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Faculty who teach online know that it comes with distinct benefits, with the ability to reach learners who might not otherwise have access to your course prominent among them.

But as meaningful as that is, the logistical challenges online teaching can present means we don’t necessarily think of it as a “joyful” exercise, particularly in those courses with limited live interaction between instructor and students.

This month on our Designed for Learning podcast, host Jim Lang talks with Flower Darby, an author and longtime advocate for online teaching who has written a new book titled The Joyful Online Teacher: Finding Our Fizz in Asynchronous Classes. It has much to offer anyone teaching in the online modality, whether your course is entirely on-demand or features regular live sessions.

Notre Dame Learning’s Office of Digital Learning, in collaboration with the Office of Information Technology’s Teaching and Learning Technologies team, invites proposals for the 2026 Digital Learning Sprints. These short-term projects, spanning one to three months, aim to help Notre Dame faculty explore innovative tools, strategies, or focused topics in teaching and learning. In addition to expert support, successful applicants will receive a stipend of $3,000.

See potential project focus areas and apply at learning.nd.edu/sprints. Applications due April 6.

Notre Dame Learning’s Lab for AI in Teaching and Learning (LAITL) is pleased to announce a new AI Mini-Grant program for Notre Dame instructors with funding at three tiers—$300, $500, and $1,000—to help you respond to the evolving reality of generative AI in education. These mini-grants are for self-directed projects, with recipients consulting the LAITL team when/if needed. You may submit a mini-grant proposal for something you would like to try or have already integrated into your teaching.

See sample project ideas and apply at learning.nd.edu/ai-grants. Applications due April 10.

*Note: For a list of all upcoming workshops, visit the Notre Dame Learning events calendar.

On April 9, Notre Dame Learning’s Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence is excited to host Rice University’s Anne-Marie Womack, an award-winning teacher, the creator of AccessibleSyllabus.com, and the coauthor of the book Inclusive College Classrooms. Her talk, “Teaching for Access: Flexible Practices for Better Classrooms,” will explore topics such as flexible due dates, inclusive participation strategies, accessible syllabus language, image description assignments, and equity-centered policies.

Canvas course sites. Explainer videos. Annotated PDFs.

These are a few of the many technological tools available to help you, as an instructor, design courses and assignments that make the material come alive in new and interesting ways or simply help students navigate the class.

Whenever you use these tools, it is with the intention that all students will be able to access them easily. But ensuring that is the case takes purposeful action.

To help with this, we have published a brief guide to making digital learning content accessible along with affiliated resource articles, linked from the guide, detailing how to create accessible Canvas sites, course documents, PowerPoints, and course videos.

Steve Varela, EDUCAUSE Shop Talk Podcast

Steve Varela, director of teaching & learning technologies at Notre Dame, recently appeared on EDUCAUSE’s Shop Talk podcast along with Elena Mangione-Lora, a teaching professor of Spanish language and culture at the University, and Madeline Link, a doctoral student in Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute, to discuss their research on using smart glasses to support accessibility in teaching and learning. Listen to the podcast.

You can also check out our website for more presentations and publications from the Notre Dame Learning team.

Want to stay up-to-date on the latest news from Notre Dame Learning? Join our community of more than 1,500 people on LinkedIn to get stories, announcements about upcoming opportunities, faculty and student reflections on teaching and learning, and more.

Notre Dame Learning houses the Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence and the Office of Digital Learning, bringing together their teaching and learning expertise along with that of the OIT’s Teaching & Learning Technologies group to serve as the hub of learning excellence and innovation at Notre Dame.

Do you teach at Notre Dame? You can request a consultation or explore opportunities for collaboration by submitting this form.

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