How to use this resource:

This resource hub organizes Dr. Al Solano’s Continuous Learner posts to strengthen teaching and learning. Start with the section that best reflects your current interest, then follow the sequence to move from insight to design to practice to impact.

This page is updated periodically with new resources.

1. Design Learning That Deepens Thinking

Instructional frameworks that move beyond coverage.

If faculty want practical ways to design stronger learning experiences.

These posts focus on how learning is structured, not just what is taught.

Recommended reading path:

• The 5E Learning Cycle | 012 | Practical Pedagogy
  Designing learning with Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate.
  
  

• Using the 5E Model to Teach STEM | 029 | Practical Ideas for Faculty
  A framework that bridges curiosity and comprehension.
  
  

• Using the 5E Model in the Social Sciences & Humanities | 036 | Practical Strategies
  Designing learning that deepens thinking, not just coverage.

Outcome: Concrete design tools faculty can immediately adapt across disciplines.

2. Faculty Learning That Actually Works

How educators improve their practice over time.

If faculty development feels disconnected from teaching realities.

These posts focus on how educators learn and improve their craft.

Recommended reading path:

• Learning That Matters | 019 | From Struggle to Student Success
  How a team of faculty improved student outcomes.
  
  

• Faculty Learning That Works | 035 | Faculty Need Faculty
  Building the conditions for educators to keep learning.

Outcome: A clearer picture of professional learning as a collective, contextual, and sustained process.
 

3. Student-Centered Approaches

What students feel, experience, and carry into the classroom.

Begin here for student engagement, confidence, belonging, and persistence.

These posts focus on how learning environments are experienced by students often before content ever matters.

Recommended reading path:

• Teaching with Heart | 020 | Brilliance in the Classroom
  Redefining rigor, elevating student brilliance, and making growth the goal.
  
  

• Online Teaching & Learning | 015 | Humanize the Experience
  Effective online learning isn’t accidental.
  
  

• Humanize Online Learning | 042 | Essentials
  What students feel in Week 1 matters as much as what they learn in the last week. This resource applies to on-the-ground learning too.
  
  

• The Grading Crisis | 013 | Learning Over Points
  Grading for actual student learning.
  
  

Outcome: A clearer understanding that learning outcomes are inseparable from belonging, trust, and early signals. 

4. Make Equity and Access Everyday Practice

From compliance to care.

If equity feels abstract or disconnected from classroom practice.

These resources ground equity in daily instructional decisions.

Recommended reading path:

• Accessibility in Action | 028 | Beyond Compliance, Toward Care
  Access as an everyday practice, not an afterthought.
  
  

• Supporting Neurodivergent College Students | 011 | Teaching with Kindness
  Designing for neurodivergent students makes learning better for all.
  
  

• Equitable Pedagogy | 014 | Beyond the Buzzword
  Designing learning activities that address inequities.
  
  

• Culturally Affirming & Meaningful Assignments | 016 | From Awareness to Action
  Pragmatic assignment to engage, empower, and equip students.
  
  

Outcome: Equity translated into assignments, materials, and learning experiences.
 

How to Use These Resources as a Team

You can use this page to:

• Structure faculty learning communities

• Anchor flex or PD sessions

• Support instructional redesign efforts

• Frame department-level conversations about rigor and equity
  
  

Contact Dr. Al if you need support. He helps teams succeed.

Visit the organizational change resources page.