Teaching and Learning with Technology’s Engaging Students Series (ESS) focuses on course revisions to synchronous and asynchronous online learning environments intended to help keep students focused and participating. ESS was launched to support Penn State instructors as they prepared to teach their summer 2020 courses online and to provide them with best practices for online instruction.

The first four weeks of ESS offerings attracted over 300 attendees who took in presentations and participated in work sessions hosted by faculty, instructional designers, and other university experts. Those sessions provided critical guidelines for creating meaningful experiences for all aspects of virtual courses. 

Due to ESS’s initial popularity and the continuing need for the delivery of engaging online content, the series is being extended throughout the academic year. These sessions will continue to introduce synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning considerations, promote the alignment of technology tools with learning outcomes, and allow for revisions with support from consultants and colleagues. Bring your syllabus, exams, assignment sheets, and lesson plans for these sessions. 

Additionally, the free and open access ESS Pressbook is available online. It is the home for resources and content from past ESS sessions.

Upcoming ESS presentations:

Engaging Students with Interactive Global Experiences via Multimedia

Tues., March 16: 10:00 a.m.-Noon

The infusion of multimedia within a course can deliver instructional content in a multi-sensory approach. Through curated and live experiences focused on providing global perspectives, as well as easy-to-utilize tools to create your own interactive experiences to provide global context, you can engage your students with opportunities they would not have otherwise especially given the current barriers to travel.
Register here and use the following link to attend the presentation.