Through long-running partnerships with DELTA, NC State faculty members Justin Post, Edwin Lindsay and Sarah Egan Warren have explored new ways to design courses, support online and hybrid learning and improve student engagement. 

Post, a teaching professor in the Department of Statistics and a DELTA Faculty Fellow from 2018-2020, has worked with DELTA to strengthen digital course design and support faculty conversations around hybrid learning. 

Lindsay, a DELTA collaborator and one of the first DELTA Faculty Fellows from 2015-2017, partnered with DELTA to develop an early gamified course experience that helped sport management students explore career pathways more interactively. 

Warren, a senior lecturer in the Department of Communication and DELTA Faculty Fellow from 2022-2024 and 2025-2026, has worked with DELTA on instructional design, accessibility, video and instructional technology, including VR Present, a virtual reality practice space designed to help students build presentation confidence.

They shared their unique experiences working with DELTA and the impact it has made on their classrooms.

What teaching challenge or opportunity first led you to partner with DELTA, and what were you hoping to improve for students?

JP: The first big thing I did with DELTA was become a DELTA Faculty Fellow. I had been teaching hybrid and online courses for a few years, long before the pandemic, and was looking for a way to share what I had done, learn more and connect with people across campus.

It was a great opportunity to learn about DELTA’s resources and help facilitate conversations around hybrid learning. Through that work, we put on workshops to help faculty transition courses to a hybrid format.

EL: Students in sport management were often drawn to a few high-level administrative jobs, mainly in professional sports or college athletics. They had less knowledge or exposure to the many satisfying jobs across the broader sport management industry.

Through my partnership with DELTA, I wanted to find a creative, low-stakes and fun way for students to explore careers within the sport management industry so they could make more informed decisions about career choices.

SEW: I am always eager to find or create ways to collaborate with DELTA. DELTA workshops, conferences, webinars, resources and grants have helped shape my teaching career at NC State. Most recently, I have been working with DELTA on an instructional technology grant focused on VR Present, an innovative 360-degree virtual reality experience designed to simulate real-life presentation scenarios. The goal is to help students increase confidence and strengthen communication skills by giving them a realistic, low-stakes practice space.

What makes VR Present unique is its use of real students, faculty and staff as the virtual audience. Students can practice in spaces such as an auditorium, classroom or boardroom, choose different audience attitudes and integrate their own presentation slides directly into the VR environment.

How did working with DELTA change the way you design, deliver or assess your course?

JP: Working with DELTA helped me refine my approach to teaching, especially in setting up a digital learning environment and using technology effectively. One useful topic was course mapping and backward design. Those tools helped me create or revamp a course in a way that ensured alignment between learning materials and assessments.

EL: At the time, DELTA was also exploring methods, techniques and technologies that could be used across disciplines in the distance education space to improve access, engagement and success. That broader approach shaped how I thought about course design. The work was not limited to adding technology for the sake of technology. It focused on how technology, course structure and student experience could work together.

SEW: DELTA helps me find ways for instructional technology to support teaching and learning and solve problems. Although DELTA has plenty of technology options, the focus stays on the benefits to students, rather than the wow factor of the technology. I have a strong capacity for dreaming up solutions, but I need the DELTA team to help make those ideas work in practice. I appreciate how they encourage big thinking while maintaining realistic boundaries. Through that support, I now have a tool students can use to take their public speaking to the next level.

What specific DELTA support had the greatest impact on your teaching?

JP: Course mapping and backward design principles had the greatest impact. They helped me think more intentionally about how to design or revise course curriculum.

EL: This is a tough question because all of the elements significantly impacted the design and delivery of my course, and therefore my teaching. The result of my partnership with DELTA was a one-of-a-kind Moodle plug-in created to gamify my entire course. After fully gamifying the course and creating mini-lectures for course modules, I was able to provide each student with a base experience, as well as an individual gameplay experience. Students made choices for their avatars while learning about sports careers.

SEW: I have used DELTA to support instructional design for many years, including help with online teaching, video creation, technology integration and accessibility. It is hard to choose one area with the greatest impact. Most recently, the creation of VR Present and the follow-up research about its use and lessons learned have been especially meaningful.

What changes have you seen in student engagement, learning outcomes or confidence since implementing those updates?

JP: One of the biggest improvements I have seen is that a well-designed online course helps students easily know what to do. That reduces the number of administrative questions they have. As a result, more student time and more student questions focus on the learning material itself.

EL: Preliminary data showed improved achievement among students who engaged with gamified content. All students improved on related exam sections, with the largest gains among women and student-athletes. Women improved by an average of 9.6 points, while student-athletes improved by an average of 7.4 points. Engagement also increased. Time on task, forum posts and replies rose by approximately 15%, and the quality of discussion in course forums improved noticeably.

SEW: Students who struggled with presenting and used VR Present showed improvement in their presentation skills. Offering a tool like this also expands students’ options for practice. VR Present is not for everyone, but it gives students another way to prepare, build confidence and strengthen their communication skills.

What would you say to another faculty member who is considering working with DELTA but is unsure where to begin?

JP: Working with DELTA has always been an amazing learning experience. You will learn useful things and connect with faculty across campus.

EL: If the opportunity presents itself, do it. DELTA is easy to work with, supportive and attentive to faculty needs. They work tirelessly to develop materials, techniques and technologies that benefit teachers and students.

SEW: Start with the “Get Help” tab on DELTA’s website to get a better understanding of what DELTA offers faculty. Then lean into the support DELTA provides. The knowledge base, workshops, consultations, conferences and resources are so valuable.