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

KNILT has got a new look with a new logo (designed by Hope Zhang, 11th-grader)

A Network of Knowledge Created by and for 21st Century Educators

Join our group on Facebook for updates and networking with fellow KNILT members and educators. Continue contributing and tapping in, wherever you are!

Announcement (May 19, 2020): Our Spring 2020 class members have created a rich set of new mini-courses, covering timely topics such as: health education, socio-emotional wellbeing and mindfulness, learning to code, games for knowledge building, collaboration, and new technologies, strategies, and assessments for literacy, art/dance, social studies, and STEM classrooms. Check out these Featured mini-courses from Spring 2020. (More... Archived announcements)

Overview

Welcome to KNILT, an open online knowledge space where educators can find, share, and develop new ideas to reform and improve education in the 21st century.

There is a growing demand for schools to continually improve and innovate in order to better prepare students for productive careers and social lives in a rapidly changing world. The Knowledge Network for Innovations in Learning and Teaching (KNILT) project, directed by Dr. Jianwei Zhang, is an open knowledge network created by/for educators to share and advance our collective know-how about productive learning in the 21st century.

A core group of contributors in this wiki-based network are graduate students in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice at the University at Albany (e.g. students in ETAP 623 Systematic Design of Instruction). Our contributors share expertise as teachers and instructors, teacher educators, curriculum coordinators/developers, instructional technologists and designers, online learning specialists, and other professionals. Our goal is to use our knowledge of learning, teaching, and technology to produce a suite of professional development resources and opportunities.

Since its inception in September 2007, KNILT has accumulated more than 550 mini-courses, which have been created using systematic processes of instructional design. These mini-courses as Open Education Resources can help educators of different levels to understand new learning approaches, environments, tools, and assessments in support of their efforts for educational improvement. As of August 19, 2019, KNILT has received a total of 17,462,411 page views from around the world.

Efforts are made to further extend this network to a broader community of teachers who are committed to educational innovation. The open resources and interactions in this network will support teachers' learning, collaboration, and inquiry as they explore new visions and practices to meet the 21st century needs.

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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.

Improve STEM learning and teaching

• Rosalie Forrester : Cognitive Apprenticeship in Health Professional Education

• Gordon Lake : Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
• Jaclyn Penney Using Literacy in the Science Classroom

• Annie Cartie: Including Personal Finance When Teaching Exponential Functions

• Becca Goess: The Design Thinking Process

• Stephanie Quill: Problem-Based Learning in the Biology Classroom

• Matthew Wolfson: Problem Based Learning in Physics

• Bobbi Scirbona: Incorporating Visualization Tools in the Science Classroom

• Melissa Connor: Using Visualizations to Teach Mathematics with Understanding

• Jamie J Woodcock: Models: an Instructional Tool

• Katie Matthews: Integrating Student Response Systems in Mathematics Instruction

• Catherine Strattner: Integrating Metacognitive Development in Mathematics Instruction

• Kaitlyn King: Problematic Mathematics: PBL designed for the math classroom

• Scott Beiter: Teaching for Conceptual Change

• Nicole Gallo: Formative Assessment in PBL Math
  

Improve literacy, language, and arts classrooms

• Ali Marshall : Project-Based Learning in the Music Classroom

• Michelle DeLace : Vocabulary Learning and Instruction in the Pre-K Classroom

• Sara Reale : English as a New Language: The Basics, Accommodations, and Co-teaching

• Mitch Scott: Authentic Text as Writing Mentors

• Valeria Elliott | Creating a PBL Spanish curriculum that empowers Heritage Speakers

• Ashley Howell: Developing the Joy of Reading in Students

• Jacqueline Wickham Blended Learning in the ELA Classroom

• Stephanie Aquino Integrating Media Literacy Skills in a Secondary ELA Classroom

• Anna Maria Wing: Writing Instruction using Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

• Cheyenne Whirley: Digital Storytelling Course

• Melissa Filotas: Promoting Reading Comprehension in the Early Grades

• Diane Hamilton: Developing Phonemic Awareness in Kindergarten Children

• J. Robin Ward - Narrative in Instruction and Assessment

• Deborah Byrne: Teaching with Primary Source Documents

• Alicia Fernandez: Building Academic Vocabulary for Academic Achievement

• Mara Ciacelli Using Story Maps in Elementary Classrooms

Support social and emotional learning

• Melanie Gifford | Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports

• Megan Myones: Stimulating Student Curiosity with the QFT

• Allison Teicher | Social Emotional Learning in the Secondary Classroom

• Sue Rappazzo: Understanding Dyslexia and Severe Reading Disabilities

• Elise Nash Weiss: Understanding Learning Disabilities and the Learning Disabled

• Cheryl DePra | Positive Discipline in the Classroom

• Christopher Poulopoulos: Creating a Bully Free Environment

How to learn/teach online

• Laura Shrader: Handbook for Building Instructor Presence
• Terri Burke: Exploring Open Educational Resources
• Anne Canale Stalnecker: Facilitating Effective Online Discourse
• Mary Huffman: Assessing for Understanding in Online Courses
  
• Suzanne Hayes: Developing Learning Communities Through Blended Learning Activities

New learning technologies, competencies and environments

• Carrie Kagan : Digital Reading for Comprehension

• Marc Freed | Teaching students to manage data

• Leslie Cruz: Gammification and Language Learning

• Joy Stephenson: Incorporating Virtual Field Trips

• Ryann Conlan: Integrating Google Classroom in the Classroom

• Laura Bartlett: Understanding and Integrating Interactive Student Notebooks in the Secondary Classroom
  

• Abigail Moskovits: Effective Questioning in the Classroom

• Kelly Geddes: Concept Mapping Across The Curriculum

• Elise N. Weiss: Teaching and Learning with Wikis

• Shree Parsan SMART Board Technology and It's Application in the Classroom

• Anne Deutsch, Undergraduate Research Projects

New approaches to assessment and evaluation

• Brian Spina | Formative Assessment in a Mathematics Classroom
• Brandon Payne | Competency-Based Education
• Mary Beth Rock: Assess for Success
• Allison Hubbs: Creating Authentic Assessment
• Brandon West: Reflective Teaching: Evaluating Your Own Instruction
• Theresa.Cetnar: Differentiation in the form of Choice Boards within any discipline

Special education & diversity

• Chelsea Brandimarte: Special Education in the Secondary Setting
• Caroline Carros : Universal Design for Learning
• Nancy Bauter : Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities and Supporting them in the Classroom
• Libby Wideman : Creating Safe and Healthy Classroom Environments that Respect Diversity
• Amber Ho: Supporting Visual-Spatial Processing Needs in a Mathematics Classroom

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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 staffs of UAlbany's Academic and Research Computing Center (ARCC) for their strong ongoing support.