Blended (also called hybrid) classrooms, in which face-to-face interaction is intentionally combined with online activities to aid student learning, are becoming more and more common. Most recently, "flipped" classrooms have become a popular method for teaching because more time for active learning in-class can be gained by moving content delivery such as lecture to outside-of-class homework using technology tools such as video or lecture capture.

In Creating Wicked Students, Paul Hanstedt argues that courses can and should be designed to present students with what are known as "wicked problems" because the skills of dealing with such knotty problems are what will best prepare them for life after college. As the author puts it, "this book begins with the assumption that what we all want for our students is that they be capable of changing the world....When a student leaves college, we want them to enter the world not as drones participating mindlessly in activities to which they've been appointed, but as thinking, deliberative beings who add something to society."

Flipped learning is an approach to the design and instruction of classes through which, with appropriate guidance, students gain their first exposure to new concepts and material prior to class, thus freeing up time during class for the activities where students typically need the most help, such as applications of the basic material and engaging in deeper discussions and creative work with it. This book is for anyone seeking ways to get students to better learn the content of their course, take more responsibility for their work, become more self-regulated as learners, work harder and smarter during class time, and engage positively with course material. As a teaching method, flipped learning becomes demonstrably more powerful when adopted across departments. It is an idea that offers the promise of transforming teaching in higher education.

Advocates for the rights of people with disabilities have worked hard to make universal design in the built environment "just part of what we do." We no longer see curb cuts, for instance, as accommodations for people with disabilities, but perceive their usefulness every time we ride our bikes or push our strollers through crosswalks. This is also a perfect model for Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework grounded in the neuroscience of why, what, and how people learn. Tobin and Behling show that, although it is often associated with students with disabilities, UDL can be profitably broadened toward a larger ease-of-use and general diversity framework. Captioned instructional videos, for example, benefit learners with hearing impairments but also the student who worries about waking her young children at night or those studying on a noisy team bus.

Teaching Naked Techniques (TNT) is a practical guide of proven quick ideas for improving classes and essential information for designing anything from one lesson or a group of lessons to an entire course. TNT is both a design guide and a 'sourcebook' of ideas: a great companion to the award-winning Teaching Naked book. Teaching Naked Techniques helps higher education faculty design more effective and engaging classrooms. The book focuses on each step of class preparation from the entry point and first encounter with content to the classroom 'surprise.' There is a chapter on each step in the cycle with an abundance of discipline-specific examples, plus the latest research on cognition and technology, quick lists of ideas, and additional resources.

This book offers a comprehensive guide to the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework that makes learning processes explicit and equitably accessible for all students. Transparent instruction involves faculty/student discussion about several important aspects of academic work before students undertake that work, making explicit the purpose of the work, the knowledge that will be gained and its utility in students' lives beyond college; explaining the tasks involved, the expected criteria, and providing multiple examples of real-world work applications of the specific academic discipline.

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowing? What do we want students to understand and be able to do? What enduring knowledge is worth understanding? How will we know that students truly understand and can apply knowledge in a meaningful way? How can we design our courses and units to emphasize understanding and "uncoverage" rather than "coverage"? Understanding by Design explores these questions and provides practical solutions for the teacher-designer. The book opens by analyzing the logic of backward design as an alternative to coverage and activity-oriented plans. Though backward from habit, this approach brings more focus and coherence to instruction. Authors Wiggins and McTighe propose a multifaceted approach, with the six "facets" of understanding. The facets combine with backward design to provide a powerful, practical framework for designing curriculum, assessment, and instruction. Beyond its theories, Understanding by Design offers practical design tools, including criteria for selecting "big ideas" worthy of deep understanding, strategies for framing units of study around essential questions, a continuum of assessment methods for determining the degree to which students understand, and the WHERE framework, which enhances student engagement and "rethinking." The book concludes with a unit design template and standards to support quality control at the local level. Understanding by Design will help educators enhance their understanding of understanding, so that the curriculum and assessments they design truly focus on enhancing the understanding of their students.