What is this page? Below we share many of the resources created by ACERT and the Center for Online Learning, organized in a way to help you address specific interests and needs for your in-person, hybrid, or online courses.
What are these resources? We’ve collected recordings and presentation materials shared at the ACERT lunchtime seminars, blog posts from the ACERT website, and resources created by the Center for Online Learning. Almost all these resources were created by Hunter faculty and staff! All contributors are credited in the resources. We are grateful to everyone who contributed!
How can I get more help? You can sign up for the Center for Online Learning’s technology workshops. Or attend the ACERT Lunchtime Seminars where faculty and staff share approaches and insights from their own teaching and research with colleagues. For individual help with a tool or an activity, you can schedule an appointment with an instructional designer via the Center for Online Learning’s Bookings page. You can also find quick links to faculty support and services.
How do I learn about upcoming events? Subscribe to the ACERT mailing list (1-2 emails/week). Follow us on Instagram @HunterACERT. We also post information about upcoming events on the ACERT website and calendar.
Please note: All Hunter/CUNY tools are marked with an asterisk, and you can find more information and instructions (including on how to access the tools) on this resource page from the Center for Online Learning. All links on this Resources for Course Design page open in a new tab.
Overview
Getting ready
Assignments and activities
Feedback and grading
Inclusive teaching and learning
The tech and the tools
Online course materials
Get inspired!
Getting ready
I would like to…
- get my syllabus ready
- Innovative and inclusive syllabus design – video
- “Practices and principles in syllabus design” – blog post with additional resources
- Hunter College Syllabus checklist – recommendations based on best practices
- Make my syllabus an engaging, approachable FAQ – slide deck
- Syllabi Statements on AI by Hunter Professors – sample language to adapt
- CUNY Academic Integrity Policy – website page with aspects regarding AI use highlighted in purple
- share information about Hunter resources with my students
- Services and support to share with students – resources Padlet
- Getting Started in Brightspace for Students – introduction video
- When you want to direct students to tech help – Padlet with instructions
- create orientation (“week-zero”) materials
- Orientation modules: what, why, how – resource page
- Giving students a warm welcome – blog post
- prepare my Brightspace course site
- Start of the semester reminders – checklist
- Make My Course Active (visible) to students – video tutorial
- How to Customize the Visual Table of Contents – video tutorial
- Copying Course Material – video tutorial
- make my course and course materials accessible
- Using Brightspace Ally to improve the accessibility of my course materials – video tutorial
- Creating accessible PDF and Microsoft Office* documents – instructions
- Enabling live subtitles in PowerPoint* – instructions
- Video captioning in Zoom*, VoiceThread* and YouTube – instructions
- get familiar with the equipment in my classroom
Assignments and activities
I would like to…
- start off class with engaging activities
- create moments of student interaction and feedback
- “Activities for Any Day of the Semester” – book chapter
- “What Are They Thinking? Mentimeter for Student Engagement and Feedback” – blog post (featured tool: Mentimeter)
- “Engaging Larger Classes” – blog post (featured tool: TopHat*)
- Asynchronous discussions with Brightspace – video
- have my students collaborate
- “Group Work Without the Groans” – book chapter
- How to Create Groups in Brightspace –- instructional video
- Collaborative reading and annotating with Hypothesis* – video; Hypothesis instructions and examples
- Engaging students through peer learning – video
- Using Hypothesis* for self and peer review – video
- design creative assignments for my course
- Using podcasts in teaching and research – video (featured tools: Spreaker)
- “Motivating Engagement using Meme Examples” – article
- Creating shareable e-books – video (featured tools: Book Creator and CUNY Manifold*); quick overview of Book Creator; getting started with Book Creator; getting started with CUNY Manifold*
- Demonstrate learning and research in multimedia formats – presentation slides (main featured tool: Genially)
- Public Scholarship with Students: Wikipedia Assignments — video
Feedback and grading
I would like to…
- streamline my grading
- Using the Brightspace Gradebook – instructional video
- Organizing, standardizing, and automating grading using Gradescope* – video
- Using Gradescope at Hunter – blog post
- adopt different approaches to grading
- Decentering Grades – video
- Ungrading: why rating students undermines learning (and what to do instead) – edited volume by Susan Blum (e-book available via Hunter Libraries)
- Gamified Grading – video and presentation slides
- design an alternative to the traditional research paper
Inclusive teaching and learning
I would like to…
- create an inclusive classroom
- Guiding Growth through Mentoring and Support – video
- Creating classroom culture – video
- Incorporating student identity, purpose, and belonging in the classroom – video and project descriptions (1, 2, 3)
- Teaching for social justice – video and presentations slides (1, 2, 3)
- Addressing multigenerational needs in the digital classroom – video and presentation slides
- Offering students choice in assignments – video with an example of a choice board, and “Choice Boards 101” (Catlin Tucker)
- Hunter College Equity Resources by ACERT – treasure trove
- facilitate difficult conversations
- How to encourage respectful discourse in the classroom – video
- Discussing controversial issues in the classroom – video and Norms of Engagement handout
- Leading critical conversations on race, identity, and social equity – video
- Classroom Talk for Social Change – book and critical listening exercises by Melissa Schieble, Amy Vetter, and Kahdeidra Monét Martin
- Teaching during a crisis – resources document
The tech and the tools
I would like to…
- engage with AI tools in the classroom
- Generative AI in the Classroom – playlist of all of our videos on AI
- “Examples of AI Assignments” – blog post with examples from CUNY instructors
- Generative AI Resources page – Padlet resources page
- Overview of Faculty Engagement with Generative AI at Hunter – Padlet resources page
- find the right tool for my assignment
- Matching tech tools with pedagogical purposes – video and presentation slides (1, 2)
- Technology tools for the online classroom, based on Bloom’s taxonomy – a Technology Teaching Toolkit by Natasha Nurse-Clarke
- learn more about Hunter / CUNY tools
- Find out what they are: Adobe Creative Cloud | Brightspace | Camtasia | Dropbox | Gradescope | Hypothesis | Office 365 | Padlet | SnagIt | Specialty Software | Top Hat | Turnitin | VoiceThread | Zoom
- Technology Tools page by the Center of Online Learning – more information and instructions
- Technology Workshops page of the Center for Online Learning – take a workshop
- Online EdTech Consultations – attend to get individualized help
- get familiar with Brightspace
- Learn more about the transition to Brightspace – CUNY Brightspace transition website
- Take a workshop – Hunter workshops
- Request a developmental course shell – email lms@hunter.cuny.edu
- Watch a recording of a workshop – Recordings of CUNY workshops for faculty
- Learn how Blackboard tools and functions are called in Brightspace – Brightspace Tool Equivalents
- Work with migrated sites in Brightspace – tutorial prepared by CUNY
- How to export your Blackboard course site – video tutorial
- How to import your Blackboard course into Brightspace – video tutorial
- host a virtual guest speaker
- Reserve a “Zoom kit” (wide-angle camera with tripod) at the Audio Visual Center – AV contact info
- Invite your guest speaker to your Zoom meeting – Zoom* instructions
Online course materials
I would like to…
- record my lecture
- “12 tips for recording mini-lectures” – tips
- Record using Zoom* – video and presentation slides
- Record using VoiceThread* – instructions and examples
- “How to create a VoiceThread” – instructional video
- Record using Loom – video and presentation slides
- Record using SnagIt — instructions and examples
- add subtitles to my videos
- How to autogenerate and edit captions in Brightspace videos — instructional video
- store and share large files (such as video lectures)
- create asynchronous modules
- “Asynch Done Asynch” – an asynch module about asynch modules (featured tools: Blackboard Discussion Board*, Padlet*, hypothesis*, VoiceThread*, Zoom*, SnagIt*, Mentimeter, Playposit)
- How to create modules – a step-by-step guide
- Sample modules from various disciplines – modules used in Nutrition, Classics, Mathematics, Psychology, Economics, English courses
Get inspired!
Get ideas and inspiration from your colleagues across Hunter who shared their teaching innovations during our Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 Lightning Talks!
Get inspired by this interview with Gina Riley, the winner of the 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching, and by this interview with Antonia Schroeder, the winner of the 2022 Cecile Insdorf Award for Excellence in Teaching for Part-Time Faculty.
Thank you to all of our contributors! We appreciate you.
Last updated: August 2025
