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The Course Design Institute (CDI) is a collaboration between IDEAS and UMass Flex. Faculty participate in an intensive course focused on creating and designing a new or reinvigorated online course. Cohort 7, composed of 11 faculty members from the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Riccio College of Engineering, College of Education, and Isenberg School of Management completed the May 2026 session.  

Sean Wandrei, Senior Lecturer II in Accounting, has spent the better part of 2025 and 2026 experimenting with NotebookLM to identify ways that the tool might support him in preparing course content and creating supplemental student materials. Sean identified an immediate application for NotebookLM- his annual Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, where 60–80 students prepare taxes for community members. VITA is an IRS-sponsored initiative that provides free basic income tax return preparation to eligible taxpayers, typically low-to-moderate income individuals and families, people

Instructional Innovation Fellows share a commitment to innovative pedagogies and strategies that embrace both low and high forms of technology integration into their courses. During the May 8, 2026 meeting, Fellows explored Teach Backs, student engagement in general education courses, and attention as a pedagogical infrastructure.

What the Text is About: EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit that aims to advance higher education through the use of information technology, conducted a study that summarizes current sentiments toward technology availability, cybersecurity, course experiences, and instructional technologies in the classroom. Based on the findings, we share key trends on these topics.

On the very first day of class as students walk into my classroom, a small branch of pine needles or an acorn gathered from somewhere on the UMass Amherst campus or some aromatic leaves of lemon balm from the UMass permaculture garden rests on my open binder where I sit at the top of a U shaped circle. As I offer students welcoming words of love and kindness, I wonder what they are thinking about me and about the journey we are embarking on.

Instructional Innovation Fellows share a commitment to innovative pedagogies and strategies that embrace both low and high forms of technology integration into their courses. During the April 10, 2026 meeting, Fellows explored NotebookLM and Silent Discussions. 

What the Text is About: This article highlights moments when group activities lose momentum and offers practical strategies for creating inclusive, purposeful, and manageable collaborative learning experiences.

What the Text is About: In this final part of the series, we explore how graphics and animations can serve not just to up the entertainment value of our videos and save us the trouble of recording ourselves, but also help our students grasp complex concepts. Animated videos like these often make their way even into synchronous, in-person classes because their capabilities have no chalkboard parallel.

Animation Specialist Koby Leff and Manager of Faculty Development Joan Giovannini explore the growing role of generative AI in higher education, particularly in the creation of instructional videos. They argue for the irreplaceable value of human creativity and pedagogical intent; while AI tools promise efficiency and convenience, they cannot replicate the nuanced storytelling, emotional connection, and instructional design that faculty bring to their teaching.

This video essay emphasizes that video production is not merely a technical task but a communicative process rooted in human connection