Reporting directly to the Provost, the VPLI is a newly created position that will have primary responsibility for setting Duke’s digital education strategies, including leveraging technology to bolster online, hybrid and in-person offerings; as well as advancing Duke educational experiences for undergraduate, graduate, professional, K-12, alumni and other lifelong learners through the application of innovative teaching methods and supporting technologies. Both nominations and applications are being accepted for this role.

The Learning Experience Designer will prototype and develop high-quality online learning experiences, particularly in support of Duke’s Center for Computational Thinking. Working closely with world-class faculty and staff at Duke, the LED will design online learning activities, create online courses and programs, consult on instructional design, and collaborate on innovative uses of education technology in higher education. 

As we look toward the next academic year, we are confronted with the challenge of how to scale the best new pedagogies and technologies and make them a part of the university experience for more students. The 2022 Pandemic Pedagogy Research Symposium (to be held online May 11) invites original submissions that address this critical question through empirical research and translational analyses. Submissions are in the form of an abstract (no more than 500 words) and may represent completed work or works-in-progress. Selected presenters will receive a small honorarium. 

The Collaborative Project Courses Faculty Fellows Program provides support and a peer learning community for faculty who are interested in designing Collaborative Project Courses – courses in which student learning is driven by collaborative engagement with applied projects that extend across an entire semester. Participating faculty will receive $5,000; support and guidance from pedagogy experts and experienced faculty; the option to request funding for a doctoral student; and the opportunity to collaborate on course (re)design with a group of peers from across campus. This program is a partnership between Duke Learning Innovation and Bass Connections.

Read about Cecilia Márquez's experience redesigning her Spring 2021 course through the CPC program.

On December 20, the Sakai platform was updated to give you access to more features to improve your experience using Sakai, including improvements to Lessons, the Gradebook, and Rubrics, as well as the option to use the dark theme and renaming Forums to Discussions. Our recent blog post expands on these changes and more.

The Gradescope integration with Sakai was also updated on December 20 in order to improve overall performance of Gradescope as a tool and to keep Duke’s Gradescope functionality in line with the larger Gradescope user community. This blog post highlights the new features.