Faculty Learning Portal

Lifelong Learning Resources

The Center for Teaching & Learning provides access to a number of lifelong learning resources for the professional development of all faculty and staff. These range in topics and delivery, and are all accessible by simply signing up using your UT Canvas account.

Magna Campus

CTL has licensed video content from Magna Publications on a wide variety of topics for higher education faculty and staff, including the following:

  • Blended and Flipped Learning
  • Classroom Management
  • Course Design
  • Grading and Feedback
  • Legal Concerns
  • Online Course Design and Management
  • Online Grading and Feedback
  • Online Student Engagement
  • Specific Student Populations
  • Student Engagement
  • Teaching Strategies
  • Technology in Online Courses
  • Technology in the Classroom

These videos are categorized into 20-minute segments (Mentor Commons) and 45+-minute segments (Magna Commons). To view these video resources, click on the link below and enter your Canvas login credentials if necessary.

What is Magna Commons?

Faculty Focus – Higher Ed Teaching Strategies from Magna Publications

Utah Tech University is currently paying a yearly subscription for two great resources produced by Magna Publications that provide access to hundreds of professional development video seminars (for faculty, staff, and administrators) ranging in length from 20 to 90 minutes.

The first resource is called Magna Commons and provides access to hundreds of professional development seminars ranging in length from 60 to 90 minutes. The second resource is called Mentor Commons and provides access to 20-minute videos. As a UT employee, you have access to these great resources. The easiest way to access these resources is through the Magna Campus Canvas Course. Below are instructions regarding how to activate your subscription manually (several more steps).

In addition, Magna Publications offers a free e-newsletter called Faculty Focus that includes articles on topics such as effective teaching strategies for the college classroom, faculty development, academic leadership, etc. Below are instructions regarding how to sign up for the free newsletter.

Instructions to Access Magna and Mentor Commons:

There is now a canvas course that will take you through all the steps to register and access magna commons. Register for this course at https://utahtech.instructure.com/enroll/K9BL4X.

Instructions to Sign Up for the Faculty Focus eNewsletter


You can access the blog of this eNewsletter through Magna Commons. To visit on your own or to sign up for delivery of the eNewsletter, visit www.facultyfocus.com

  1. Enter applicable information in the box on the upper right-hand side of the screen titled “Sign up for our free newsletter!” and click “Sign up!”
  2. You will be sent an email to confirm your request for the subscription and confirm the email address.
  3. You are now signed up for the Faculty Focus e-newsletter. Enjoy!