The FDIP

In this episode of Mindful Moments, Dr. Misty Rhoads, Kim Ervin, Instructional Designer, and Dr. Andrew Kerins explore how spending time in nature - even briefly - can support nervous system regulation and overall well-being. They share practical approaches like tech-free walks, sensory awareness, and simple outdoor pauses that fit into a busy day. The episode also includes a guided mindful moment...

This episode explores what healing means beyond the idea of fixing what is broken. Dr. Misty Rhoads, a somatic practitioner and EIU public health professor, is joined by undergraduate public health student Hazel Norris to examine healing through personal, ancestral, and collective lenses. Beginning with a brief grounding meditation, listeners are invited to reconnect with the present moment and no...

Inspired by the work of Lee Holden and his book Ready, Set, Slow , this episode invites listeners to pause and reconnect with the present moment. Dr. Misty Rhoads begins with a gentle inquiry meditation that helps us notice where we are physically, mentally, and emotionally before moving into simple mindfulness practices that can be woven into everyday life. Through intentional awareness during ou...

This episode invites you to turn everyday travel time into a moment of grounding and calm. Dr. Misty Rhoads gently guides listeners through simple, nervous-system–informed practices using awareness, breath, and the senses to support regulation while in motion, helping you arrive a little more present, steady, and connected than when you began.

This episode explores how long-term stress reshapes the nervous system and gently narrows our capacity for pleasure, ease, and connection. Dr. Misty Rhoads offers a compassionate, nervous-system–informed approach to rediscovering joy through small, realistic shifts in awareness and daily life, supporting a sense of aliveness that feels safe, sustainable, and real.

Paws and Practice Mindfulness: Mental Health and Misconceptions (3 of 3) This episode discusses the mental health misconceptions that create barriers to practicing mindfulness.

Paws and Practice Mindfulness: Time Constraints (2 of 3) This episode discusses how time constraints prevent time for mindfulness and offers strategies for fitting it in into a busy schedule. A guided breathing exercise is included.

Paws and Practice Mindfulness: Our Nervous System (1 of 3) This is the first podcast in a three-part series based on research into barriers that prevent mindfulness practice: understanding our nervous system, time constraints, and mental health and misconceptions. Created by EIU undergraduate Hazel Norris and Dr. Misty Rhoads as the result of an URSCA grant project: Paws and Practice: Barriers to...

Designing For All: Digital Accessibility in Your EIU Courses FDIC Instructional Support and Training Specialist (ISTS) Keerthana Saraswathula joins Instructional Designer Kim Ervin to discuss the upcoming ADA Title II Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1, Level AA compliance deadline and what faculty need to know about the digital accessibility standards. Show notes and resources: ADA title II...

Dr. Misty Rhoads, Professor from the Department of Public Health and Nutrition Dr. Andrew Kerins, Associate Professor & Graduate Coordinator from the Department of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation join Instructional Designer Kim Ervin to discuss faculty burnout – the why, how it can manifest, and what faculty can do to respond to it. Show notes and resources: Visit the FDIC Faculty Learning...

FDIC Instructional Designer Kim Ervin discusses regular and substantive interaction (RSI) and why these are foundational for online courses, and why, at its core, RSI is really about creating meaningful online learning experiences for our students that are just as rich and rewarding as any face-to-face class. RSI is really about good instruction. Show Notes Code of Federal Regulations Webpage What...

Director of the Office of Accessibility and Accommodations at EIU, Jessie Shuemaker, joins FDIC Director Dr. Michael Gillespie to talk about new ADA Title II rules on digital accessibility, Universal Design for Learning, and accessibility innovation that may help all learners. EIU Office of Accessibility and Accommodations EIU Digital Accessibility Information and Resources ADA Title II Informatio...

FDIC Instructional Designer, Kim Ervin, shares insights on open educational resources (OER), including how to incorporate OER into your instructional design. Show Notes FDIC Backward Design Webpage (includes template) FDIC Course Alignment Webpage Finding OERS PDF About Creative Commons Licenses Webpage Summarized Achieve OER Rubric PDF Creative Commons License Chooser Webpage

FDIC Director Dr. Michael Gillespie talks with EIU Senior Diversity Officer and Executive Director of the Office of Belonging, Access, and Engagement. Office of Belonging, Access, and Engagement Website FDIC Website

FDIC Instructional Designer Kim Ervin discusses the power of using prediction in your pedagogy. Show notes and resources: Article about prediction and learning - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8642250/ A Method for Predicting the Academic Performances of College Students Based on Education System Data: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/10/20/3737#:~:text=The%20role%20of%20academic%20per...

FDIC Director, Dr. Michael Gillespie, and Instructional Designer Kim Ervin talk about the importance (and impact) of well design courses. Show notes: Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom Publisher Website Technology driving the pedagogy horse instead of the other way around image link FDIC Backward Design Template

FDIC Instructional Designer Kim Ervin discusses "andragogy," the art and science of leading and/or managing adults. At the heart of andragogy is a set of assumptions that guide adults in their learning. Imagine this scenario: if you were to teach a subject to younger learners, your approach would Andragogy outlines assumptions about adult learning that when attune to, can serve as a compass to adj...

FDIC Instructional Designer, Kim Ervin, discusses what is and is not "microlearning."Microlearning is ateaching strategy that helps disrupt forgetting by activating our brains working memory to help transition new information into long term memories. In the book Microlearning: Short and Sweet by Karl Kapp and Robyn Defelice, microlearning is defined as an instructional unit that provides a short e...

FDIC Director Dr. Michael Gillespie and Instructional Designer Kim Ervin talk about active learning and its role in the college classroom. Show Notes: Reflecting on Your Practice Worksheet Online Instructional Activities Index Website – University of Illinois Springfield – ION Professional eLearning Programs Small Teaching Online FDIC Active Learning FLC

FDIC Instructional Designer Kim Ervin presents some tips for crafting prompts that drive effective interactions with large language model (LLM) artificial intelligence (AI) agents. An LLM can provide a response, a textual prompt is entered by a human. A well-crafted prompt serves as a navigational aid for the AI, molding its response. Following an LLM's response to an initial prompt, subsequent fo...

Dr. Michael Gillespie, FDIC Director, talks with Dr. Lauri DeRuiter-Willems about her FDIC Fellowship on Open Educational Resources (OER).Show Resources:Knight-Davis, Stacey and DeRuiter-Willems, Lauri, " Instructor and Librarian Collaboration on a Course Without a Textbook. (2018). Faculty Research & Creative Activity . 246Booth Library LibGuide: Open Educational Resources Lauri DeRuiter Will...

FDIC Director Dr. Michael Gillespie and Instructional Designer Kim Ervin talk about the 2023 FSI Annual Conference and look ahead for the coming year.

FDIC Director Dr. Michael Gillespie talks with Joe Fatheree, an educator, activist, scholar, and thought-leader on AI in education. GPT-4 Is Here. But Most Faculty Lack AI Policies (Inside Higher Ed, 22-March, 2023) AI in Higher Education (Ray Schroder, UPCEA Sr. Fellow, UIS) Everybody is Cheating: Why this teacher has adopted an open ChatGPT policy (NPR, 26-January, 2023)

Kim Ervin shares ways to increase the potential for office hours to be used by learners. Rethinking Office Hours Recorded Webinar (48:15) Introducing Faculty Office Hours: Arizona State University Video (2:21) Innovative Office Hours Infographic Public Space Office Hours Article

FDIC Instructional Designer Kim Ervin shares best practices for creating accessible Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. Resource Information for Creating Accessible MicroSoft PowerPoint Presentations Provided by EIU FDIC Kim Ervin, Instructional Designer Contact Information Fall 2022 ISS Departments with Contact Information (Effective 9-01-2022).xlsx or email support@eiu.edu