Nicola Casserly

Nicola Casserly

Location: new york

About me

After serving on the Wilmette Institute (WI) Board and working part-time for the Institute as Marketing Coordinator and Course Creation Assistant, in March 2019, I was appointed the Institute’s first Registrar.

In the summer of 2023, I began an independent study of Media Literacy. I wanted to know how I could help friends in my social media circles free themselves from unhelpful online search habits and the lure of the “Internet rabbit hole.” Through the Association for Baha’i Studies (ABS), I co-facilitated a media literacy reading group and participated in the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) Media Literacy Week. In May 2025, I completed a course titled "Empowering Students through Constructivist Media Decoding," offered by Project Look Sharp in association with Ithaca College. The resource I created for my course project – The Painted Church – was selected to be in NAMLE’s Media Literacy Week 2025 Resource Showcase.

I am currently a student in WI’s Social Transformation Certificate Program. The experience has made me more aware of the needs and the challenges of our student community, and has transformed my administrative and teaching work.

Activity

Discussion Comment

What's HABE?

I hope to try at least one more DEAC course this summer. Have you done any others? Would you recommend anything?

Niki

Great question!

If I don't receive a response to an email, I usually reach out by text. Sometimes that works, but not always.

A project I started shortly before learning about this course was to develop an alumni mentorship program. I think this will help. I also created an online "check-in" form that I plan to use at strategic points throughout the semester. We had just instituted a mid-semester check-in, but this online tool will be available to the students at any time. I will make sure faculty and other staff know about it and share it whenever they see… >>>

I'd be interested to hear from other participants in this forum who have launched successful alumni mentorship programs. I am working on a plan for a pilot program to start this Fall.

Comment on Saraliz Jimenez's post: I agree. Does anyone have experience with getting students to engage specifically with audio and video apps in online forum spaces? Our LMS does have that capability, and it is super easy to use, but so far, very, very few students have used it.

Comment on Farah Cyprian's post: I love that approach! Constantly improving teaching strategies. Very student-oriented.

Comment on Brittany Barbee's post: Absolutely. This module showed me that students can't be expected to remember what they're told at Orientation. They have busy lives, and constant gentle reminders seem to be the way to go. 

Comment on Elizabeth Roberts's post: Yes, that struck me as well. When we started our program, we used to have an Admissions Survey. It was kind of long and didn't help either the students or the administrators, so we just removed it.

We already have a mid-term check-in set up in our LMS, but this module encouraged me to draft a "Learning Community Check-In" (using Typeform, which is more user-friendly than Google Forms and integrates with the Calendly app used by the Student Services office). Here's the introductory statement at the top of the resource (feedback in this forum would be welcome):

Learning journeys often include periods of uncertainty, stress, or transition. This space is here to help us stay connected as a learning community. Your responses help us better understand how students are experiencing the program and where connection, encouragement, or… >>>

This module (Dynamics of Intervention) was very helpful for me. While I agree with Jason that "genuine trust, which is critical to all this, comes only from more organic interactions," it was useful to see the steps all laid out like that. It helps me be aware of which steps I am already okay with and which I can improve. 

I was intrigued by the idea that a computer 'portal' might help some students who feel uncomfortable talking to a real live person. Does anyone have experience with this? I'd love to hear about it.

I plan to share these… >>>

Learning about Academic Erosion and Academic Stagnation has been very helpful. I can see where certain personality issues, such as low self-esteem (or the converse - egoistic students who think they are academically bright and should be at the top of the class all the time), need extra support to overcome Academic Erosion.

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