Empathy by Design (Summer 2026)

June 1 – June 21, 2026

Short Course

Description 

Course Overview

This online, asynchronous course is for Minnesota State faculty who want to use evidence‑based strategies to make their courses more human-centered through thoughtful facilitation and design.

Course Format

The course has no scheduled class meetings. You will work on your own schedule to complete weekly due dates. You may join optional virtual meetings with your facilitator and faculty colleagues. Plan for about 2–4 hours of work each week, about 10 hours total.

Learning Experience

This is a facilitated, collaborative course that models humanizing practices you may choose to use in your own teaching. You will learn by doing—interacting with the instructor and colleagues from across Minnesota State in activities that demonstrate humanizing approaches in real time. Throughout the course, you will:

• Review current research and theory on humanizing learning.
• Choose evidence‑based humanizing strategies you want to implement or refine.
• Explore specific tools and techniques that support these strategies and learn how to apply them in your own courses.

By the End of the Course

You will be able to make informed decisions about humanizing instructional strategies. You will also write a clear plan to implement and refine three humanizing strategies in your courses. You will create one strategy using technology, like D2L Brightspace.

Course Learning Objectives 

• Define “humanizing” as it relates to online teaching and learning and explain why it’s important. 

• Discuss research findings connecting humanizing facilitation and course design strategies with online student success. 

• Evaluate three tools and techniques for implementing evidence-based humanizing strategies to your own discipline/course. 

• Develop a fully articulated implementation plan for introducing or enhancing two to three evidence-based humanizing strategies in your online courses that best fit your teaching style. 

Technical Skill Requirements

• Use a web browser  
• Create, save and upload Word documents  
• Navigate Microsoft Windows  
• Create and send an email using your Minnesota State account  
• Evaluate and decide whether or not to use OneDrive  
• Perform basic tasks associated with the following D2L Brightspace tools: Content, Quizzes and Assignments 

Materials Required 

Prior to beginning this course, you should complete the following activities: 

• Select a course that you’d like to which you’d like to apply these concepts 
• Contact your campus D2L/IT Helpdesk to create a D2L Brightspace “Sample/Sandbox” Course if you do not have one.

Suggested Audience 

Faculty (Full-time and part-time), Instructional Designers and Technologists, Faculty Developers/Trainers, and Concurrent Enrollment instructors. 

Estimated Time Commitment 

The course is designed to be 4-6 hours of work per week to complete. 

Reflect on your Professional Development 

As you progress through this course, please consider how you can use the assignments as a way to highlight your work on your Professional Development Plan. Consider sharing your work with your leadership team. 

Course Location 

This course is hosted and facilitated using shared D2L Brightspace instance of Minnesota State called, MnSite.