“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
– Malcolm X

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Dear Faculty,

As we begin to conclude the Spring ‘25 semester throughout our campus community, keep in mind that each semester provides a fresh and novel experience for us as educators and our students. Please reflect on this semester’s experience through a lens of, ‘How did Spring ‘25 students fare and how can we best prepare to welcome the Class of 2029 to our campus?’ Let’s take a moment to acknowledge the unique challenges this incoming group of students may carry with them—and to encourage thoughtful, responsive approaches in our classrooms and campus culture.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly shaped the incoming Class of 2029 cohort’s K-12 experience. Many have experienced:

• Learning gaps due to extended periods of remote or interrupted instruction.
• A digital divide, with unequal access to technology and reliable internet.
• Mental health challenges rooted in prolonged screen time and social isolation.
• Exposure to teacher shortages and high turnover causing effects on continuity in learning.
• The impacts of underfunded schools and limited access to academic resources.
• Chronic absenteeism leading to inconsistent learning progress.
• A divergent exposure to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) frameworks potentially shaping their expectations and values.

Considering this, we encourage all faculty to approach their work with this cohort with compassion, flexibility, and innovation. Some thoughtful strategies include:

• Adaptability in instruction—remaining open to shifting teaching methods and integrating technology to meet learners where they are.
• Personalized learning—tailoring instruction to address individual academic needs and recognizing that students are entering with varying levels of preparation.
• Social-emotional learning (SEL)—building space for reflection, connection, and well-being as students navigate life transitions.
• Collaborative and active learning—reintroducing the social, hands-on elements of learning that were lost during remote schooling.
• Work-based learning and career pathways—helping students connect education to future opportunities in meaningful ways.
• Competency-based assessments—shifting from traditional models to more holistic ways of measuring understanding and growth.

We have an opportunity—and a responsibility—to meet this generation of students with empathy and creativity, and to foster environments where all students can thrive. Thank you for your continued dedication to teaching, mentoring, and shaping the future.

-The ID Team
CITS | Instructional Development

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Click a resource to watch, listen to, or read!

Challenges for the Class of ’29:

Course Favorites

Once your Canvas Dashboard fills up with course cards, only the courses you designate as “favorites” will be visible.  Depending on your teaching load, this will probably happen within the second or third term that you use Canvas. From that point on, you will need to manually adjust your “favorite” courses from time to time, usually as you’re getting ready for each new term.

In the blue Global Navigation Bar at the far left, select Courses [1] and then All Courses [2] (see screenshot below).  This will pull up a full list of all your Canvas sites. You can sort them by title, term, published/unpublished, or any of the column headings shown.

To mark a course as a favorite, click the hollow star icon [3] beside the course title to fill it in. To remove a course from favorites, click the filled-in star icon [4] beside the course title to make it hollow.  The courses with the filled-in star will appear on your Dashboard, up to a maximum of 20 courses at a time. (The mobile app shows up to a maximum of 10 courses.)

IMPORTANT! Once a course’s end date has passed, you will not be able to add it as a favorite, although you will be able to remove it from favorites.  Even though it won’t appear on your Dashboard, you will still be able to access it through the All Courses listing, [2] above.

TL;DR

“Favorite” or “unfavorite” courses to identify which course sites will show up on your Canvas Dashboard.

CANVAS BONUS CONTENT!

Don’t like the “murky” look of your course cards on the Canvas Dashboard? Clean it up by removing the Color Overlay.

On your Dashboard, click the three dots [1] and then deselect Color Overlay [2] (see the screenshot below). That will allow you to see the true colors of your course images.  The course color coding will display in a circle behind the three-dot menu on the course card. (Please note: This is a user setting, so it will apply only to your view of your Dashboard.)

• Tue, 4/22/25 at 1:30 pm – Better Discussions + Easier Grading.
• Wed, 4/23/25 @ 12:00 pm – Blackboard Preparation for Canvas Session.
• Tue, 4/29/25 at 12:00 pm – Unlocking Canvas: Mastering Weighted Grading

View a full list of Blackboard and Canvas workshops and self-paced offerings! 

Instructional Development works with faculty to…

• Explore, design, and experiment with different teaching and learning modes.
• Research and integrate technologies that can enhance teaching and learning.
• Design and develop online courses and programs.
• Write learning outcomes, design assessments, craft activities, and develop content.
• Utilize best practices for using instructional technologies.

Feel free to contact us online to book an appointment!