors improvise, guided by

On Monday, February 24, 2025, faculty members and teaching assistants from the Kinesiology Department at UMass Amherst gathered for a seminar on “Designing or Modifying Assignments with AI in Mind" led by Tim Sheaffer and Joan Giovannini from the Instructional Design, Engagement, and Support (IDEAS)

At a recent Instructional Innovation Fellowship (IIF) meeting, two faculty members shared creative ways to integrate play into college classrooms.

The University Libraries, in partnership with IDEAS and the Center for Teaching and Learning, are excited to announce the launch of the 2025 Open Education Initiative (OEI) Grant Award Cycle. These grants provide funding for instructors to  adopt, adapt, or create Open Educational Resources (OER) or incorporate open pedagogical practices (OEP) into their courses. 

Lecturing can be monotonous for students, despite many faculty still maintaining the status quo with lectures that are often over an hour long. It’s recommended to make the limited time faculty have with students as impactful as possible. In Still Lecturing? Here’s How to Do It Better, the author provides meaningful approaches to promote active learning when students are front and center in the classroom.

This article discusses Open Educational Resources (OER), which are free teaching, learning, and research materials available under open licenses, allowing for no-cost access, reuse, adaptation, and redistribution. OER offers extraordinary benefits to students, as it reduces textbook costs, improves access to quality materials, and enhances teaching and learning through technology. Joan Giovannini, an Educational Developer from IDEAS, provides you with information on the benefits of OER and provides some options on how to implement OER in your classroom and even develop your own.

Gamification, AI tutors, microlearning — these and other educational technologies are widely discussed today. However, integrating them into teaching effectively — and determining whether they should be used at all — can be challenging.

Slava Yurchenkov, Manager of Instructional Design at UMass Amherst, explains what educational technologies are and how to apply them in course design.

The Course Design Institute (CDI) is a collaboration between IDEAS and UMass Flex. Faculty participate in a week-long intensive course focused on creating and designing a new or reinvigorated online course. Cohort 3, composed of 7 faculty members from across campus, completed the latest CDI in January 2025. 

At a recent Instructional Innovation Fellowship (IIF) meeting, three faculty members shared creative ways to enhance student engagement and learning.