Joel VannerSee what our learning designers are reading now.
Common Read Spotlight
The Common Read addition to our News & Notes newsletter grew out of the books our Learning Design team reads and recommends to one another for our own professional development. These shared texts help guide our conversations about pedagogy, course design, and student learning.
We are excited to extend those recommendations to all instructors!
Small Teaching Series
As designers, we work across disciplines and course formats to support engaging, effective, and inclusive teaching. One set of resources we often recommend to faculty looking for practical, research-informed ideas is the Small Teaching series by James M. Lang and Flower Darby.
Small Teaching offers strategies well suited for on ground and blended courses, focusing on how small instructional choices can strengthen student learning.
Small Teaching Online extends this approach to online and hybrid environments, highlighting ways to foster engagement, motivation, and meaningful learning through thoughtful use of technology and course design.
Read Small Teaching Online through the Arnold Bernhard Library →
Both books illustrate that innovative teaching does not require a complete course redesign. Instead, small, intentional changes, whether an activity, assessment, or interaction, can make a positive impact on student learning. These texts provide concrete, adaptable ideas that faculty can tailor to their teaching.
Happy reading!
An intentional first day sets students up to engage! Read our suggestions.
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J-Term and Spring 2026 information, Canvas resources, and more.
See what our learning designers are reading now.
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