Teaching/Instruction
The University of Houston offers all faculty a subscription to Magna Commons, an online, cloud-based professional development resource for faculty and administrators. All faculty have on-demand access to a library of the best Magna Online Seminars. Because all seminars are online, users can access this resource whenever and wherever they are. Watch seminars at home, at work, in a group, on a tablet, or even on a smartphone.
See a list of Magna Commons Courses below, grouped by topic. Use the dropdown to choose a topic area. Learn how to access your course subscription on the Magna Commons page.
Classroom
- 10 Ways to Engage Your Students on the First Day of Class
- 10 Ways to Improve Blended Learning Course Design in 2014
- 7 Counseling Skills All Student Affairs Professionals Need
- 9 Ways to Use Class Discussion to Promote Transformation
- A Good Start: Helping First-year Students Acclimate to College
- Active Learning That Works: What Students Think
- Are Group Exams a Viable Testing Option?
- Assessment Strategies for the Flipped Classroom
- Best Practices in Flipped Class Design
- Can I Safely Use Facebook with Students for Class Interaction?
- Classroom Management 102: Working with Difficult Students
- Concept Mapping: How Visual Connections Can Improve Learning
- Connect Learning Across Courses with Curriculum Mapping
- Connecting with Students in Large-Section Classes
- Conversations with Students: Methods That Engage & Motivate
- Creating a Campus Culture of Acceptance for Online Education
- Dealing with Student Behaviors That Compromise Learning
- Everybody Present: Mindfulness in the Classroom
- Experiential Learning Inside the Classroom
- Faculty Members and FERPA, ADA Section 504, and Title IX: How to Use the Fundamentals of These Regulations to Better Identify and Resolve Potential Problems
- Five Strategies to Engage Today's Students
- Four Strategies to Engage the Multicultural Classroom
- From Rucksack to Backpack: Ensuring Student Veteran Success
- Handling Annoying, Disruptive and Dangerous Students
- Helping Introverts Thrive in an Active Learning Classroom
- How Administrators Can Avoid Social Media Landmines
- How Can Document Sharing Tools Help Students Collaborate?
- How Can Google Docs Help Foster Productive Collaboration?
- How Can I Avoid Communication “Misfires” with Students?
- How Can I Capture Students' Interest in the First 5 Minutes?
- How Can I Communicate to Engage Students and Encourage Learning?
- How Can I Encourage the Growth Mindset with Three Simple Tips?
- How Can I Get Started With the Virtual Classroom?
- How Can I Get Students to Take Responsibility for Their Own Learning?
- How Can I Improve My PowerPoint Presentation Skills?
- How Can I Incorporate a Group Poster Session into my Class?
- How Can I Keep Students Engaged with Instructor Presence?
- How Can I Learn Student Names?
- How Can I Minimize Cheating in the Classroom?
- How Can I Promote Deep Learning through Critical Reflection?
- How Can I Reduce Student Apathy and Increase Motivation?
- How Can I Use Discussion to Facilitate Learning?
- How Can I Use Icebreakers to Connect with Students?
- How Can I Use Twitter to Improve Teaching and Learning?
- How Can Student Learning Begin Before the First Day of Class?
- How Do I Accommodate Student Veterans with Disabilities?
- How Do I Address Teasing and Bullying Behavior in the Classroom?
- How Do I Assign Students to Groups?
- How Do I Build Community in My Classroom?
- How Do I Choose Between Synchronous and Asynchronous Activities?
- How Do I Create a Climate for Learning in My Classroom?
- How Do I Create and Implement Microlectures?
- How Do I Create the Ideal Learning Environment for Modern Learners?
- How Do I Discuss Academic Integrity During the First Class?
- How Do I Get More Students to Participate in Class?
- How Do I Get Started with Service-Learning?
- How Do I Include Introverts in Class Discussions?
- How Do I Promote Civil and Thoughtful Engagement in the Classroom?
- How Do I Stay Calm When Students Push My Buttons?
- How Do Master Teachers Create a Positive Classroom?
- How Do Mini-lectures Improve Student Engagement?
- How Do Prepared Students Change the Way I Teach?
- How Flexible Should I Be With Non-Traditional Students?
- How Should I Respond to Wrong (or Not Very Good) Answers?
- How to Create a Transformative Learning Experience for Students by Managing Hot Moments and Difficult Discussions in the Classroom
- How to Deepen Learning through Critical Reflection
- How to Integrate Self-Regulated Learning into Your Courses
- Improve Participation in College Classrooms: How to Create a Discussion Strategy that Will Increase Student Learning and Engagement
- Is Team Teaching Right for Me?
- Is There a Solution to Students Multitasking in Class?
- Learner-Centered Technology: Aligning Tools with Learning Goals
- Lecture Alternatives: Four Strategies to Engage Students
- Leverage Social Media to Fuel Student Engagement & Learning
- Linking, Embedding & Streaming: What’s Legal? What’s Not?
- Managing Staff Change: Admissions Teams in Transition
- Managing Student Discipline Issues Legally and Effectively
- Motivating Students: Four Steps to Dynamic Classes
- Motivating Students: From Apathetic to Inspired
- Overcoming Implicit Bias in Higher Education
- Prepared Students: The Secret's in the Assignment Strategy
- Seven Strategies to Enhance Learning through Group Work
- Seven Ways to Increase Student Attention and Learning
- Should I Encourage Experiential Learning During Class? How?
- Should I Take Attendance?
- Simple Strategies to Create an Inclusive Classroom for Gender Variant Students
- Student Incivility: Strategies to Prevent and Respond to Conflict
- Teaching Non-Traditional Students: An Asset-Based Approach
- Teaching Unprepared Students: Strategies that Work
- Ten Ways to Actively Engage Your Students
- The Flipped Approach to a Learner-Centered Class
- Tools and Techniques for Promoting Academic Integrity
- Transgender Students and Employees: How to Comply with the Latest Title IX Guidance
- Using Group Work to Promote Deep Learning
- Wake Them Up! Engaging Students in the 21st Century Classroom
- What Are 5 FAQ's About Faculty Roles in the Flipped Class?
- What Are the Three Worst Mistakes to Make in the Classroom?
- What Can I Do to Increase Student Retention?
- What Do I Do If I Suspect a Student Has Asperger's Disorder?
- What if a Student Asks a Question I Can't Answer?
- What Is Storyboarding? And How Can It Help Me Flip My Class?
- What Is the Role of Communication In Teaching Excellence?
- What Kinds of Questions Encourage Student Interaction?
- What Should I Do When a Student Challenges My Authority?
- What Should I Do When a Student Cheats?
- What Works and What Doesn't When Teaching Large Classes?
- Where Can I Find Flippable Moments in My Classes?
- Why Students Cheat and What We Can Do About It
Course
- Can Service-Learning Work in My Discipline?
- How Can Backward Design Make My Courses More Accessible?
- How Can Grading Policy Options Influence Student Learning?
- How Can I Assess Critical Thinking with Objective Items?
- How Can I Assess Critical Thinking with Student-Created Work?
- How Can I Connect Students' Interests to Course Content?
- How Can I Create Meaningful Assignments for My Students?
- How Can I Design Copyright-Compliant Courses?
- How Can I Design Critical Thinking into My Course?
- How Can I Effectively Use Class Preparation Assignments?
- How Can I Enhance Class Using Story, Popular Media and Objects?
- How Can I Enhance Students’ Self-Regulated Learning Skills?
- How Can I Gain Valuable Insight from Course Evaluations?
- How Can I Help Student Veterans Transition to Campus?
- How Can I Help Students Develop Critical Thinking Skills?
- How Can I Help Students See that Sweat—Working Hard and Smart—Is Key to Their Success?
- How Can I Improve Lessons with a 4-step Plan?
- How Can I Make My Course Content More Accessible?
- How Can I Make My Exams More about Learning, Less about Grades?
- How Can I Make My Exams More Accessible?
- How Can I Make My Multiple Choice Tests More Effective?
- How Can I Make the Activities in My Course More Inclusive?
- How Can I Move My Teaching Forward at Midcareer?
- How Can I Structure a Flipped Lesson?
- How Can I Teach Critical Reflection in STEM Courses?
- How Can I Teach Routine Courses with Energy and Enthusiasm?
- How Can I Transform My Tests into Learning Tools?
- How Can I Use a Total Point System to Clarify Grading?
- How Can I Use Frequent Student Feedback to Improve My Courses?
- How Can I Use Informal Writing as Part of a Low-stakes Grading Strategy?
- How Can I Use Low-stakes Quizzing to Enhance Learning?
- How Can I Use Student Feedback to Improve My Teaching?
- How Can I Use Technology to Create Custom Automated Feedback?
- How Can I Use Technology to Improve Learning?
- How Can I Use Voice Feedback to Improve Student Learning?
- How Can Objects and Analogies Improve My Teaching?
- How Can Rubrics Make Grading Easier and Faster?
- How Can Students Use Self-Compassion to Reduce Test Anxiety?
- How Do I Convert a F2F Course to a Hybrid Course?
- How Do I Create Engaging Threaded Discussion Questions?
- How Do I Create Ideal Assessments for Modern Learners?
- How Do I Design Courses to Enhance Student Veterans' Success?
- How Do I Develop a High-Impact Capstone Course?
- How Do I Get Students to Come to Class Prepared?
- How Do I Get Students to Read Their Assignments Before Class?
- How Do I Give Feedback that Improves Student Writing?
- How Do I Use FLCs to Strengthen Institutional Assessment?
- How Should I Handle Pushy Parents?
- In Blended Courses, What Should Students Do Online?
- Is Your Syllabus Sending the Wrong Message?
- Learner-Centered Teaching - Where Should I Start?
- Should I Use ADDIE as a Design Map for My Blended Course?
- What Activities and Assignments Promote Critical Thinking?
- What Are Five Tips for Writing Effective Learning Outcomes?
- What Are the Secrets to Making Highly Effective Educational Videos?
- What Are the Secrets to Providing Highly Effective Feedback to Students?
- What Can I Learn From Student Ratings?
- What Do I Need to Know About Referring Students for Help?
- What Do Modern Learners Expect from Their Instructors?
- What Does Copyright Ownership Mean to Me?
- What Ethical Issues Lurk in My Grading Policy?
- What Is Blended Learning?
- What Is Essential in a Grading Policy?
- What Is the Best Way to Grade Participation?
- What Key Concepts Improve Student Learning and Memory?
- What Key Factors Influence Test Performance?
- What Learning Activities Help Student Veterans Succeed?
- What Three Things Could I Do to Improve My Blended Course?
- 10 Strategies for Enhancing Learning in Introductory Courses
- Accommodating Faculty Mental Health Conditions under the ADA
- An Integrated Approach to Student Exams
- Assessment Strategies for Flipped Learning Experiences
- Below the Surface: Strategies for Deep and Lasting Learning
- Best Practices for Designing Successful Blended Courses
- Beyond Course Design: Planning for Successful Facilitation
- Beyond Coverage: Backward Design for Disciplinary Thinking
- Building Strategies for Competency-Based Learning
- Changes to the Clery Act Handbook: How to Stay Compliant with New Requirements
- Choosing and Using Group Activities in the College Classroom
- Clearing 4 Common Hurdles in State Authorization Compliance
- Competency-Based Education at Community Colleges
- Course Design Strategies to Enhance Critical Thinking Skills
- Designing & Teaching a Course with a Critical Thinking Focus
- Designing and Teaching a High-Impact Capstone Course
- Evidence-Based Teaching in Higher Education: Strategies to Improve Student Learning
- Flex Learning: Helping Students Choose Their Path to Success
- Getting Started with Classroom Assessment Techniques
- Grading Strategies to Promote Student and Faculty Success
- How the Brain Learns: Implications for Teaching and Learning
- How to Implement Brain-Based Learning Strategies in Your Courses
- Learning Assessment Techniques: How to Integrate New Activities that Gauge What and How Well Students Learn
- Managing the Adjunct Pool for Consistent Learning Outcomes
- Online Teaching Toolkit: Evaluate & Improve Your Teaching
- Refresh Your Course with Straightforward Design Changes
- Service-Learning Course Design: What Faculty Need to Know
- Strategies for Making Your Courses Relevant and Engaging
- Taming the Monster: Rethinking the Role of Content
- Teaching Critical Thinking to Students: How to Design Courses That Include Applicable Learning Experiences, Outcomes, and Assessments
- Team-Based Learning: Strategies for Getting Started
- The Flipped Classroom: Strategies to Overcome Student Resistance and Increase Student Engagement
- Tools and Techniques for Improving Course Accessibility
- Using Brief Interventions to Maximize Student Learning
- What to Teach When There Isn't Time to Teach Everything
- Who Am I When I Teach? Understanding Teaching Persona
- Writing Better Multiple-Choice Questions
Leadership
- 10 Skills to Increase Your Community's Diversity Competence
- 15 Practical Strategies to Re-energize Mid-career Teachers
- 23 Practical Strategies to Help New Faculty Thrive
- Academic Freedom and Free Speech: What You Need to Know
- Academic Restructuring: Guidelines for Academic Leaders
- Campus SaVE Act: What You Need to Know
- Considering the Courage and Practice of Teaching
- Faculty Evaluation and Review: Guidelines for Getting it Right
- Fostering a Collegial Environment: Guidelines for the Department Chair
- Giving Peer Feedback on Teaching: Trust, Reciprocity & Data
- How Can I Better Manage Difficult Conversations with Faculty?
- How Can I Give Negative Peer Feedback That Leads to Change?
- How Can I Measure My Faculty Development Center's Impact?
- How Good Is Good Enough?: Setting Benchmarks or Standards
- How Should I Coach an Underperforming Colleague?
- How to Effectively Lead Change in Higher Education
- How to Evaluate the Impact of Faculty Development Programs
- Improving Financial Management in Academic Programs
- Leading Change: A Framework for Department Chairs
- Measuring Learning: The Ultimate Teaching Evaluation
- Negotiation and Conflict Management for Academic Leaders
- Nine Essential Traits of the Effective Professor
- Outcomes-Based Assessment of Teaching & Learning Centers
- Policies, Practices for Supporting Non-Tenure Track Faculty
- Recruiting a Racially Diverse, Culturally Competent Faculty
- Seven Steps for Dealing with Problem Faculty
- Successfully Implementing Your Strategic Plan
- Three Keys to Effective Decision-making for Academic Leaders
- Using Motivational Interviewing to Engage & Motivate Faculty
- What Can I Do About Feeling Tired, Stressed, and Burned Out?
Legal Issues
- Advanced Online Seminar: Transgender Students and Creating a Safe, Inclusive, and Legally Compliant Environment
- How Recent Copyright Court Cases Affect Distance Education
- How to Track Out-Of-State Activities and Stay in State Authorization Compliance
- Legal Issues in Hiring, Promotion, and Tenure: How Colleges and Universities Can Hire the Right Faculty and Reduce the Risk of Costly Litigation
- Legal Landscape of MOOCs: 5 Issues that Belong on Your Radar
- Social Media in Higher Education: Legal Considerations
- The Copyright Case We've Been Waiting for: Key Lessons & Policy Changes
- The Higher Ed Act Reauthorization: What's at Stake for You?
- The Latest GSU Ruling: New Fair Use Standards
Mentoring
- How Can I Be an Effective Mentor?
- How Can I Be an Effective Mentor?
- How Can I Be an Effective Mentor?
- How Can I Best Learn from My Mentor?
- How Can I Build a Successful Faculty Development Program?
- How Can I Build Momentum for Change with Short-term Wins?
- How Can I Create a Sense of Urgency for Change?
- How Can I Effectively Mentor Students?
- How Can I Identify and Overcome Obstacles to Change?
- How Can I Write Better Letters of Recommendation?
- How Do I Create a Successful Faculty Mentoring Program?
- How Do I Motivate an Unmotivated Colleague?
- How Do I Prepare a SoTL Article for Publication?
- How Do I Use Controversial Issues to Build Cognitive Skills in My Students?
- How Does Grit Team with a Growth Mindset to Cultivate Lifelong Learning?
- How Should I Manage Conflict Within My Department?
- What Steps Can I Take to Foster a Collegial Department?
Online Teaching
- A Framework for Managing Compliance and Accreditation Cycles
- A Guide to Video Communication for Online Instructors
- Accessibility in Distance Education: Issues for a New Administration
- Applying Recent Copyright Court Decisions to Distance Ed
- Apps & Web 2.0: Legal Issues in Using the Internet in Class
- Are You Offering Quality Online Education? How Do You Know?
- Assessing Prior Online Teaching Experience & Competency
- Beyond the Discussion Board: How Can I Engage Online Students?
- Blended Learning Toolkit: Design, Deliver, Assess
- Can I Safely Send Group Text Messages to Students for Free?
- Changes to Copyright & Fair Use: What Faculty Need to Know
- Customized Course Review Rubrics: How to Take the Quality of Your Online Courses to the Next Level
- Data Driven Decision Making for Online Instructional Design
- Designing Online Learning to Spark Intrinsic Motivation
- Effective Writing Assessment in the Online Classroom
- Efficient and Effective Feedback in the Online Classroom
- Engage Online Students with Targeted Feedback
- Ensuring Online Program Quality with the eQuality Model
- E-Student Affairs: Supporting Online Learners
- Evaluating Online Teaching for New or Veteran Administrators
- Five Crucial Steps to Launching a New Online Degree Program
- Five Tips to Engage Students Outside of the Online Classroom
- Five Ways to Build e-Learner Confidence with Low-Stakes Grading
- Five Ways to Improve Interaction in Your Online Courses
- Front Door Services to Attract & Graduate Adult Learners
- Growing Successful Online Programs at a Small School
- How Can Course Design Help Prevent Online Cheating?
- How Can I Adapt an Online Faculty Peer Review Tool?
- How Can I Add Interactivity to My Online Content?
- How Can I Align Technology with My Pedagogical Goals?
- How Can I Create an Online Service Learning Project?
- How Can I Design Academic Integrity into My Online Programs?
- How Can I Develop Online Instructor Presence?
- How Can I Engage Adjunct Online Faculty in Professional Development?
- How Can I Enhance the Impact of Feedback in Online Classes?
- How Can I Evaluate Online Teaching If I Haven't Taught Online?
- How Can I Get Useful Feedback to Improve My Online Teaching?
- How Can I Implement UDL in the Next 20 Days?
- How Can I Implement UDL in the Next 20 Minutes?
- How Can I Implement UDL in the Next 20 Months?
- How Can I Lay the Groundwork for Positive Technology Changes?
- How Can I Make Online Group Projects More Effective?
- How Can I Save Time and Money by Repurposing Online Content?
- How Can I Set Time Management Priorities in Online Teaching?
- How Can I Use Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) Online?
- How Can I Use Peer Mentoring to Improve Online Teaching?
- How Do I Align Learning Objectives with Technology Using Backward Design?
- How Do I Create a Lively, Yet Functional, Online Classroom?
- How Do I Create a Welcoming Online Classroom?
- How Do I Create an Online Education Policy and Procedures Manual?
- How Do I Design Innovative Assignments to Foster Learning in the Online Classroom?
- How Do I Establish an Engaging Atmosphere in My Online Classroom?
- How Do I Monitor and Support Online Faculty?
- How Do I Overcome Faculty Barriers to Online Teaching?
- How Do I Set Students Up for Success in Online Courses?
- How Do I Use VoiceThread for Online Student Discussion?
- How Does My Department Become More Strategic with Online Programming?
- How Should I Manage My Online Course?
- How to Design and Facilitate Online Discussions that Improve Student Learning and Engagement
- How to Observe and Evaluate Online Teaching
- How to Orient New Instructors to an Online Course FAST!
- I'm Teaching Online Next Term. What Do I Have to Know?
- Improve Participation to Enhance Learning in Online Courses
- Managing Instructor Presence in the Online Classroom
- Meeting the New Distance Ed Accreditation Requirements
- Online Discussion: Practices to Boost Learning & Engagement
- Online Group Work: Making It Meaningful and Manageable
- Online Learning that Lasts: How to Engage & Retain Students
- Online Learning through Instructional Design
- Online Learning: How Administrative Accountability Can Significantly Improve Student Success & Retention
- Peer Reviews of Online Teaching: What Works Best?
- Retaining Online Students with a First Year Experience Program
- Setting Expectations for Online Instructor Performance
- Should I Incorporate Social Media into My Online Classroom?
- Should You Expand Your Online Initiative? Key Considerations
- Six Practical Strategies to Improve Your Online Course
- State Authorization: Strategies for Online Providers
- Strategies to Manage High Enrollment Online Courses
- Successful Support Services for Online and Distance Learners
- Successfully Adopting Blended Learning at Your Institution
- Ten Critical Steps in Choosing a Learning Management System
- The Academic Leader's Toolkit for Evaluating Online Teaching
- The Flipped Approach to Online Teaching and Learning
- The Top 10 Faculty Challenges for Teaching Online
- Three New Distance Education Regulations: How to Comply
- Thriving as an Online Learning Administrator: 12 Strategies
- Understanding and Combating Resistance to Online Learning
- Universal Design for Learning: How to Improve Satisfaction and Retention for Students at All Learning Levels
- Using Student Analytics for Online Course Improvement
- Using Universal Design to Support All Online Students
- What Are the Best Questioning Strategies for Enhancing Online Discussions?
- What Are the Communication 'Musts' in an Online Class?
- What Do Adjunct Faculty Need to Be Successful in the Online Classroom?
- What Do Students Want in Online Courses?
- What Three Things Should I Do Each Week to Engage Online Students?
- Where Can I Find Free Tools for Holding Online Office Hours?