This session focused on strategies to promote active learning during synchronous online course meetings, often conducted via Zoom. Participants explored tools like breakout rooms, polling, shared documents, and games to enhance student engagement. The workshop also covered methods for structuring course sessions to carve out time for student questions, classroom assessment, and discussions, fostering a more interactive and dynamic learning environment.

Attribution: Synchronous Online Strategies, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This session introduced participants to diverse assessment methods beyond traditional quizzes and discussions. Attendees explored creative techniques such as storytelling, journaling, role-playing, and scavenger hunts to expand their assessment practices and engage students in new and meaningful ways.

Attribution: Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs), by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This session focused on incorporating games and game elements into course design to enhance student engagement. Participants explored the differences between Game-Based Learning (GBL) and Gamification, various types of GBL, and its benefits. The session also covered tools and strategies for effective instructional design, along with key educational concepts like Scaffolding, Self-Determination Theory, Distributed Content Delivery, Active Learning, and Task Engagement. Participants were provided with resources and guidance to develop their own GBL or gamified designs, fostering both engagement and enjoyment in their courses.

Attribution: Game Based Learning (GBL), by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0.  

This session introduced participants to essential Canvas tools and strategies for ensuring course materials are accessible to all students. Topics included adding “Alt” tags to images, using headings to organize content, and attaching closed captions to videos, empowering instructors to create more inclusive learning environments.

Attribution: Creating Accessible Content, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0.   

This session explored the growing need to integrate in-person and online instruction through hybrid learning, also known as blended learning. Participants examined strategies for combining traditional face-to-face teaching with online learning activities, maximizing the benefits of both approaches to create flexible and engaging learning experiences. The session focused on pedagogical best practices, technological tools, and instructional design principles that help educators navigate the challenges of hybrid teaching and create cohesive, dynamic learning environments.

Attribution: Hyped for Hybrid, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0.    

This session focused on leveraging Canvas tools—Groups, Collaborations, and Discussions—to enhance social interaction in online courses. Participants explored strategies for using these tools effectively to foster meaningful student connections. The session also emphasized the importance of social interaction in creating engaging learning experiences and discussed techniques for promoting robust conversations, collaborative projects, and opportunities for students to share and connect.

Attribution: Social Interaction & Connection, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0.     

This session explored how to create, manage, and align course-level outcomes to support learning that is explicit, measurable, transferable, and empowering for students. Participants learned strategies for tracking student mastery more effectively, ensuring that their teaching practices promote clear and meaningful learning progress.

Attribution: Mastery Learning, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This session guided participants on enhancing their Canvas pages by integrating multimodal content, such as text, images, videos, and external resources. While simplicity in design is important, this session focused on how to enrich pages to create more engaging and dynamic learning environments.

Attribution: Creating Content-Rich Pages, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0.  

This session  guided participants through setting up peer-reviewed assignments in Canvas, aimed at fostering students' higher-order thinking skills (HOTs). By engaging in activities that require analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, students can enhance their critical thinking and feedback abilities.

Attribution: Setting up Peer-reviewed Assignments, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0.   

This session explored Educational Escape Rooms (EERs), which combine entertainment with educational objectives through immersive puzzles and mysteries. Participants examined the benefits of EERs, reviewed findings from a year-long implementation at WOU, and learned about the process of creating and developing EER challenges on campus. The session provided insights into how EERs can be effectively used to achieve learning goals.

Attribution: Pedagogy of An Educational Escape Room (EER), by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This session focused on enhancing your Canvas course by integrating various tools and resources. Participants learned how to add external tools from the Canvas App Center, explored recommended tools supported by Academic Innovation, and were introduced to Canvas Commons—a digital library for sharing and accessing educational content. The session included demonstrations on how to share course items to Canvas Commons and import materials from the library into your course.

Attribution: External Tool and Canvas Commons, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This session explored the "flipped classroom" approach to course design, where significant course content is delivered online and asynchronously, shifting traditional lectures out of in-person meetings. By assigning lecture content as homework, classroom time is freed up for students to engage in activities that apply concepts from the lectures, collaborate on ideas, and practice new skills, enhancing both interaction and skill development.

Attribution: Flipped Learning, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This presentation explores how AI tools can support the development and publishing of Open Educational Resources (OER), with a focus on licensing, attribution, ethical use, and practical workflow integration at Texas A&M.

Attribution: AI-powered OER Development and Publishing, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Have you been curious about using AI-created ancillaries? In this session, we will demonstrate how to create AI-powered ancillaries with open educational resources to save time and effort in your course preparation.

Attribution: Save Time on Prep: Create Ancillaries with AI and OER, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

In this session, we talked about publishing second editions of OER. We presented Functions, Trigonometry, and Systems of Equations as a case study for publishing second editions and explained the processes and decisions that went into producing this second edition.

Attribution: Publishing second editions of OERs, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni & Vanessa Coffelt, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This session provided practical guidance for OER creators on complying with the latest DOJ Title II accessibility requirements. 

Attribution: How to Comply with the New DOJ Accessibility Rule, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This session introduced Pressbooks as a tool for creating, editing, and publishing digital books. Participants learned how to navigate the platform, structure content, and leverage its features to produce accessible and engaging educational materials.

Attribution: Intro to Pressbooks, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This session examined the importance of metadata in book publishing. Participants explored what metadata is, who is responsible for creating it, why it matters for discoverability, licensing, and effective distribution of digital content, and how to input it in Pressbooks.

Attribution: Book Metadata: Who, What, and Why, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0.  

This session focused on customizing the visual presentation of a Pressbooks title. Participants learned how to select, apply, and adjust themes to create a professional and visually appealing reading experience.

Attribution: Changing the Theme of a Book in Pressbooks, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This session demonstrated how to efficiently duplicate books or individual chapters in Pressbooks. Participants learned techniques for saving time when creating new editions or versions while preserving formatting and content structure.

Attribution: Clone Books and Chapters in Pressbooks, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This session explored embedding multimedia elements, such as images, audio, and video, into Pressbooks content. Participants learned best practices for enhancing engagement and accessibility without compromising usability.

Attribution: Embed Multimedia in Pressbooks, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This session introduced the glossary tool in Pressbooks, showing participants how to create searchable, linked definitions within their books. The session highlighted ways to support learning and comprehension for readers.

Attribution: How to Use the Glossary Tool in Pressbooks, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This session covered how to connect Pressbooks content with Canvas courses. Participants learned to embed readings, quizzes, and other interactive elements, creating a seamless learning experience for students.

Attribution: Integrating Pressbooks Content and Assessments in Canvas, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

This session demonstrated how to create and integrate interactive H5P content in Pressbooks. Participants explored techniques to add quizzes, interactive videos, and other activities that enhance student engagement and learning outcomes.

Attribution: Using H5P in Pressbooks, by Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni, licensed under CC BY 4.0.