Back to Campus: iClicker  On-Demand It's almost time to bring your students back to campus! iClicker makes it easy to create a welcoming, interactive classroom. This webinar recording is for iClicker users, old and new, who want to know what's new with iClicker and get a tour of features like updated quizzing functionality and our new Groups feature. We also discussed ways you can use iClicker in your classroom, whether it’s a traditional brick-and-mortar classroom or a hybrid approach. View the Recording! ... View more

Back to Campus: Achieve  On-Demand It's almost time to bring your students back to campus! Achieve makes it easy to create a welcoming, interactive classroom. This webinar recording is for Achieve users, old and new, who want to know what's new with Achieve and get a tour of features like Goal Setting and Reflection Surveys and iClicker integration, as well as see the new improvements to the Gradebook and Reports and Insights. We also discussed ways you can use these resources in your classroom, whether it’s a traditional brick-and-mortar classroom or a hybrid approach. View the Recording! ... View more

 Teaching in Stereo: Strategies for Class Participation Nov. 1 @ 1PM ET A year of teaching on Zoom showed faculty that having students participate using their voices isn’t the only meaningful kind of participation. How can we take a more inclusive, accessible approach to class participation in our classrooms, whether they’re virtual or in person? In this workshop, we’ll consider principles and practices to turn our classes into learning communities where students can learn from and with each other. WATCH RECORDING ... View more

How WE Achieve: Using Goal Setting and Reflection Surveys to Create Closer Connections with Students Nov. 7 @ 12PM ET In this webinar, Dr. Mollie Anderson will share how she uses the Goal Setting and Reflection Surveys in Achieve. These surveys not only boost student metacognitive and study skills, they also provide instructors deep insight into student demographics and needs--in their own words. Mollie describes how she uses this data to empathize with her students, tailor her teaching to suit the unique makeup of each class, and even intervene with individual students when they need her help the most. You'll come away from this webinar with ideas for how you can use Goal Setting and Reflection surveys in your own class to create closer connections with students than ever. WATCH RECORDING ... View more

WATCH RECORDING    Digital Tools in the Post-Covid Age: Using "Read and Practice" to Foster Mental and Emotional Health Among College Students Oct. 13 @ 11AM ET In this webinar, Dr. Vaughn Scribner explains how Read and Practice helped him to empathize with students and help them with their mental well-being during Covid, and how he plans on integrating these findings in the post-Covid landscape. REGISTER NOW! ... View more

Reconsidering the Value of Education Dec. 12 @ 12PM ET College enrollments have declined steadily in recent years with hundreds of thousands of prospective students choosing not to pursue a degree. Students have to weigh the cost of college against the value they’ll take away from it. We all have a role to play in helping students realize the greatest possible value from their investment in their education. Join the Macmillan Learning team and a panel of experts for a conversation about what an education offers students, the decisions they have to weigh, and how we can work to provide value to every student. What You’ll Take Away: An overview of the state of college enrollments An understanding of the role that instructors can play in making courses feel worthwhile for students Ideas for making courses feel more relevant for students WATCH RECORDING ... View more

Addressing and Preventing Bias in Educational Technology Nov. 17 @ 1PM  Join the Macmillan Learning team and a panel of experts for a discussion about how to avoid bias in educational technology. What you’ll take away: Examples and impact of bias in educational technology; Tips for identifying equitably developed content and technology; Teaching tips for using technology to improve equity outcomes in your courses. WATCH RECORDING ... View more

Emphasizing Academic Integrity in Every Classroom Oct. 19 @ 12PM ET New tools have created countless ways for students to cheat – and growing academic and socio-economic pressures have created more reasons for them to do so. some they might not even realize are dishonest. Join the Macmillan Learning team and a panel of experts for a conversation about mitigating cheating by fostering strong academic integrity in students. What you'll take away: An overview of the state of academic integrity today; An understanding of the value of focus on promoting integrity over monitoring and punishing cheating; and Knowledge of strategies that can be used to emphasize the importance of academic integrity with students. WATCH RECORDING ... View more

Promoting Critical Thinking Through Active Learning    Sept. 29 @ 2PM ET Research has consistently shown that active learning strategies require students to use and even develop higher-order thinking skills. Bringing active learning into the classroom can have many benefits, including the ability to help students build and reinforce critical thinking skills. Join the Macmillan Learning team and a panel of active learning experts for a conversation about using active learning strategies to help students analyze information and creatively solve problems.  What You’ll Take Away:  An understanding of how active learning differs from passive learning; an overview of the cognitive skills that active learning can help students develop and practice; ideas for active learning strategies that you can use in your courses that can help support the development of long-term critical thinking skills. WATCH RECORDING ... View more

How to use iClicker and Tech Tools to Build Connection with Students and Keep your Sanity Sept. 12 @ 12PM ET Let’s be real: it’s a stressful time to teach. It’s also a stressful time to learn. Connection is more important than ever. Learn how to re-invigorate your class with a few simple tech tools and practices. WATCH SESSION NOW! ... View more

It's almost time to bring your students back to campus! Achieve makes it easy to create a welcoming, interactive classroom. This webinar is for Achieve users, old and new, who want to know what's new with Achieve and get a tour of features like Goal Setting and Reflection Surveys and iClicker integration. We’ll also discuss ways you can use these resources in your classroom, whether it’s a traditional brick-and-mortar classroom or a hybrid approach. WATCH NOW! ... View more

It's almost time to bring your students back to campus! iClicker makes it easy to create a welcoming, interactive classroom. This webinar is for iClicker users, old and new, who want to know what's new with iClicker and get a tour of features like Focus Mode and Anonymous questions. We’ll also discuss ways you can use iClicker in your classroom, whether it’s a traditional brick-and-mortar classroom or a hybrid approach. WATCH NOW! ... View more

Now that you've figured out the content you want in your course, you need to assign that content in a way that makes sense for you and your course goals.  First, you need to figure out when you want those assignments to be due, and I would recommend a consistent pattern so students aren't caught unaware. Many instructors use the due date and time of 11:59pm on Sunday, but certainly others make sure the readings and adaptive quizzes are done just before each class (so maybe 9:45am for a M/W/F class that starts at 10am) but have homework done the day after class (so maybe 11:59pm on T/R) and quizzes every other week on Sunday night. You need to do what makes sense for you and your teaching style--but again, I would advocate for consistency, wherever possible, that you can outline in your syllabus.  You also need to determine the settings for each assignment. Maybe for a quiz, you let students only take it 1 time, but for a homework, you let a student have 3 attempts. Maybe you drop the lowest 1 grade in the category quiz but the lowest 3 grades for anything in the category of homework, if you assign more homeworks. Maybe the adaptive quizzing is worth 25% of the students' overall grade in Achieve, 25% for homework, and 50% is for summative quizzes or tests. And, of course, you need to determine how much the work in Achieve counts toward the overall course grade. All of this info, of course, should appear in the syllabus as well.  (For more information on the assignment settings and gradebook settings, check out the links to the knowledge base.)  Good luck as you work through the details of creating all your assignments in Achieve!    ... View more

When creating a new course in Achieve, you will often be presented with the option to start with a pre-built course or browse resources. Each of these options has pros and cons, which we will describe below. The help articles listed below will also give you some insight into next steps once you have decided whether to start with a pre-built course. Start with a Pre-built course Add resources to your course   Pre-built courses Pre-built courses: Are a great starting point for beginner instructors who would like a default approach to organizing their course Are organized into units according to the text on which your course is based Have a wide variety of curated resources already added to the course based on what is typically used or recommended Have even more resources available to add from the Content Library if you'd like to supplement what comes with the pre-built course The items in a pre-built course are already added to your course and do not need to be added from the Content Library, but you can always remove them or add more. You can choose from the items added to your course which ones you would like to assign with a due date and points. Bulk assigning may be more difficult in a pre-built course If you would like to assign items in bulk in a pre-built course, you will have to find each of the items in the course and check the box for it. In some cases, it may be easier to find and select resources to assign in bulk when browsing resources in the Content Library because it has a search feature. However, if the item is already added to your course (as many will be when using a pre-built course), you will not be able to assign it in bulk using the Content Library. The checkboxes will be greyed out and not allow you to select the item for bulk assigning.   If you choose to Browse Our Library Of Content rather than Start With A Pre-Built Course, you will no longer have the option to use the pre-built course. Make sure this is the option you want before you select it. (If you choose not to use the pre-built course and later decide you'd like to try it, you can do so only if you create a new course.) Browsing resources rather than using a pre-built course allows you to: Search for and add only specific resources to your course (You can type in a term to search for, or filter items by Chapter/Topic, Resource Type, or Recommended Use) Easily create your own units and course organization as you add items to your course Easily assign items or change their visibility as you add them to your course If you're not sure, start with a pre-built course A pre-built course gives you a starting point to work from when building your course. You can still add resources or remove any you don't like. You can also add or remove units and reorganize resources in the pre-built course. The only drawback of using a pre-built course is that it may be more cumbersome to assign items in bulk or organize items in your course, since you can't do it as part of the process of adding them. ... View more

Now that you've figured out your Achieve course delivery method, you need to determine how you want to manager you sections. A Section Manager with sections is the easiest way to manage the content of multiple sections from one place-- the Section Manager. It’s also the easiest way to manage course sections of the same course taught by multiple different TAs/instructors. However, Section Managers do have certain limitations. In Achieve, you can create course sections under a Section Manager. All of the sections are copies of the Section Manager course, and depending on settings you choose, they may inherit changes from the Section Manager.  How does a Section Manager work? Section Managers do not allow the following actions. These actions would instead be taken in each course section. Enrolling students Viewing assignment scores or completion information in the assignment list, gradebook, and reports Creating due date exceptions or student-specific assignments Creating groups of students Performing LMS integration How do the sections work? The course sections under the Section Manager have two different permission sets: Restricted Access and Full Access. In general, Restricted Access is used when you want changes in the Section Manager to flow down into the sections. Restricted Access instructors have limitations on the changes they can make within the course, while Full Access instructors have complete control over the content. The differences between these section types will be covered in more and more detail throughout this article. Is a Section Manager with sections the right set up for me? A Section Manager with sections is the easiest way to manage the content of multiple sections from one place-- the Section Manager. It’s also the easiest way to manage course sections of the same course taught by multiple different TAs/instructors. However, Section Managers do have certain limitations. You will not be able to integrate your Section Manager with an LMS or enroll students in it. You will only be able to set up integration with the section courses under the Section Manager once those have been created. You will not be able to customize the name, course code, or course start/end dates for each section. This information will be inherited from the Section Manager. You will not be able to edit Diagnostic activities once sections are created. The alternative to creating a Section Manager with sections would be to create copies of a single course (not tied to a Section Manager). Functionally, this is almost exactly the same as creating Full Access sections. The only benefit of creating single course copies is that they can have unique course names and start/end dates, while Full Access sections can only inherit this information from the Section Manager. There are also drawbacks to using single course copies. A course coordinator can quickly add an instructor or TA to a Full Access section, but this is not possible for a single course copy. This would have to be done through Macmillan Learning Customer Support. Also, this setup only allows you to add content items you create to a single course, rather than all of your sections. See the table below for further comparison. Comparison of section/course types Below is a table with a brief comparison of the different section types under a Section Manager (Restricted Access and Full Access) vs. course copies that are not tied to a Section Manager. We'll cover the differences between Restricted and Full Access sections in more detail later in this article.     Restricted Access section Full Access section Course Copy (not tied to a Section Manager) Who controls how content is organized in the section course? Section Manager instructor Full Access section instructor Course Copy instructor Who controls who has instructor access to the section courses? Section Manager instructor Section Manager instructor Macmillan Customer Support Can I customize the course info such as the course name, course code, start and end dates? No, it’s inherited from the Section Manager No, it’s inherited from the Section Manager Yes Newly created Files and Links from the Section Manager are automatically added to the section course Yes Yes No, but you can add these manually Newly created Assessments and Writing assignments from the Section Manager are automatically added to the section course Yes Yes No, you can only add these to one course Receives changes to the content of Assessments from the Section Manager Yes No No Receives changes to the content of Writing Assignments from the Section Manager Yes No No Receives changes to the Target Score and Topics for LearningCurve Adaptive Quizzes and Read & Practice assignments from the Section Manager Yes No* No Receives changes to Diagnostic assignments from the Section Manager No No No Receives changes to the content of the course from the Section Manager Yes No No Section instructor can change the content in the section course or assignments No Yes Yes Section instructor can change assignment settings such as due date and points Yes Yes Yes *Full Access sections will receive changes to LearningCurve Adaptive Quizzes and Read & Practice assignments from the section manager only if the assignment has never been opened in that Full Access section. For more instructions, go here to create a Section Manager and see how to manage those sections as well. (And, as always, talk to your local representative, specialist, or sign up for a training if you want more information about how these choices apply to you and your course goals.)   ... View more