NU OER Archive (Open Access)
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This collection contains open educational resources (OER) created by NU faculty and staff. This repository collection is open access. To learn more about this collection, please visit the NU Institutional Repository webpage for faculty OER projects.
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Item Principles and Practices in Teaching One-Month Online College Courses in the Age of Artificial Intelligence(2025-10-24) Ryan, MarkPrinciples and Practices in Teaching One-Month Online College Courses in the Age of Artificial Intelligence grew out of two decades of experience designing and teaching accelerated online courses for adult learners. These courses, typically lasting only four weeks, demand both structural precision and intellectual flexibility. The question at the heart of this work has always been how to preserve depth of learning within compressed time. The answer, refined through years of practice, lies in predictable design that allows students to focus on inquiry rather than logistics, and in meaningful dialogue that transforms brief encounters into lasting understanding. The handbook is written for educators who recognize that one-month courses succeed not by reducing content, but by intensifying interaction. Each chapter builds on the principle that structure liberates creativity: when modules, calendars, and grading systems are consistent, professors can devote more time to conversation, feedback, and mentorship—the true sources of learning. What distinguishes this model is its insistence that simplicity in design does not mean simplicity in thought. Standardization establishes rhythm, while discussion, reflection, and evaluation sustain intellectual complexity.Item Disposition Drives Cognition: How Emotion and Experience Shape Thought, Action, and Identity(2025-10-22) Ryan, Mark; Thorsos, NilsaThe title of this book insists that disposition drives cognition. Your students learn what they care about. They remember what connects to their identity. They pursue what feels meaningful. And you, too, design, adapt, and persist in your teaching when it resonates with your sense of purpose. Motivation, curiosity, and trust are not peripheral—they are the engine. Pedagogy and andragogy both affirm this. In pedagogy, you see it when a child’s curiosity transforms a mundane lesson into an exploration. In andragogy, you feel it when professional learning is tied to your values rather than imposed from above. In both cases, emotion sets the stage for cognition. You can see this every day in your classroom. When you set up a lab that sparks curiosity, students lean in. When you allow them to connect a writing assignment to their lived experiences, they produce work with voice and conviction. When you frame math problems around authentic challenges, you notice persistence increase. These are not accidents. They are the direct result of you creating conditions where disposition—emotional stance, personal relevance, felt meaning—drives cognitive engagement.Item America Paradox: Multilingual Educational and Equity in the United States(2025-10) Thorsos, Nilsa J.; Ryan, MarkThe United States has always been a nation of contradictions. It is celebrated as a land of immigrants, yet it has often been hostile to newcomers. It proclaims liberty while constraining rights. And perhaps most paradoxically, it is one of the most linguistically diverse nations in the world, yet it has built institutions, policies, and cultural narratives around English-only monolingualism. This paradox is not incidental—it is woven into the very fabric of the American story. From the suppression of Indigenous languages in federal boarding schools to the Americanization campaigns that targeted European immigrants, and from the Cold War fear of linguistic difference to contemporary English-only initiatives, the United States has repeatedly enforced assimilation at the expense of linguistic diversity. Yet across every generation, families, educators, and communities have resisted—preserving heritage languages, nurturing bilingual programs, and affirming that multilingualism is not a threat to unity but its foundation.Item The Eduneering Initiative(2025) Temple, TorrenceThe Eduneering Initiative The Eduneering Initiative, a guidebook specifically built to support a 3-course OER-funded program at National University by Dr. Torrence Temple, empowers teachers with tools from neuroscience, storytelling, and AI to reclaim student engagement. It emphasizes immersive, emotionally resonant, and cognitively optimized instruction. Central to the program is the “Omnidoc,” a 24/7 digital hub promoting equity through ubiquitous learning. The Initiative advances teacher ideation without dependency, reshaping educators into designers of transformative, accessible, and culturally responsive learning experiences driven by creatively constructed story-based narratives. Dr. Torrence Temple (Bio) Dr. Torrence Temple is a 27-year veteran of the classroom with a noted expertise in creative application of narrative-based learning experiences, like his "Boldly Going" unit (which turned his entire science classroom into the bridge of a starship for 5 days), which won the National Science Teaching Award as the best use of technology integration in the country (2004). His list of experiences is vast and unexpected. He also served as a science consultant for the TV series CSI: NY during season 4. During this time, he took part in the story generation process. Dr. Temple challenged the notion of traditional lesson and unit planning, suggesting that our students have outgrown the traditional models that center their design structures around ease of data collection and not the concepts that students find inherently interesting. Following that notion, Dr. Temple designed the internationally acclaimed STEM chemistry program called AREA154: Apocalypse Division, which tore up the traditional chemistry curriculum and its pacing in favor of staging the content in a way that felt meaningful and immediately impactful. While still finding adherence to NGSS standards, AREA154: Apocalypse Division prioritized the narrative over ease of assessment. The result: Prior to AREA154, the average rate of failure for chemistry was up to 40%. Only two years after implementation, the failure rate dropped to just 9%. Dr. Temple completed his doctoral work attempting to illuminate the reasons why the program was so successful. The results of that research became the foundation for the Eduneering Initiative Guidebook and the 3-course intensive that the guidebook supports. Dr. Temple has expertise in a variety of media technologies; he's built websites, directed and edited science fiction movies, acted in Hollywood, has a blackbelt in Krav Maga, can fly airplanes, has worked for covert programs for the government, and has taken all of these experiences to indulge as a master virtual reality experience designer. In what might be his most daring project yet, in collaboration with IXR (Illuminatexr.com), he is attempting to storify and bring to life one of the most difficult courses, one of the most failed courses, in all of high school. Coming soon, A complete year-long course called Algebra: For All Time. Here, the student takes on the role of the legendary "Mu Zah", the one who heals time in an attempt to secure humanity's destiny. It's online, nearly autonomous, AI-assisted, and driven by interactive virtual reality game elements where the student "plays" with the math. Despite the sophistication of the Algebra program, it is still basically a manifestation of Eduneering Initiative ideas and concepts scaled to its upper limits. Dr. Temple was the recipient of National University's Innovation Award in 2025 for his work in the field of artificial intelligence. He's not just an out-of-the-box designer and thinker, but it's been said that Dr. Temple... has no box at all.Item The Learner's Compass: How Volition Guides Achievement(2025-07) RYAN, MARKThis is not a book of quick fixes or one-size-fits-all programs. It’s a compass—a guide for finding your way through the complexity and beauty of teaching. It asks hard questions. It offers real strategies. And it reminds you that your greatest influence comes not from being the star of the classroom—but from creating a space where students can become the stars of their own stories. If you’ve ever felt that spark—that moment when a student takes ownership, lights up, leans in—this book is for you. If you’ve ever wondered how to move from compliance to engagement, from performance to purpose—this book is for you. And if you’re ready to believe that volition, not just instruction, is the path to real achievement—this book is yours.