Recent Events & Interviews
Teaching in Higher Ed podcast with Bonnie Stachowiak Karen Costa discusses how to support ADHD learners on episode 384 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast.
Supporting ADHD Learners (OLT): September 29th, 2021, 12pm ET to 1:30pm ET In this one-hour, interactive webinar, facilitator Karen Costa will host a discussion of strategies to support ADHD learners including students, faculty, and staff. You'll learn about different ways of understanding ADHD, how to integrate a strengths-based, challenge-aware approach that will benefit all learners, and you'll have a chance to brainstorm solutions with Karen and your colleagues. The one-hour webinar will be followed by a 30-minute Q & A session. Join us to learn together about how we can better support this underserved and often misunderstood group of learners. This event will be recorded and all registrants will receive a copy of the recording after the event.
The Agile Academic podcast with Rebecca Pope-Ruark Rebecca and Karen talk about what it means to make higher education more humane and to be a higher educator.
Leading Lines podcast with Derek Bruff Today on the podcast, we’re sharing a conversation with two people who have some very useful thoughts to share about why students report an increase workload during the pandemic, while faculty report making intentional choices to scale back the work required in their fall courses. Betsy Barre is the executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching at Wake Forest University, where she also teaches in the department of the study of religion. Karen Costa is a faculty developer specializing in online pedagogy and trauma-aware teaching and author of the 2020 book, 99 Tips for Creating Simple and Sustainable Educational Videos. We talk with them about this workload paradox during pandemic teaching, how it presents itself, where it comes from, and, perhaps most importantly, what instructors can do to mitigate it in the coming semester.
Public Workshop: Trauma-Aware Teaching: January 14th, 2021 11am ET to 12pm ET This 60-minute interactive workshop is aimed at higher educators who want to develop a trauma-aware teaching practice. Faculty, staff, faculty developers, and campus leaders will all benefit from attendance.Trauma-aware teaching is not about trying to become counselors for our students. It’s about developing empathy and telling the truth about who lives, learns, and teaches inside of our classrooms. Together, we will process definitions of trauma and its impacts on both teaching and learning. We'll identify numerous strategies that you can start implementing today. Finally, we'll work on creating a vision for a long-term approach to developing your trauma-aware teaching practice. Space is limited to the first 100 registrants. $15 donation suggested.
Is This Mine? Developing a Scope of Practice for Online Educators (OLC Accelerate Discovery Session): November 21, 2020 As online education continues to expand, scope of practice, a model used within the healthcare fields to identify the breadth of one's professional role and responsibilities, is increasingly relevant. In the online classroom, what is ours? What do we let go of, and what do we address? What do we take on as our own, and what do we refer to others? With the advent of humanizing online learning practices and a growing awareness around mental health, addiction, and trauma, online educators can benefit from developing a scope of practice to guide their work. In this discovery session, participants will discuss the potential of applying this model to our work, and begin crafting a potential scope of practice for today's online educators.
Humanizing Online Learning Pre-Conference Workshop (OLC Accelerate): November 6, 2020 During this workshop we will delve into humanizing online learning, what it is, why it’s important, and how it is critical to student learning and institutional success. In addition to the examination of different aspects of the topic, we will create actionable items based on research and applied effective practice for faculty, staff, and administrators to take back and implement in blended and fully online learning environments as well as creating a culture of humanizing online teaching practices.
No More Boring Online Classes: Creating Exciting, Engaging, and Effective Online Sessions (NISOD): October 15, 22 & 29 With the advent of new technologies that make teaching via live, online (a.k.a. synchronous) sessions easier and more accessible, learning how to facilitate these types of sessions is a critical skill for all educators. Most of us have attended an online class, presentation, or webinar that was just plain boring. During this workshop, participants do some major boredom-busting! Are you ready to create and facilitate sessions that leave your learners wanting more? Do you want to boost your online presence? Are you ready to harness the power of learning sciences to create humanized, fun, and positive online classes? This three-part workshop provides you with the skills needed to become an excellent online facilitator. Each module includes opportunities to connect with the facilitators and your peers to ask questions and complete a hands-on activities. This workshop will benefit anyone who wants to facilitate a great online learning experience, whether for a class, office hours, meetings, or conference presentations.
COOL (Camp Operation Online Learning) Fall-On-Call (Online Learning Toolkit): August 24th to December 18th, 2020 COOL’s Fall-on-Call is an ongoing online teaching support community for faculty teaching in asynchronous-online, synchronous-remote, and blended/hybrid modalities during the fall semester. Fall-on-Call members receive access to live online teaching support from facilitators who are active online faculty, instructional designers, faculty developers, and experts in online learning.
Online Teaching Foundation (Lumen Circles): August 24 to October 31st Lumen Circles are professional development experiences that use virtual communities of practice to connect faculty members with peers and help them hone their expertise applying teaching strategies that support student success. Grounded in evidence-based teaching practices and self-reflection, Lumen Circles work well for any faculty member, in any discipline, and at any stage of career. Contact Lumen Learning for information about upcoming circles.
Think UDL podcast: September 1, 2020 Your Humanity is an Asset: In this episode, part of our Summer 2020 series on UDL in online environments, Karen and I discuss what trauma-aware pedagogy is and how instructional videos can help with the effects of trauma on executive functions and self-regulation.
Supporting Your Child with Online Learning: A Webinar for Parents (OLC): 11am ET on August 25th FREE!!! Are you a parent of a young adult who will be learning online this fall? Join this free webinar to hear from a panel of online teaching and learning experts (and parents!) who will help you learn to manage your own stress, consider the role of routines and schedules, and gain specific strategies to support your kids during this incredibly challenging time.Parents of older elementary, middle school, high school, and college learners will benefit from this session, though all are welcome. You’ll leave this session having identified the key online learning challenges facing your family and with a plan of action to have a successful fall.
Strategies for Facilitating Live, Online Sessions (OLC): August 19-21, 2020 You'll gain the skills needed to present to students, faculty, and/or staff. Strategies will include best practices in online engagement built on a foundation of enjoyment, inspiration, and passion for teaching. Brain-based teaching strategies will help you keep people engaged and focused, harnessing the knowledge of how the brain learns best to boost your attendees' learning and growth. In addition to the live session that will model effective online presentation skills, attendees will also participate in asynchronous online discussions and complete assigned readings on effective presentation skills to maximize their learning from this event.
Camp Operation Online Learning aka COOL (Online Learning Toolkit): June 1st to July 10, 2020 Camp Operation Online Learning (COOL) is a six-week summer course design group that will guide you through the process of developing your online courses for fall. Led by dynamic facilitators who are experts in online learning, COOL is dedicated to making the course design process accessible and enjoyable for higher educators at every level of experience and technology fluency.
Lecture Breakers Virtual Summer Conference: June 16-18, 2020 Go beyond the podcast! Get more ideas, advice, and resources you can use to break up your lectures, increase student engagement, and improve learning.
oCube (Open Consortium of Undergraduate Biology Educators) Virtual Unconference: May 20, 2020 Karen Costa, the author of 99 Tips for Creating Simple & Sustainable Educational Videos presents a special, one-hour, virtual, interactive BIG.
Community Town Hall with Yellowdig: May 19, 2020 How are you building communities and engaging your learners? With COVID-19 rapidly impacting the higher ed space, building communities and getting a gauge on your students' engagement has never been more challenging. To explore ways to improve student engagement and develop a thriving community, we’ll be joined by:
- Karen Costa, online teaching & learning specialist; writer for Women in Higher Education.
- Ernie Perez, director of Educational Technology at Boston University.
The Community Building Town Hall is hosted and moderated by Bryan Alexander, futurist, educator, speaker, and writer. This short-series is sponsored by Yellowdig, a community building platform that enables an institution’s entire ecosystem to connect, learn and engage.
Trauma-aware Online Teaching (OLC Ideate): April 28, 2020
Karen Costa will lead attendees in a discussion of the impact of toxic stress and trauma on both teaching and learning in the online environment. Attendees will gain an understanding of how trauma impacts our bodies and minds, resources for further study, and a list of typical ways that trauma manifests in the classroom. The concept of scope of practice will be introduced, and attendees will have an opportunity to discuss how to both proactively and reactively support themselves and their students, both during and after the COVID-19 crisis.
Trauma-Informed Pedagogy (Tea for Teaching podcast): April 22, 2020
The global COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in serious disruptions in everyone’s lives. Traumatic experiences reduce our ability to focus, to learn, and to be productive. While this has always been true, it is an issue that has often been ignored by higher ed faculty. In this episode, Karen Costa joins us to discuss how trauma-informed pedagogy can be used to help our students on their educational journey in stressful times.
The Big, Online Learning Experiment (Steelcase Education Webinar): April 15, 2020
In response to the COVID-19 global health crisis, educational institutions are finding themselves participating in an unparalleled experiment on remote learning. As educators and students adapt to the new realities of teaching and learning online, it is clear that the rules have changed.
Using Live, Online Sessions for Instructional Continuity (Online Learning Consortium): March 9, 2020
This pop-up webinar from OLC workshop facilitators Karen Costa & Clea Mahoney will help higher education institutions to rapidly and effectively use live, online sessions to support continuity of instruction in the face of crises, disasters, or other unanticipated events.
Why and How I Use Videos in My Online Teaching (Online Learning Toolkit): March 4, 2020
This 30-minute session will cover critical themes that support the use of video in online teaching and learning (faculty success, faculty-student connections, sustainable teaching practices, and humanizing OL).
Supporting ADHD Learners (OLT): September 29th, 2021, 12pm ET to 1:30pm ET In this one-hour, interactive webinar, facilitator Karen Costa will host a discussion of strategies to support ADHD learners including students, faculty, and staff. You'll learn about different ways of understanding ADHD, how to integrate a strengths-based, challenge-aware approach that will benefit all learners, and you'll have a chance to brainstorm solutions with Karen and your colleagues. The one-hour webinar will be followed by a 30-minute Q & A session. Join us to learn together about how we can better support this underserved and often misunderstood group of learners. This event will be recorded and all registrants will receive a copy of the recording after the event.
The Agile Academic podcast with Rebecca Pope-Ruark Rebecca and Karen talk about what it means to make higher education more humane and to be a higher educator.
Leading Lines podcast with Derek Bruff Today on the podcast, we’re sharing a conversation with two people who have some very useful thoughts to share about why students report an increase workload during the pandemic, while faculty report making intentional choices to scale back the work required in their fall courses. Betsy Barre is the executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching at Wake Forest University, where she also teaches in the department of the study of religion. Karen Costa is a faculty developer specializing in online pedagogy and trauma-aware teaching and author of the 2020 book, 99 Tips for Creating Simple and Sustainable Educational Videos. We talk with them about this workload paradox during pandemic teaching, how it presents itself, where it comes from, and, perhaps most importantly, what instructors can do to mitigate it in the coming semester.
Public Workshop: Trauma-Aware Teaching: January 14th, 2021 11am ET to 12pm ET This 60-minute interactive workshop is aimed at higher educators who want to develop a trauma-aware teaching practice. Faculty, staff, faculty developers, and campus leaders will all benefit from attendance.Trauma-aware teaching is not about trying to become counselors for our students. It’s about developing empathy and telling the truth about who lives, learns, and teaches inside of our classrooms. Together, we will process definitions of trauma and its impacts on both teaching and learning. We'll identify numerous strategies that you can start implementing today. Finally, we'll work on creating a vision for a long-term approach to developing your trauma-aware teaching practice. Space is limited to the first 100 registrants. $15 donation suggested.
Is This Mine? Developing a Scope of Practice for Online Educators (OLC Accelerate Discovery Session): November 21, 2020 As online education continues to expand, scope of practice, a model used within the healthcare fields to identify the breadth of one's professional role and responsibilities, is increasingly relevant. In the online classroom, what is ours? What do we let go of, and what do we address? What do we take on as our own, and what do we refer to others? With the advent of humanizing online learning practices and a growing awareness around mental health, addiction, and trauma, online educators can benefit from developing a scope of practice to guide their work. In this discovery session, participants will discuss the potential of applying this model to our work, and begin crafting a potential scope of practice for today's online educators.
Humanizing Online Learning Pre-Conference Workshop (OLC Accelerate): November 6, 2020 During this workshop we will delve into humanizing online learning, what it is, why it’s important, and how it is critical to student learning and institutional success. In addition to the examination of different aspects of the topic, we will create actionable items based on research and applied effective practice for faculty, staff, and administrators to take back and implement in blended and fully online learning environments as well as creating a culture of humanizing online teaching practices.
No More Boring Online Classes: Creating Exciting, Engaging, and Effective Online Sessions (NISOD): October 15, 22 & 29 With the advent of new technologies that make teaching via live, online (a.k.a. synchronous) sessions easier and more accessible, learning how to facilitate these types of sessions is a critical skill for all educators. Most of us have attended an online class, presentation, or webinar that was just plain boring. During this workshop, participants do some major boredom-busting! Are you ready to create and facilitate sessions that leave your learners wanting more? Do you want to boost your online presence? Are you ready to harness the power of learning sciences to create humanized, fun, and positive online classes? This three-part workshop provides you with the skills needed to become an excellent online facilitator. Each module includes opportunities to connect with the facilitators and your peers to ask questions and complete a hands-on activities. This workshop will benefit anyone who wants to facilitate a great online learning experience, whether for a class, office hours, meetings, or conference presentations.
COOL (Camp Operation Online Learning) Fall-On-Call (Online Learning Toolkit): August 24th to December 18th, 2020 COOL’s Fall-on-Call is an ongoing online teaching support community for faculty teaching in asynchronous-online, synchronous-remote, and blended/hybrid modalities during the fall semester. Fall-on-Call members receive access to live online teaching support from facilitators who are active online faculty, instructional designers, faculty developers, and experts in online learning.
Online Teaching Foundation (Lumen Circles): August 24 to October 31st Lumen Circles are professional development experiences that use virtual communities of practice to connect faculty members with peers and help them hone their expertise applying teaching strategies that support student success. Grounded in evidence-based teaching practices and self-reflection, Lumen Circles work well for any faculty member, in any discipline, and at any stage of career. Contact Lumen Learning for information about upcoming circles.
Think UDL podcast: September 1, 2020 Your Humanity is an Asset: In this episode, part of our Summer 2020 series on UDL in online environments, Karen and I discuss what trauma-aware pedagogy is and how instructional videos can help with the effects of trauma on executive functions and self-regulation.
Supporting Your Child with Online Learning: A Webinar for Parents (OLC): 11am ET on August 25th FREE!!! Are you a parent of a young adult who will be learning online this fall? Join this free webinar to hear from a panel of online teaching and learning experts (and parents!) who will help you learn to manage your own stress, consider the role of routines and schedules, and gain specific strategies to support your kids during this incredibly challenging time.Parents of older elementary, middle school, high school, and college learners will benefit from this session, though all are welcome. You’ll leave this session having identified the key online learning challenges facing your family and with a plan of action to have a successful fall.
Strategies for Facilitating Live, Online Sessions (OLC): August 19-21, 2020 You'll gain the skills needed to present to students, faculty, and/or staff. Strategies will include best practices in online engagement built on a foundation of enjoyment, inspiration, and passion for teaching. Brain-based teaching strategies will help you keep people engaged and focused, harnessing the knowledge of how the brain learns best to boost your attendees' learning and growth. In addition to the live session that will model effective online presentation skills, attendees will also participate in asynchronous online discussions and complete assigned readings on effective presentation skills to maximize their learning from this event.
Camp Operation Online Learning aka COOL (Online Learning Toolkit): June 1st to July 10, 2020 Camp Operation Online Learning (COOL) is a six-week summer course design group that will guide you through the process of developing your online courses for fall. Led by dynamic facilitators who are experts in online learning, COOL is dedicated to making the course design process accessible and enjoyable for higher educators at every level of experience and technology fluency.
Lecture Breakers Virtual Summer Conference: June 16-18, 2020 Go beyond the podcast! Get more ideas, advice, and resources you can use to break up your lectures, increase student engagement, and improve learning.
oCube (Open Consortium of Undergraduate Biology Educators) Virtual Unconference: May 20, 2020 Karen Costa, the author of 99 Tips for Creating Simple & Sustainable Educational Videos presents a special, one-hour, virtual, interactive BIG.
Community Town Hall with Yellowdig: May 19, 2020 How are you building communities and engaging your learners? With COVID-19 rapidly impacting the higher ed space, building communities and getting a gauge on your students' engagement has never been more challenging. To explore ways to improve student engagement and develop a thriving community, we’ll be joined by:
- Karen Costa, online teaching & learning specialist; writer for Women in Higher Education.
- Ernie Perez, director of Educational Technology at Boston University.
The Community Building Town Hall is hosted and moderated by Bryan Alexander, futurist, educator, speaker, and writer. This short-series is sponsored by Yellowdig, a community building platform that enables an institution’s entire ecosystem to connect, learn and engage.
Trauma-aware Online Teaching (OLC Ideate): April 28, 2020
Karen Costa will lead attendees in a discussion of the impact of toxic stress and trauma on both teaching and learning in the online environment. Attendees will gain an understanding of how trauma impacts our bodies and minds, resources for further study, and a list of typical ways that trauma manifests in the classroom. The concept of scope of practice will be introduced, and attendees will have an opportunity to discuss how to both proactively and reactively support themselves and their students, both during and after the COVID-19 crisis.
Trauma-Informed Pedagogy (Tea for Teaching podcast): April 22, 2020
The global COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in serious disruptions in everyone’s lives. Traumatic experiences reduce our ability to focus, to learn, and to be productive. While this has always been true, it is an issue that has often been ignored by higher ed faculty. In this episode, Karen Costa joins us to discuss how trauma-informed pedagogy can be used to help our students on their educational journey in stressful times.
The Big, Online Learning Experiment (Steelcase Education Webinar): April 15, 2020
In response to the COVID-19 global health crisis, educational institutions are finding themselves participating in an unparalleled experiment on remote learning. As educators and students adapt to the new realities of teaching and learning online, it is clear that the rules have changed.
Using Live, Online Sessions for Instructional Continuity (Online Learning Consortium): March 9, 2020
This pop-up webinar from OLC workshop facilitators Karen Costa & Clea Mahoney will help higher education institutions to rapidly and effectively use live, online sessions to support continuity of instruction in the face of crises, disasters, or other unanticipated events.
Why and How I Use Videos in My Online Teaching (Online Learning Toolkit): March 4, 2020
This 30-minute session will cover critical themes that support the use of video in online teaching and learning (faculty success, faculty-student connections, sustainable teaching practices, and humanizing OL).