Gamification can play a critical role in developing creative and engaging learning, but it’s essential that we understand what we are doing when we implement game mechanics—whether we are designing an entire game, or merely adopting some gamification principles to a specific learning experience. Below is a document outlining several…

One of the key pieces of digital and educational ministry is understanding how the digital space intersects not only with our spiritual lives, but with our physical lives as well. The Venn center of each of these three areas is critical to understand as we are planning any digital ministry.…

In May of 2020, I had a conversation with Pastor Todd Frederick of Pathway Community Church in Jackson, MI. This is not a church that I attend, but several members of my friend group did at the time, and Todd and I have a passing acquaintance with each other. He…

This is an interesting, important (and difficult) artifact for me to include, as it highlights a failure of mine. But I think failure, reflection, and growth are key steps in the creative process—all success teaches us is to repeat the same things over and over again, not try new approaches.…

One of the key aspects of any well-designed learning experience is empathy with your learners. You have to be able to understand the challenges they face, the barriers to their learning, and their strengths as well. But unfortunately, this is isn’t something that is often on the minds of faculty…

The first step to creating any engaging, meaningful learning experience is understanding the fundamentals of good learning design. The attached is a series of adjectives and attributes to be shared with educators, that can help them to build learning designs that go beyond ‘sage on a stage’ learning. It then…

This was a presentation I gave at the Techno-rama faculty development event at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. It’s intent was to help faculty make good choices for how they want to deliberately integrate tech into their classrooms in a digital age, and teaches them concepts like: Broadening their definition of…

This is a workshop that I presented to faculty at Kalamazoo Valley Community College as part of our efforts to continually design more equitable, inclusive learning experiences. As learning and work continues to move more fully into the digital space, it’s essential that we take care to ensure we are…

Any design and work in the digital age must account for those that don’t have access to the same tools, resources, and opportunities that are afforded to the majority of learners. The following is a guide for faculty members, librarians, and instructional designers at Spring Arbor University on how they…

The attached document is a list of strategies and tips to be shared with educators on how to effectively manage cognitive load (CL) in any online, blended, or face-to-face learning environment. It takes into account different types of CL, including intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load, giving educators the resources they…