Flower Darby, Author & Columnist 

Online courses and interactions are often characterized by a feeling of disconnect for all involved. Yet we know that feeling connected can help us engage, persist and learn in any educational context. We’ll explore practical and efficient ways of building relationships with students and helping them to connect and build relationships with each other in order to deepen and improve their learning. Based on cognitive, affective, and social neuroscience, we can support students in online spaces in a way that fosters their success and our wellbeing, too. You’ll leave with practical strategies to enhance social connections and improve students’ motivation, focus, memory, and overall learning. 

Flower Darby Bio:

Flower speaks, writes, presents and consults on teaching and learning theory and practice both nationally and internationally. She has helped educators all over the world become more effective in their work. She is the author, with James M. Lang, of Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes, and she’s a columnist for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her new book on emotion science and teaching with technology is forthcoming from West Virginia University Press.

Flower Darby celebrates and promotes effective teaching in all class formats to include, welcome, and support all students as they learn and succeed. As faculty and an instructional designer, she’s taught community college and university classes for over 24 years in a range of subjects including English, Technology, Leadership, Dance, and Pilates. A seasoned face-to-face and online educator, Darby loves to apply learning science across the disciplines, and to help others do the same.