Resources and Articles – Page 2

The Most Overlooked Teaching Tool: Your Syllabus

Posted on June 30, 2025 (October 25, 2026) by Marion Tate

By Marion J. Tate, Ph.D. CETL, Assistant Director of Educational Development Ask any professor to list their favorite or most powerful teaching tools, and you will likely hear a list that includes classroom discussions, assignments, technology, or assessments. The syllabus, as a teaching tool, is rarely on the list (e.g., Bano et al., 2019). This […]

Creating Rubrics Using Blackboard

Posted on March 12, 2025 (October 25, 2026) by Timia Hairston

By Abigail Youngerman, CETL Instructional Designer One strategy for improving student outcomes in a course is using rubrics for assessment. Rubrics, a “…coherent set of criteria for students’ work that includes descriptions of levels of performance quality on the criteria” (Brookhart, 2013), can range from simple to complex. Rubrics are directly connected with learning outcomes […]

What is a “Flipped” Classroom?

Posted on February 12, 2025 (October 25, 2026) by Timia Hairston

By Dr. Erin Bell, CETL Contributor While the concept of the flipped classroom has been present in conversations regarding effective teaching for years (if not decades) ambiguity remains about what flipping a classroom means and how to do this effectively. Simply put, flipping the classroom means that the educator assigns certain duties to be completed […]

Developing a Culture of Academic Integrity

Posted on February 12, 2025 (October 25, 2026) by Marion Tate

By Nathan Balter Blume, CETL Instructional Designer Although academic dishonesty cannot be prevented entirely, studies have shown that some methods significantly reduce the likelihood of student cheating during online assessments. The use of online proctoring tools like Respondus LockDown Browser can reduce cheating in half, particularly when it comes to preventing actions that might not […]

Designing Assessments for Academic Integrity

Posted on January 21, 2025 (October 25, 2026) by Timia Hairston

By Marion J. Tate, Ph.D., CETL Assistant Director for Educational Development LockDown Browser and other tools are valuable for upholding academic integrity during assessments, as they help prevent cheating and unauthorized access to information. The effectiveness of these tools is significantly enhanced when paired with well-designed assessments. When assessments are effective, they reduce opportunities for […]

The Truth about LockDown Browser: The Inside Scoop

Posted on January 16, 2025 (October 25, 2026) by Timia Hairston

By Russell Davidson, CETL Associate Director for Digital Education What is LockDown Browser? Respondus is a technology company that develops assessment applications for the educational sector. One of its notable products used at Detroit Mercy is LockDown Browser. Lockdown Browser is a web browser similar to Chrome and Firefox, however, exclusively for testing. While a […]

Managing End-of-Semester Stress

Posted on December 5, 2024 (October 25, 2026) by Marion Tate

By Dr. Marion J. Tate, Ph.D., Assistant Director for Educational Development As the semester draws to a close, many faculty members face mounting stress, often compounded by the flood of emails, back-to-back online meetings, and other virtual responsibilities. The demands of personal commitments and faculty-related responsibilities such as grading and providing student support while balancing […]

Blackboard Tips for the New Term!

Posted on December 2, 2024 (October 25, 2026) by Timia Hairston

By Russell Davidson, Associate Director of Digital Education As you start thinking about setting up your courses for next term, CETL has some tips to help you along the way. These tips cover both items we get a lot of questions about around the start of a new term and Blackboard features folks might not […]

Teaching Writing and Critical Thinking with AI

Posted on August 19, 2024 (October 25, 2026) by Erin Bell

Big Picture What price your ‘AI-ready’ graduates? Perhaps we should be promoting AI resilience instead 10 reasons why AI might be overrated The political preferences of LLMs Why I’m Banning Student AI Use This Year Evaluating the efficacy of AI content detection tools in differentiating between human and AI-generated text AI-Detectors Don’t Work—Here’s Why GenAI […]

Using Multi-Media Content: Applications and Software

Posted on July 29, 2024 (October 25, 2026) by Erin Bell

Video Recording/Editing DaVinci Resolve DaVinci Resolve is the world’s only solution that combines editing, color correction, visual effects, motion graphics, and audio post-production all in one software tool! Its elegant, modern interface is fast to learn and easy for new users, yet powerful for professionals. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve OpenShot OpenShot is a cross-platform video editor, with support […]