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Cameron joined the family in September 2025! What a sweetie!

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Being's Ellie's MomMom is one of my favorite things to do! I drive to North Jersey to watch her every Wednesday - Wednesdays are Ellie Day!

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Newest book - Engaging Virtual Environments

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Newest book - Engaging Virtual Environments

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Dr. Ricevuto and I collaborated on this book during lockdown and we surveyed faculty from both of our institutions on how they were doing teaching virtually. This book was created to be a tool to faculty who are engaging virtual learners. Many of the ideas we provide in the book can also be used in a face to face or hybrid setting.

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In a classroom setting interaction among students is the norm. How do you replicate that informality, spontaneity, and focus online? This book provides you with a framework to think about the different kinds of engagement you want to foster -- whether participation, collaboration, or quick feedback -- and then introduces you to available online tools, some of which may be in your LMS, offers practical tips, and guides you to how make the most of commonly available technologies to achieve your goals.

Within the context and progression of a course -- from developing a welcome page, presenting yourself and the purpose of your course, to icebreakers, assignments, and alternative forms of assessment -- the authors introduce you to a range of easy-to-use online tools that they have introduced to the faculty and teachers in their classes, and that foster active learning and student engagement. In doing so they provide a checklist that you can also access and print from the Web, to help you review additional tools from the wide and ever-growing range of tools that are available online and determine whether they are appropriate for what you want to accomplish.

This book will help you connect with students, whether you're teaching synchronously or asynchronously, regardless of the devices students may be using; develop community; and introduce you to gamification to add enjoyment and variety to your students' experience of your class.

Recognizing that using new tools with confidence requires practice, the authors offer ideas for implementing them in private online spaces. Each chapter concludes with reflection questions that can be addressed individually by the reader or within a learning community to encourage faculty to work together and support each other in virtual teaching and learning. This book addresses the challenge of embracing new models of course offerings to students in the evolving landscape of virtual learning.

"Ricevuto and McLaughlin provide the rationale behind what it means to be a virtual instructor in every facet that the role entails. They describe the many hats that a virtual instructor must wear in order to design, build, facilitate, and evaluate a collaborative, engaging virtual experience. Each chapter is divided into two sections. The first part of each chapter explores the related roles or facets of a virtual instructor, and the second section provides tips, tools, and templates to help the instructor in each one of these roles.

This book is a veritable decision tree for the new or 'not-so-new' virtual instructor that includes helpful definitions, appropriate questions to ask oneself along the way, and all of the tips, tools, and templates you could ask for to make teaching online fun and satisfying for the instructor, and interesting and engaging for the student. It is an essential tool to have in the virtual instructor's toolbox for today's challenging online teaching and learning environment."
From the Foreword by Lillian Nave

Foreword-- Lillian Nave

Introduction
1. Virtual Instructor as Decision Maker and Facilitator
2. Virtual Instructor as a Community Builder and Supporter
3. Virtual Instructor as a Team Builder, Learner, and Collaborator
4. Virtual Instructor as a Course Designer and Student Engager
5. Virtual Instructor as a Content Expert and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Guide: Using Asynchronous Instruction
6. Virtual Instructor as Project Planner and Assessor
7. Virtual Instructor as a Lifelong Learner and Knowledge Sharer

Joanne Ricevuto is the Assistant Vice President for Instructional Success and is responsible for the faculty programming at her institution, which includes providing and presenting a multitude of professional workshops to the faculty on various current topics in higher education. She also serves as the managing editor of the website for the Office of Instructional Success. She has been in higher education for 20+ years and a professor of early childhood education. Additionally, she is the author of many published articles on virtual learning as well as student engagement.

Laura McLaughlin is a professor of education and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses. Laura has over 20 years of experience working with adult learners providing training, professional development and coaching in corporate and educational settings. She is coauthor of Nurturing Young Innovators: Cultivating Creativity in the Home, School and Community and Teaching the 4 Cs with Technology: How Do I Teach 21st Century Skills with 21st Century Tools.

online learning; deep learning; student engagement; participation; collaboration; virtual learning

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In a classroom setting interaction among students is the norm. How do you replicate that informality, spontaneity, and focus online?

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Increasing Engagement in Online Learning 

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Increasing Engagement in Online Learning 

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Dr. Budhai and I collaborated to create this Quick Reference Guide providing preK through 12 educators will tips on how to engage their students in an online environment.

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Research on Faculty Virtual Instruction Support

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Research on Faculty Virtual Instruction Support

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Dr. Ricevuto and I wrote about the research we did in 2020 and you can read about it in this article published in the Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology journal by the Informing Science Institute.

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Laura A. McLaughlin , Joanne Ricevuto

Aim/Purpose: This research study explores the challenges, successes, and supports de-sired in implementing virtual learning following a survey of faculty for their experiences and interests. Faculty in higher education need quick, practical tools and strategies to enhance teaching and learning in a virtual classroom.
Background The sudden and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic had created an urgency to transition to a virtual learning environment, yet expectations for faculty to teach virtually may not have matched best practice and current research.

Methodology: This qualitative research begins with an anonymous, emailed survey of higher education faculty designed to explore participant thoughts and experiences related to their virtual teaching in Fall 2020. The survey included a series of demographic questions related to what type of faculty they were (full-time or adjunct), which discipline they taught, which format they were teaching in, as well as 5 open-ended questions to elicit feedback to teaching in this format of their challenges, some positives, strategies used, how they assessed learning, and which workshops they would like offered to better support them. A full year after the pandemic began, we sent out a follow-up survey to check in with faculty and find out specifically new skills/mindsets they developed, new tools they may have tried, their level of stress as well as how they perceived their students' stress and their students' level of learning. We decided to broaden our population by sharing the follow-up survey via social media to capture a diverse audience, which included international participants.

Contribution: Despite the different stress levels for most faculty and students during the pandemic of 2020-2021, our research highlights that it was also a time of growth and learning. Learning from past experiences can help us be pre-pared for future challenges related to virtual learning.

Findings: We found that the emergency remote teaching caused faculty to explore new ways of teaching and learning and helped them to develop a mindset that embraced a variety of skills such as flexibility, creativity, and innovation. We also learned that being aware of the stress levels of both faculty and students is of great value to institutions and with a good infrastructure and support, virtual learning can be successful.

Recommendations for Practitioners: Through our research, we have found faculty are lacking the tools necessary to engage their learners in a virtual setting. As such, best practices need to be shared and then embedded into the instructional approach. However, given the pandemic, faculty were forced to transition face to face classes to a virtual format without having been provided these best practices.

Recommendations for Researchers: We recommend researchers explore the habits of minds of faculty and how they have developed and continue to develop due to challenges they experienced related to virtual learning and continue to experience.

Impact on Society: Many of the skills that faculty developed due to this emergency shift to virtual teaching during 2020 and beyond are skills faculty will have for life. With support and ideas faculty can implement quickly, faculty will be better prepared to provide instruction and create settings that enhance teaching and learning in a virtual setting.

Future Research: Future research could include providing a voice for students by distributing a survey to the student body for their views and perceptions on virtual learning during the pandemic and moving forward.

virtual teaching and learning, flexibility, mindsets

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IISIT - Virtual Instruction Support for Faculty

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Laura A. McLaughlin , Joanne Ricevuto Aim/Purpose: This research study explores the challenges, successes, and supports de-sired in implementing virtual learning following a survey of faculty for their experiences and interests. Faculty in higher education need quick, practical tools and strategies to enhance teaching and learning in a virtual classroom.

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You can click above and link to my CV, my social media, and my portfolio

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I'm Dr. Laura McLaughlin, an Associate Professor of Education.

I'm a passionate and caring leader in higher education with over 15 years of administrative, teaching, and varied departmental and institutional roles.

Continue reading "Hi and Welcome!"

If we expect our students to take risks and try new things, we as educators need to model the idea of responsible risk-taking.
Dr. Laura McLaughlin, Nurturing Young Innovators, 2017

I have been using Padlet for years. It is a great way to engage students, share information, and collaborate with others. I also used it today to describe some key things about me that I may want to share with my students or it can even be used to share with an employer when job searching. If you wanted others to add to your padlet, you would leave it open for anyone to add pictures, text, links, etc. https://padlet.com/drmclaughlin/mystory

Posted in #innovation, Adult Learners, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking, EdTech, Faculty Development, Technology

I sent this survey out on Friday, and was so excited to send it out that I mistakenly sent a link that didn't seem to work properly. Here is the correct link. Thanks Dad for letting me know! I don't know what I would do without my Mom and Dad!!! I promise it will only take 5 minutes or less to complete and we would really appreciate your feedback on teaching in any setting in 2020! Here is a picture of Mom and Dad when things were safer at a family and community event my students and I were hosting at Neumann University.

Posted in #innovation, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Culturally Responsive Teaching, EdTech, English Language Learners, Faculty Development, Family Learning, General, Innovation, Pedagogy, Technology, Young Learners

Please help us by completing and sharing this short survey. The survey should only take about 5 minutes to complete.

We are collecting research to help us provide resources and tools that are practical, quick, and easy to implement with the goal of increasing student engagement and learning.

We want to know what is working and what are some challenges that others are facing during this time.

This survey applies to anyone who is teaching in 2020 from early childhood through higher education.

Although this was originally written 7 years ago, it is still relevant today, especially given the current changes we are facing in education! What a great time to model to our students the importance of taking calculated risks while trying something new.

Taddei, L. (2013). Encouraging creativity and innovation in yourself and your students. Faculty Focus

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/faculty-development/encouraging-creativity-and-innovation-in-yourself-and-your-students/

Posted in Adult Learners, English Language Learners, Pedagogy, Young Learners

Here's a short 5-minute video related to English Language Learners and how we can support our students and advocate for them:

https://youtu.be/UXdPbmeDmmA.

The resources discussed in the video along with additional ones are linked here:
Resources to Support English Language Learners

The earlier we encourage children to think creatively and innovate, the more natural this mindset will become.
Stephanie Smith Budhai, Nurturing Young Innovators, 2017

Do you want to engage your learners in higher order thinking and get all learners actively participating?

Total Participation Techniques are a game changer and can be used at all levels of teaching and learning, and can easily be used virtually as well.

Himmele & Himmele (2011) created this resource that never gets old. It is truly one of the best resources I have found as an educator.

I created a Loom video sharing some of my students' work creating TPT folders in one of our courses as well as key ideas from TPTs and how to use them in both a virtual and face to face setting: How to Use TPTs to Engage Your Learners

As a methods teacher, I have been teaching current and future teachers how to teach many content areas.

Many of my students have anxiety when it comes to their confidence in teaching math to young children.

I ask them to share their math stories and many of my students share math stories that are not positive.

How can we change our own math stories? How can we help our students and children have positive math stories and a growth mindset that sees themselves as mathematicians?

Check out this enlightening Ted talk from Dan Finkel where he gives five principles of extraordinary math teachers that can help us change their stories.

On Friday I boldly experimented using NearPod during a LIVE synchronous session for my Math Methods - Teaching Math to Pre-K to 4th grade students.

I let my students (who are all going to be future teachers) know that I was experimenting and that things may not work exactly how I had planned.

I'd created the lesson in NearPod beforehand and then launched it live during my Microsoft Teams meeting.

It allowed all of my students to participate in open-ended questions, live polls, and also post responses on a collaborate board.

At the end of the session, I was able to have a report emailed to me which showed all of the student responses and provided great formative assessment information to me.

This was a great success. Total participation was up, and I gave myself and them another arrow for their quiver in these challenging days of online instruction.

The best part is that NearPod can be used as a free tool for teachers.

Check it out! It can work for all levels of students - K-12 and higher education, too!

And check out my other posts on EdTech, especially VoiceThread.

This is a great article about the use of problem solving to teach science and math.

As a teacher of teachers and future teachers, I encourage my students to teach through problem solving approaches.

Children need opportunities to think critically and creatively. Problem solving helps them do this.
Read more here.

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I'm Dr. Laura McLaughlin, an Associate Professor of Education. I'm a passionate and caring leader in higher education with over 15 years of administrative, teaching, and varied departmental and institutional roles. Continue reading "Hi and Welcome!" If we expect our students to take risks and try new things, we as educators need to model the idea of responsible risk-taking.

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I have taken risks with a variety of different technologies. I use all kinds of technology in my teaching and ask my students to do the same. This is especially timely right now with the push for more online instruction. I have had past students contact me and let me know they appreciated the focus I put on technology because now as classroom teachers, it is easier for them to integrate emerging technologies into their teaching. I also embed high impact learning activities such as service learning projects, project based learning, and research into all of my courses. I am constantly redoing my courses and curriculum to remain current and right now ensuring that I utilize best online strategies. Teaching the 4 Cs with Technology was the first book Dr. Budhai and I wrote together and the content is still relevant, especially today!

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I enjoy writing and research. I have had many opportunities to collaborate with my colleagues both in and outside of Neumann University. Besides teaching, this is one of my favorite things to do. Dr. Budhai and I collaborated on our second book, Nurturing Young Innovators.

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Jim and I work to help each other grow, we enjoy researching together and had our first article published, "Do We Innovate as we believe we do?" regarding the innovation mindset and our second article on Framing the Innovation Mindset. Our latest collaboration was contributing a chapter, Moving beyond the Innovation Mindset, to the book: Making Employee Driven Innovation Achievable.

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They have been my students as well as my teachers. I have learned so much about being a teacher from them. They have also taught me more than I could have ever imagined. Sarah and Vinny are twins. Sarah is a Neumann BSW graduate and an MSW graduate from Widener and a licensed social worker working as a therapist. Vinny is a certified social studies teacher and started his first teaching job in December teaching 7th and 8th grade social studies. Kevin is my oldest son and is a TV/film editor and he is married to Victoria (who is amazinggg). My first grandchild, Eliana Rose, joined our family on June 30, 2023! Grandbaby #2, Cameron Robert, joined us in September 2025!!

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Absolutely a critical part of my life. I am blessed to have parents who are two of my biggest supporters and have helped me through many of life's challenges. Below is a picture of my mom and dad attending a family and community event my students and I sponsored at Neumann University. They come to all the events my students and I plan and sponsor!