Celebrating “edX E-Learning Course Development”

On May 30, 2015 I published my first book, “edX E-Learning Course Development,” a 300-page manual for university teachers and corporate trainers designing, developing, and deploying a MOOC course for the edX platform.  The book walks a reader through eight steps to create an edX course while teaching them about the tools and techniques they need to know as an edX instructor. The eight steps are presented in eight chapters, as follows: Getting Started: an overview of MOOCs and the history of edX. Planning the Curriculum: curriculum development. Producing Videos: video production best practices. Designing Exercises: options for exercises and assessments. Integrating…

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An Inspiring Message from an Inspired Student

Teaching is a profession that can be as challenging as it is rewarding, but every now and then I am reminded why I chose this professional path. In May I received a kind and heartfelt email from Omran Al Farsi, a human resources student at the American University in the Emirates. He had been  a student in my Principles of Management class during the spring semester which had recently concluded.  The students in Omran’s class, which was one of my smallest at AUE, were uniquely mature and engaged; it felt more like a masters degree class than an undergraduate one. …

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Celebrating Ten Years of Teaching

“To be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner. I am not a teacher, only a fellow student.” — Søren Kierkegaard Inspired by the quote above (which is the anchor of my teaching philosophy), I have been learning while teaching for a decade. Ten years ago today — on Monday, June 18, 2007 — I began my career in academia when I started teaching COM 120, Effective Persuasive Writing online at what was then called Axia College (University of Phoenix‘s online junior college). It’s hard to believe that much time has passed; it feels like just yesterday when I began…

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Connecting Management Theory to Reality with Anthony Quartararo

Guest speakers offer a wonderful way to bring textbooks to life and show your students how they can connect theory with reality. I’ve had many exceptional individuals share their insights and experiences with my students. So I was thrilled when, on Saturday, November 14, 2015, Anthony Quartararo stopped by my MGT 100, Principles of Management class at American University in the Emirates (AUE). Mr. Quartararo is the President and CEO of St. Petersburg, Florida based Spatial Networks, Inc. Spatial Networks is the developer behind Fulcrum, a mobile data collection platform that you can use to build, deploy, and collect data with customized…

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