Reading Time: < 1 minute Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville (SIUE) is dedicated to making education affordable and accessible for their nearly 12,000 students. Despite having an Open Education Resource (OER) initiative in place, they found it didn’t quite meet all their course material needs.  Dr. Elza Ibroscheva, Associate Provost and Miriam Roccia, Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs were key players of a cross-functional team at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, in charge of building a digital course materials program that would further boost student afford ..read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes On April 22, 1970, Earth Day emerged as a pivotal event in the environmental movement. Spearheaded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, it aimed to raise awareness about pressing environmental issues and inspire action towards conservation. On the inaugural Earth Day, 20 million Americans took to the streets to voice their concerns about the need for environmental protection. Since then, Earth Day has evolved into a global phenomenon, observed across 192 countries. What better way to commemorate this momentous occasion and celebrate Earth Day 2024 than by incorporating cours ..read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Congratulations to the 2024 Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) All-USA Academic Team scholarship winners. These high-achieving community college students have demonstrated academic integrity, combined with leadership and service excellence beyond the classroom.   2024 All-USA Academic Team scholarship recipients Every year, we partner with Phi Theta Kappa and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) to give $5,000 scholarships to twenty of the nation’s top students. This All-USA Academic Team scholarship is one of the most prestigious academic honors for commun ..read more

Reading Time: 6 minutesSocratic inquiry and AI in education In a whimsical scenario, picture the venerable philosopher Socrates transported through time to a 21st-century classroom. His initial astonishment at children tapping away on sleek glowing tablets, conversing with disembodied voices, might give way to recognition. “By the gods,” he might exclaim, “what sorcery is this!” As the shock subsides, Socrates would discern a familiar spirit in these new technologies—a shared commitment to inquiry, critical thinking, and shaping young minds. Though the mediums appear radically different, the f ..read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes Looking for convenient course creation, customization and setup in your WebAssign course? Course Packs offer a free collection of ready-to-go assignments carefully chosen by subject matter experts. In addition to our Scaffolded Course Packs for Developmental Math and Mindset Module Course Packs, the newest Course Pack style can be found in the 8th edition Waner/Costenoble Applied Math titles. These Course Packs provide materials that are formed into a solution for your entire course.   Your full course solution   Explore the first of our Applied Mat ..read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes Emails, texts, social media, oh my ― distractions, distractions. According to a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 65% of students said they get distracted by digital devices, while 59% get distracted by other students using devices. No matter how you teach, whether online, in-person or hybrid, as an instructor, you want to engage students in your courses and ensure they fully understand (and enjoy) the subject matter. But how do you do that when it feels like you’re vying for their attention? We have a few tricks up our sleeves ..read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes Helping students help themselves is key in the Developmental Math classroom, whether your course is in-person, online or hybrid. I help students fill their knowledge gaps in a way that’s timely, meaningful and that respects their privacy and dignity. As a college-level math and statistics educator for over twenty years, I am delighted to share my best practices for guiding students to self-remediate in WebAssign. Help Developmental Math students help themselves Math remediation can be challenging. Often, each student needs remediation with different content and each stu ..read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Our virtual Empowered Educator events are led by peers and subject matter experts, covering the latest research and popular topics that matter most to higher ed instructors. They’re designed to help you grow as an educator, stay ahead of the changes within the higher education realm, network with other faculty members and pick up some practical insights and tips. For example, our February Empowered Educator conference, “Exploring GenAI in Higher Education,” included 18 highly engaging sessions that examined research, perspectives and ideas on the use of GenAI in higher ..read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes We asked over 1,000 instructors about how we could make teaching in WebAssign easier for you—and you gave us great feedback. We’re dedicated to improving your experience, prioritizing the areas of WebAssign that make the most impact on teaching and learning. With these new improvements, you can easily deliver flexible, quality content to your students—and get some of your ”you time” back. Let’s explore some of the latest WebAssign improvements and ways we’ve made your teaching experience easier.   1. Find pages faster with a more intuitive navigation You’re now abl ..read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes Adjunct professors are a hardy bunch. It’s not news to anyone in higher education that adjuncts must deal with the uncertainty and variability that comes with lack of tenure. Compounding these factors, adjunct faculty, like all faculty, are tasked with teaching students whose needs and expectations are different from those of previous generations. Here are a few quick facts about the challenges of adjunct life today: Around 70% of faculty are adjuncts, and they teach more than half of all college courses in the U.S. Most adjuncts are contract workers who must, the L.A ..read more