The Knowledge Network for Innovations in Learning and Teaching (KNILT)

From KNILT


Welcome to KNILT, an open online knowledge space where educators can find, share, and develop new ideas to improve education for the 21st century contexts, with over 600 mini-courses for teacher learning, more than 10,000 users each week, 1.2 million users in the last 3 years.

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Join the KNILT group on Facebook for updates and networking with fellow educators.

UAlbany Public Engagement Awards celebration April 25, 2023
Announcements and updates (May. 2, 2023) — The University at Albany, State University of New York honored Dr. Jianwei Zhang with the 2023 Distinguished Public Engagement Award, recognizing his work on the KNILT project and collaborative classroom innovations with partner schools. Special thanks to our collaborating teachers, students, and school partners (more news... Archived announcements)

Overview of KNILT

KNILT is a long-term, ongoing project situated in the graduate courses and research projects led by Dr. Jianwei Zhang at the University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY) (see Zhang Research Lab). Students enrolled in these classes (e.g. instructional design and learning technology in the MS CDIT program) carry diverse expertise as PreK-12 teachers, college instructors, technologists, instructional designers, curriculum coordinators, online education specialists, and other professionals. Their expertise is brought to bear in an authentic, semester-long project. Each class member goes through the systematic processes of learning design to create an online mini-course targeting teacher learning of a high-need topic, which may focus on a new pedagogical approach, a subject-specific teaching/assessment strategy, or a new technology tool. See University at Albany news release: ETAP Students Create Mini-Courses to Empower 21st Century Educators.

Since its inception in September 2007, KNILT has accumulated more than 600 mini-courses; this number grows each semester. The mini-courses are continually used by students for peer learning within each class and across different cohort groups. The mini-courses are further made freely available to educators from all around the world, who search for new ideas, strategies, and tools to renovate their teaching. During the pandemic from January 2020 to August 2023, 1.2 million users from 230+ countries/regions have accessed the mini-courses. See KNILT:About for more information about the history, development, and outreach of the KNILT site.

Featured Mini-Courses

Below are a few examples. Check out the Repository of Mini-Courses and Instructional Cases for many more mini-courses and cases.

Safe and productive education during the COVID 19 Pandemic

Improve STEM learning and teaching

Improve literacy, language, and arts classrooms

Social studies and civic education

Support social and emotional learning

How to learn/teach online

New learning technologies, competencies and environments

New approaches to assessment and evaluation

Special education & diverse learners




This network is designed and coordinated by Dr. Jianwei Zhang who directs the Technology-Augmented Co-Creativity Lab (TaCCL) at the University at Albany's School of Education. Special thanks to the technology team at UAlbany's Academic and Research Computing Center (ARCC) and Information Technology Service for their strong ongoing support.


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