Faculty Development Community Portal
Welcome – From the Editor
Welcome to the MERLOT Faculty Development Portal, featuring educational resources for teaching and learning in higher education, both in face-to-face and online environments. You are invited to join MERLOT—it's free—and participate in this growing community of professionals. Our faculty development collection contains materials covering teaching strategies, teaching challenges, instructional design, learners, and learning and assessment
Learn more about us below! Thanks for dropping by.
Florence Williams
Editor, MERLOT Faculty Development Board
florence.williams@ucf.edu
We are recruiting! If you are interested in serving on the Faculty Development Board as a Peer Reviewer, or as a Board Member? Contact the Faculty Development Editor, Florence Williams, to get connected.
Showcase
The MERLOT Faculty Development Portal is designed to help you learn about the variety of instructional strategies and issues that could help you become a better teacher. The resources you’ll find in the Pedagogy Portal should apply to teaching a variety of disciplines. This collection of resources should help you answer questions that teachers ask:
- What are the choices and challenges for AI in education?
- How do I teach large lecture classes effectively?
- How do I engage my students in problem-based learning?
- Do I have to teach adult learners differently than recent high school graduates?
New Materials
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Closed Captioning: Learning Descript Basics
The purpose of this assignment is to get students familiar with the basics of working with Descript, a closed captioning...
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Closed Captioning: Larger Project
Create closed captions for 5-7 minutes of video. The video can be: original video that you create on a topic you confirm...
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Closed Caption: Style & Readability Practice
This assignment requires learners to register for and use the free version of Descript. While limited, and best used for...
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Closed Caption: Reading Summary
This assignment can be used in regular reading/writing/response forums. Record a closed captioned video summary of one...
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Beyond Compliance to Universal Design of OER
This is a 27-slide presentaton that introduces that there is no “typical student”. How do we create OER that meet the...
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AI Literacies in Practice
Higher education stands at a pivotal moment, one defined not simply by technological disruption, but by the choices we...
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Practical AI for Higher Ed: Designing, Assessing and Innovating
AI is transforming higher education—are you ready? Join us for a dynamic, hands-on session exploring real strategies for...
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Shaping Expertise, Bias and Responsibility in the Age of AI
People are becoming more comfortable with artificial intelligence (AI), but that familiarity can lead to complacency. In...
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New Research Data Reveals that Faculty Workload can Drop with Daily AI Use
D2L, a global learning technology company, and Tyton Partners have collaborated to release the annual Time for Class...
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Beyond the Classroom: How Learning Design Adapts Across Industries
One of the most exciting aspects of the learning design profession is how it has expanded far beyond the walls of...
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Practical AI for Higher Ed: Designing, Assessing and Innovating
This is an hour-long recording of a webinar on academic uses of Artificial Intelligence tools. The goals are: Learn how...
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Faculty Development - UDL Principles for Process Improvements
Universal Design for Learning Principles for Process Improvements Attribution This work is a derivative of the research...
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Lecture Breakers
Podcast · Barbi Honeycutt, Ph.D. -- The Lecture Breakers podcast is the place where college professors, instructors, and...
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The Scholarly Teacher | Blog Posts
We believe in fostering the pursuit of Scholarly Teaching. Posts address contemporary issues and offer practical...
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Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to understand AI Adoption in Higher Education
Faculty and staff in higher education face uncertainty about appropriate AI use in academic settings, particularly...
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Faculty-Development-and-GenAI-Playbook
This playbook offers guidance on the scope and direction of Generative AI (GenAI) policies and discussions in today’s...
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Learning Innovation Festival (LIFE) 2025 - AI Video Avatars: Augmenting Blended Learning with HeyGen
Prof Tamas Makany will share how he augmented his digital communication class with AI-generated video avatars. He will...
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Becoming reflective educators : perspectives from social work scholar-practitioners / edited by: Leonora Foels and A Nicole Pfannenstiel.
Writing is a process but it requires reflection, practice, reading, and goals. As an extension of graduate pedagogy, this...
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BCI 3030: Creative Tools and Technology, Unit 1 (1).docx
In this unit, we will focus on an overview of creative tools and technologies, including: Types of creative tools and...
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Engaging Students from Day One: A Practical Guide for Educators
Engaging Students from Day One: A Practical Guide for Educators offers a curated collection of strategies and tools...
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AI Readiness Skills - A Common Minimum Framework for Upskilling Humans
This paper proposes a framework of a skill-set called "AI Readiness Skills" that every human needs to survive & succeed...
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Authoring Meaningful Alternative Text
Alternative text, also known as alt text, is descriptive text that conveys the meaning of an image in digital content....
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Making Connections
A wisdom perspective suggests that effective mentoring programs should: Avoid matching people within narrow disciplines...
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Connecting the Dots: Improving Student Outcomes and Experiences with Exceptional Instructional Design
This book is a collection of stories about the importance of instructional design as it relates to the creation of...
New Members
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Anthony BolanosSan Jose State University -
Dr. S. MAGARA JOTHI LAKSHMISri Sarada College for Women Autonomous Tirunelveli -
JOANNA BachourAssumption College -
Carlos Lopez MercadoBall State University -
Merla MolinaFayetteville Police Department 911 Communications -
Simone AntakiSimone Antaki -
Giulia ForsytheBrock University -
China JenkinsHouston Baptist University -
Carlise TuckerTalladega College
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Ajay Kumar SrinivasanNaryana -
Cathy LeppoldArkansas State University - Mountain Home (2-year campus) -
Amarender VadiveluUniversity of Puthisastra Phnom Penh
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Richard SheltonState University of New York System -
HEATHER RIEDLEEducation and Early Childhood Development -
Lana PankiwUniversity of Calgary -
majid kyavarRHC.AC IR -
Chelsey Reaneyacademia veritatis -
Caprinia TaylorPaul Quinn College -
Mary EarpChowan College -
ZIsis StogiannisUniversity of Western Macedonia -
Sherri DavisLawson State Community/Technical College -
Alexandra SalasDelMarVa Digital Learning Association -
Jamie NelsonTennessee Board of Regents
Materials by Discipline
- Assessment (150)
- Course and Instruction Design (326)
- Creating or Using Digital Media (273)
- Intellectual Property (22)
- Learners and Learning (159)
- Policies (54)
- Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (195)
- Selecting and Using Tools (1232)
- Support and Training (193)
- Teaching Challenges (68)
- Teaching Strategies (414)
Faculty Dev on the Web
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Faculty, staff honored for excellence in advising | E-News | West Virginia University
Apr 13, 2026 05:11 AM PDT
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Intro and Objectives - The UD Project Learning Community
Apr 12, 2026 09:41 AM PDT
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2026 Universal Design for Learning Fellows Cohort - UBC TLEF
Apr 12, 2026 07:49 AM PDT
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Dehati Madam Story | Yashoda Lodhi | Self Made Success Story - YouTube
Apr 11, 2026 12:20 PM PDT