Give yourself a break, and lower your cognitive load while teaching…

I have always enjoyed Harvard Business School Publishing’s offerings. I teach a lot of MBA classes and use many of the site’s readings and cases to supplement my teaching. I have found the HBSP a wealth of support beyond just the materials it provides for its students. And over the last year, it seems like the site has doubled down on its support — or maybe just the challenge of pandemic teaching sent me there more often. Any educator can get an account at the site and that gives you access to lots of resources — including sample cases and articles.

One area that has been useful to my teaching is HBSP’s Inspiring Minds section – “motivating lessons and practical advice from the best in class.” I am always looking for tips on how to improve my teaching and you can find tons of ideas here.

A recent article by Bill Shiano, “Reducing Cognitive Overload While Teaching” really struck home with me. And while some of the examples are designed for the challenge of teaching synchronously online, the tips valuable for traditional in-class teaching as well. Especially in an online course (I taught only on Zoom last year), there are so many things to manage. As you get ready for fall — which may include (now or later) online, hybrid, or face-to-face teaching — consider checking out Schiano’s tips.