Your Handbook to Teaching Online
Fit for Online Learning by U of L Teaching Centre: Jördis Weilandt, Erin Reid, Kristi Thomas, Brandy Old, and Jeff Meadows is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
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Welcome to the primary resource for the 2020 FIT for Online bootcamp. This resource has been designed by the Teaching Support Staff at the University of Lethbridge Teaching Centre to address the need to support our instructors moving to a completely online delivery model as a response to the COVID-19 outbreak, but we hope the resource will have a longer lasting and wider appeal.
There are references throughout the resource to course material and to collaborative activities that are located within a securely-hosted University of Lethbridge specific course, but all other aspects of this resource are openly published under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial ShareAlike license.
Fit for Online Learning (FitFOL) is designed to support Higher Education professionals with little or no previous online teaching experience. We will explore theoretical frameworks behind online teaching to guide you in the redesign or creation of online course materials and activities. You will take practical steps towards teaching and supporting your students online. In addition to reflecting on your pedagogical preferences and preparing concrete elements for your own online courses, you can connect with your peers to share expertise and resources.
By participating in this course, you can step into the shoes of a student. This perspective may help you empathize with your own students, who forced into the online delivery mode, will most certainly be facing challenges as an online learner.
Based on participant feedback from our first offering of this course, we will offer you two parallel streams of this course. Based on a needs assessment activity in the orientation, you will be streamed into either of the following :
Both streams of this course will be offered twice this summer: one two-week intensive offering of the course will be from June 15 – June 26. The second run of the course will be from July 13 – July 24. During that time, the Teaching Centre Pedagogy Team will be here to support you in the process of building your own online courses.
There aretwo possible ways to move through the either stream of the course: A) With a cohort or B) Independently
A) With a cohort
For those who wish toactively participate with a cohort, we will facilitate the 5 modules in the order below. Note that you can request final feedback on resources or activities that you create.
Week 1
Week 2
B) Independently
Forthose who prefer to work independently without any cohort interaction, there is no set path. Instead you can work through any of the modules at your own pace.
We have built in this flexibility to accommodate the widest range of participants possible, recognizing the limitations and constraints certain individuals are facing at this point. However, as creators of this course, we strongly recommend everyone to participate actively in the course in order to receive the full benefits.
Please note: The Teaching Centre will also be hosting focused live sessions (OPTIONAL). The sessions will be held three times a week from 2 – 3pm and the Zoom link is available on the top of the U of L FitFOL Moodle course page.
Note: You can download the book in several different formats by clicking on Download This Book on the top right of the cover page. Since this book comes with the open CC-BY-NC-SA license, you have the following five permissions for use, granted you don’t change the license type:
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Articulating your academic expectations for teaching and learning in your online courses will help students understand how to engage with the learning environment, with the content, with you and their peers.
The FitFOL2020 Teaching and Learning Expectations is an adaptation of the following template create by Stavredes (2011, p.77-80), which you can access and download here.
Name of Course: Fit for Online Learning
Name of Instructors: Erin Reid and Jördis Weilandt
Delivery Mode: Fully Online (asynchronous with optional synchronous webinar sessions)
Dates of Facilitation:
Round II: June 15-26, 2020
Round III: July, 13 – 24, 2020
Dear FitFOL participant,
We are excited to be spending two weeks with you over the summer of 2020 and hope FitFOL can help you take some of the practical steps of transitioning into teaching online in a hurry.
This course is built on a foundation of social constructivist perspectives, infused with a recognition of the importance of evidence-based practices, the power of shared reflection and inquiry, and the need for personally meaningful learning experiences. Being collaborativist in nature, this course depends on your active participation to develop ideas and build vital professional connections that can help manoeuvre the transition to online course design and delivery.
To help you understand where our epistemological perspective fall within learning theory, see the visual representation below:
Epistemological Perspectives on Learning Theories IN: Harasim (2017, p. 14).
This online course will be facilitated from the grounds of the traditional Blackfoot (Niitsitapi) Treaty 7 Confederacy territory, on which the University of Lethbridge, our Iniskim, is located. We honour the Blackfoot people and their traditional ways of knowing in caring for this land, as well as all Aboriginal peoples who have helped shape and continue to strengthen our University community.
We, the facilitators, pledge to actively work towards decolonizing our approaches to teaching and acting within the online environment. We will follow the guidelines outlined below[1] and request that you do too:
Watch this brief tutorial if you wish to learn more about the navigation in our FitFOL Moodle course. Note that you can expand the video to screen size for a better viewing experience.
We have chosen Pressbooks because it is a technology that permits the creation of open educational resources. It also allows all of us instructors to smoothly collaborate on a single resource from different locations and track all changes being made. The accessibility features in Pressbooks enable learners with disabilities to access the resource via screenreaders, ebook readers, and other assistive technology.
Watch this brief tutorial if you would like to learn more about the navigation within Pressbooks.
We, the facilitators, are committed to:
We adapt our roles to your needs as you progress through the course.
During the two weeks of facilitation, we will be engaging participants, posting reminders, clarifying curriculum, troubleshooting problems, and inviting you to share the products of your work with our cohort. We endeavour to provide frequent and constructive (formative) feedback to those of you who request it.
Instructor Availability: Monday – Friday 10 – 4. Weekends are precious to us, so don’t expect responses from us then.
After the course ends, the Teaching Centre will happily continue to support support you in your online teaching efforts, including consultations regarding course planning, observations and feedback, documentation of development and revision work.
By participating in this course, you can step into the shoes of a student. We hope that this perspective will help you empathize with your own students, who forced into the online delivery mode, will most certainly be facing a series of challenges when participating in your online course(s).
This course encourages you to become active participant because the more you put into the course, the more you will come away with. Doing the suggested readings and working through learning activities enriches the overall learning experience for all participants. Remember that the quality of your contributions is more important than the quantity. We encourage your curiosity for the topic of online facilitation and hope the activities provide you with opportunities to be creative and reflective.
If you need more practical advice as to how to best manage your time, contribute to teams, read strategically and communicate successfully, use the free textbook Learning to Learn Online to devise your strategies for academic success online.
Always be mindful of the fact that there is a person behind every written post who has feelings and can be hurt by what you say. The guidelinesStavredes, T. (2011). Effective Online Teaching. Foundations and Strategies for Student Success. Jossey- Bass: San-Francisco, p.214. below are compiled to assist you in your online communication.
3. Respect other people’s time and bandwidth:
4. Make yourself look good online:
5. Share your knowledge by offering help to learners who have questions.
6. Help keep flame wars under control by not posting flames and not responding to flames – keep discussions professional at all times.
7. Forgive other learners’ mistakes and be patient and compassionate of all learners in the course.
Please use the FitFOL Course Communication Space for any course-related communication (i.e. ideas and questions, comments and feedback, as well as useful resources). Start a new post with an appropriate subject line that indicates the nature of your post. Anyone knowledgeable enough to know the answer can respond. As facilitators, we strive to answer within a few hours during the work week (Mon.-Fri.).
In case you need to discuss more urgent personal matters with us, contact us via email to schedule for a virtual meeting with us.
You will need a wifi-able device, most preferably a computer or a laptop to allow for a smooth learning experience that includes the online access of our learning environments, journal articles, websites, video or audio. We know from our own experience that technology is never perfect and often not accessible to all people equally depending on their experience, expertise and ease in using unfamiliar tools.
Please be flexible if things don’t work right away and check in with us or your peers to help figure things out in the cases that you cannot make things work on your own.
We will support you in any way possible to ensure that you can use all of the suggested technology tools to successfully complete the respective learning activities. To enhance your online learning experience, we will directly add student or instructor tutorials detailing specific user instructions for all of the technological tools used in our course modules, the list of which you can find here.
We, the instructors, advocate for an ethical use of educational technology and thus resist using tools that are designed for purposes of profit-seeking, surveillance of students, and user lock-in.
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The U of L Teaching Centre believes that education needs to be available to everyone, which means supporting the creation of free, open, and accessible educational resources. We are actively committed to increasing the accessibility and usability of the textbooks we produce.
The web version of the Fit for Online Learning has been designed with accessibility in mind by incorporating the following features:
In addition to the web version, this book is available in a number of file formats, including PDF, EPUB (for eReaders), MOBI (for Kindles), and various editable files. You can access the downloadable file types on the right side of the front cover: https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/
While we strive to ensure that this textbook is as accessible and as usable as possible, we might not always get it right. Any issues we identify will be listed below.
Location of issue | Need for improvement | Timeline | Work around |
---|---|---|---|
The web version of this resource has been designed to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, level AA. In addition, it follows all guidelines in “the BCcampus Accessibility Toolkit Appendix A: Checklist for Accessibility.” The development of the toolkit involved working with students with various print disabilities who provided their personal perspectives and helped test the content.
We are always looking for how we can make our resources more accessible. If you are having problems accessing this resource, please contact us to let us know so we can fix the issue.
Please include the following information:
This statement was last updated on April, 25, 2020.
Meadows, J., Old, B., Reid, E., Thomas, K., & Weilandt, J. (2020). Fit for Online Learning. https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/
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The Teaching Centre has developed a series of comprehensive online faculty PD pertaining to the Design and Facilitation of Learning online. In 2019, two online courses know by their names FLOd and FLOF were offered to prepare U of L educators for their online and blended teaching assignment.
You can click on the following two open course textbooks to learn more. If you are interested in participating in either of these two more intensive PD opportunities, reach out to us via email: teachingcentre@uleth.ca. We will gladly get back to you to discuss further details.
Credit notice: The FLOd 2019 and FLOf2019 courses are inspired by the FLO courses created by SCOPE – BC Campus Learning and Teaching, which we retrieved on February 2nd, 2019 from the Self-Serve Open Educational Resources.
During the 5 week FLOd online course participants will:
You can access the FLOd course resource pack independently here: https://pressbooks.library.ualberta.ca/digitalteachingandlearning/part/open-education/
This is the second part in the sequence of U of L training relating to online teaching. It focuses on several aspects of effective online course facilitation.
During the 10 week FLOd online course participants will:
You can access the FLOf open course textbook here: https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/flof/
Feedback from past FLO participants indicates that the hands-on practice was key to their enjoyment of the course and the synthesis of their learning. We hope the same holds true for you.
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The Pressbooks resource Fit for Online Learning has been published through the collaborative, no-fee publishing services for open textbooks and other open educational resources Open Education Alberta, hosted through the U of A Libraries as part of the Open Pressbooks Publishing project that connects several post-secondary institutions in Alberta.
In its set up and intention the UofA Pressbooks instance is very similar to the open textbook infrastructure in B.C. and Ontario, where all educators have equal access to the respective instances:
The BC CAMPUS Open Textbook Collection can be accessed here: https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/oerworkshop/chapter/creating-a-bccampus-pressbooks-account/
The eCAMPUS Ontario Open Library can be accessed here: https://openlibrary.ecampusontario.ca/
This service is available to all Alberta post-secondary institutions, including the University of Lethbridge. You contact the U of L Teaching Centre or Library if you are interested in publishing your own open teaching resources with the educational version of Pressbooks hosted through the University of Alberta.
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Where do I start?
Read through the information in the linked pages below and then select the option that best suits what you would like to learn from this module.
The questions guiding learning for this module are the following:
Inquiring
Exploring and identifying
Reflecting
Activity submission formats:
Video (FlipGrid), written posts, and/or visual representations
Time Commitment:
This module is designed to take 2-3 hours to complete.
Introduction
In this section we take a closer look at some of the principles behind community building in online teaching and learning. You will be introduced to some theory that will ensure you have some familiarity with key concepts before moving on to the activities in the module options on the next page.
Instructions:
Time: Depending on your level of engagement, this page should take you about 45min – 1 hour.
Before considering the question of why community building is important in online teaching and learning contexts, we need to define what we mean by learning community. We generally feel that we’re a part of a community when we feel connected to others who share some of our interests or values. In higher education, robust learning communities are formed when they include the elements of learning, belonging, and connectedness. Scholars have defined learning communities as including the following characteristics:
“…spirit, trust, mutual interdependence among members, interactivity, shared values and beliefs, and common expectations” (Rovai, 2002, p. 198)
“a) membership, the feeling that one belongs to a group; (b) influence, the feeling that one can influence a group and that the group is important for its members; (c) fulfillment of needs, the feeling that one’s needs can be satisfied with help from the group; and (d) shared emotional connection, the sense of being connected with others in the group” [Yuan & Kim (2014) summarizing McMillan & Chavis (1986)]
As these scholars note, students develop a sense of community when they feel connected to others in their environment. But why should professors care about creating this sense of community in their classrooms? There are certainly those who may argue that community building is unrelated to their role as educators. However, research shows that a classroom that fosters community does more than make students feel good. Indeed, creating community in the university classroom has multiple positive impacts, from increasing student retention (Tinto, 1997), to improving student learning and satisfaction (Liu et al., 2007; Yuan & Kim, 2014). Online teaching and learning is not the same as face-to-face teaching and learning. The possibility for students to feel disengaged or unmotivated in the online classroom is a significant concern (Wladis et al., 2017), and building community is a vital part of keeping these learners engaged (Di Ramio & Wolverton, 2006; Liu et al., 2007; Vesley, et al., 2007; Anderson, 2017).
Take a look at this short video (1.5 minutes) that summarizes some of the reasons we should consider community building in the online environment. Although this video is geared towards the online learner, it informs our thinking as instructors.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=133
*Note that this interactive video was made using H5P. Learn more about H5P here.
Now that we’ve established why instructors should consider community building in online environments, it’s useful to familiarize ourselves with some key theories behind online community building.
One the most influential frameworks for considering community building in online teaching and learning is the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. Take a look at the infographic below to learn about each presence. Click on the + signs for more information:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=133
For a succinct summary of the CoI three presences, see the Community of Inquiry Framework in Module 2.
Because they relate more directly to our discussion about online community building, the next section invites you to take a closer look at two of the three presences in the CoI framework:
a) Teaching presence
b) Social presence
Time: Approximately 20-40 minutes
a) Teaching Presence
Watch this interactive video (10-15 minutes) of online educator Dr. Mark Kassel discuss the strategies for having a strong teaching presence in online courses. As you watch, consider how a teaching presence may help students reach their learning goals in your course.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=133
b) Social Presence
Read this article (15-20 minutes) in which Aimee Whiteside discusses the importance of using social presence to ensure that teaching and learning is guided by compassion and connectedness.
The call for university faculty to humanize their approach to teaching and learning is nothing new. Indeed, decades have passed since scholar-educators as influential as Nell Noddings (1992) and Parker Palmer (1998) called for a commitment to pedagogy that is grounded in compassion. With the recent rapid pivot to online teaching, there has been a renewed call for faculty to prioritize humanizing their approach to online pedagogy (Schmidt, 2017; Denial, 2019).
1. Read the following short blog post (5-10 minutes) by Nicole Schmidt on humanizing online teaching and learning.
2. Read the suggestions for humanizing online teaching in this collaborative document (10-15 minutes).
Next steps
Anderson, T. (2017, September). How communities of inquiry drive teaching and learning in the digital age. Contact North Nord. Retrieved from https://teachonline.ca/tools-trends/insights-online-learning/2018-02-27/how-communities-inquiry-drive-teaching-and-learning-digital-age
DiRamio, D., & Wolverton, M. (2006). Integrating learning communities and distance education: Possibility or pipedream? Innovative Higher Education -New York-, 31(2), 99-113.
Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education model. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.
Liu, X., Magjuka, R.J., Bonk, C.J. & Lee, S.h. (2007). Does sense of community matter? An examination of participants’ perceptions of building learning communities in online courses. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 8(1), 9-24.
Noddings, N. (1992). The challenge to care in schools: an alternative approach to education, New York: Teachers College Press.
Palmer, P. J. (1998). The Courage to Teach. Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Raygoza, M., León, R., & Norris, A. (2020). Humanizing online teaching. http://works.bepress.com/mary-candace-raygoza/28/
Rovai, A. P. (2002). Sense of community, perceived cognitive learning, and persistence in asynchronous learning networks. Internet and Higher Education, 5, 319-332.
Schmidt, N. (2017, March 16). Humanizing online teaching and learning: The quest for authenticity. Educause. https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2017/3/humanizing-online-teaching-and-learning-the-quest-for-authenticity
Tinto, V. (1997). Classrooms as communities: Exploring the educational character of student persistence. The Journal of Higher Education, 68(6), 599-623. doi:10.1080/00221546.1997.11779003
Vesely, P., Bloom, L., & Sherlock, J. (2007). Key elements of building online community: Comparing faculty and student perceptions. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 3(3), 234-246.
Wladis, C., Conway, K., Hachey, A. C. (2017). Using course-level factors as predictors of online course outcomes: a multi-level analysis at a US urban community college. Studies in Higher Education, 42(1). 184-200.
Whiteside, A. (2018). Continuing Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood: Returning Compassion, Connection, and Social Presence to Teaching and Learning. Educause Review. Retrieved on April 6, 2020: https://er.educause.edu/articles/2018/10/continuing-mister-rogers-neighborhood-returning-compassion-connection-and-social-presence
Feel free to leave any feedback you may have about the design, structure, or content of this module. We appreciate feedback because we are always learning!
Your Module Options
Read through the descriptions below and choose the option that will best enable you to support community building in your online course.
OPTION 1: Select strategies for building community and student engagement online
In order to build community among your online learners, you must be familiar with some of the many different tools and resources that are available. This module takes a practical approach in introducing you to some of the resources available, organizing them under three phases of community building, and asking you to experiment with some of them. If you are looking for some quick ideas and strategies for building lasting community in your course, a proven way to ensure student engagement, this is the option for you.
This option includes a chart of curated tips for best practices, an interactive video, and a reading to equip you with the tools needed to build community online.
Click here to enter OPTION 1
OPTION 2: Reflect on, develop, and communicate my philosophy toward community building in online teaching and learning.
Our understanding of the role of community building in the classroom is always informed by our own understanding of what it means to teach and learn. As we shift into an online teaching and learning environment, it is more important than ever to take time to reflect on our own teaching philosophy and how it informs our approach to community building in the classroom. This module gives you the opportunity to explore and articulate this philosophy.
This option includes a choice of readings and a video. It asks you to develop and share a part of your teaching philosophy in either written or visual format.
Click here to enter OPTION 2
OPTION 3: Facilitate peer interaction as a means of building community
This module asks participants to review both the rationale behind, and strategies for increasing peer interaction as a means of building community in online teaching and learning contexts. You will be introduced to some literature about the reasons why we should value and promote peer interaction, and you will examine and select specific strategies to increase that kind of interaction in your course.
This option includes a choice of readings and video.
Click here to enter OPTION 3
To build community among your online learners, you must be familiar with some of the many different tools and resources that are available. This option takes a practical approach by introducing you to some of the resources available, organizing them under three phases of community building, and asking you to experiment with some of them. Designed for those who need some quick ideas and strategies for building lasting community in an online course, this option is grounded in the understanding that community building is an essential factor to ensure student engagement (Liu et al., 2007; Anderson, 2017; Redmond et al., 2018).
Instructions:
Read through the guiding questions.
Time: 1 – 2 hours depending on your level of engagement.
Introduction
While there are multiple possible ways to categorize community building strategies, this module conceptualizes online community building in three phases and draws inspiration from work done by Beth Cougler Blom (2016). In the graphic below, click on the points to learn more about the different strategies found in each of three phases. As you read through the strategies, consider which ones align best with your own teaching style. Click on the check marks for more information (10 minutes).
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=137
Note that this interactive infographic was made using H5P. Learn more about H5P here.
Watch this interview (interactive video — 20 minutes) where scholar and online educator, Dr. Maha Bali, describes her concept of intentionally equitable hospitality and discusses strategies for building community in online classrooms. You will be asked to answer questions at intervals throughout the video. As you watch keep the guiding questions in mind:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=137
*Note that this YouTube video was made interactive by using H5P. Learn more about H5P here.
Quick tips for community building online
Rationale:
This activity is designed to allow you to investigate different strategies for community building and share a useful resource. Completing this activity will allow you to engage in community building yourself as you share resources with peers to build a collaborative tool, and as you give and receive peer feedback. This activity is an example of something that you can easily recreate in your own course.
Click here to begin the activity and share your resources with your peers.
Extension activity:
Anderson, T. (2017, September). How communities of inquiry drive teaching and learning in the digital age. Contact North. https://teachonline.ca/tools-trends/insights-online-learning/2018-02-27/how-communities-inquiry-drive-teaching-and-learning-digital-age
Bali, M. (2020, March 30). How Technology Can Bring People Together. Accessed on April 1, 2020 on https://youtu.be/p5vegjqbQtc
Cougler Blom, B. (2016, March 1). Online Facilitation – Skills & Strategies. https://oer.royalroads.ca/moodle/pluginfile.php/1501/mod_page/content/74/Online%20Facilitation%20Skills%20and%20Strategies.pdf
Liu, X., Magjuka, R.J., Bonk, C.J. & Lee, S.h. (2007). Does sense of community matter? An examination of participants’ perceptions of building learning communities in online courses. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 8(1), 9-24.
Redmond, P., Heffernan, A., Abawi, L., Brown, A., & Henderson, R. (2018). An online engagement framework for higher education. Online Learning, 22(1), 183-204. doi:10.24059/olj.v22i1.1175
Smalkoski, K, Burtain, L., and Spicer, S. (2017, August 16). Using digital storytelling to transform learning. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/views/2017/08/16/using-digital-storytelling-transform-learning
Feel free to leave any feedback you may have about the design, structure, or content of this module. We appreciate feedback because we are always learning!
This option gives you the chance to explore and articulate your own teaching philosophy toward building community in an online environment.
This module has invited you to examine some of the theoretical frameworks behind community building in online teaching and learning, focusing on the notions of teacher presence, social presence, and humanizing pedagogy. You may have also chosen to review the many strategies we might use to create community in our courses in OPTION 1. This option asks you to consider these elements as you reflect on their impact and shape your own teaching philosophy towards community building in online teaching and learning.
Instructions:
Time: Depending on your level of engagement, this option should take between 2 – 3 hours to complete.
Reading: Listed here are two readings related to this module. Begin with the blog post. If you have more time and want to learn more about student and faculty perceptions of community building, read the academic article as well.
Time: 45 minutes – 1 hour
Your understanding of the role of community building in the classroom will necessarily be informed by your own understanding of what it means to teach and learn. This activity is an opportunity to reflect on your view of the role of a teacher or facilitator in building community in an online course, to articulate this understanding in your teaching philosophy, and to share your ideas with your peers in a video and an online discussion forum.
Instructions:
Step 1: Reflect on your teaching philosophy as it relates to building community in an online classroom. View this as an opportunity to begin crafting your own teaching philosophy towards community building in online environments. You may use the following questions to guide your reflection:
Click here to begin the activity and share your reflection with your peers.
Time: Approximately 20 to 30 minutes
For this activity, you are asked to consider your own teaching philosophy towards community building in the online classroom and choose a metaphor that best represents this philosophy.
Instructions:
Step 1: Reflect on your teaching philosophy towards community building as a part of online learning.
Step 2: Find an image that best represents a metaphor for your philosophy towards community building in online courses. You will find an example in the link below. To find open access images, click here [new tab].
Step 3: Post your image with a brief description of what it represents on our collaborative gallery wall.
Step 4: Once a few peers have posted, comment on at least one other participants image. Click here [new tab] to begin the activity.
If you wish to share other thoughts, ideas, or questions about this content, please feel free to share in the module discussion forum here.
Denial, C. (2019). A Pedagogy of Kindness. Hybrid Pedagogy. Retrieved on April 10, 2020 from https://hybridpedagogy.org/pedagogy-of-kindness/
Vesely, P., Bloom, L., & Sherlock, J. (2007). Key elements of building online community: Comparing faculty and student perceptions. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 3(3), 234-246.
Feel free to leave any feedback you may have about the design, structure, or content of this module. We appreciate feedback because we are always learning!
This option invites participants to explore some best practices for encouraging peer interaction to build community in online teaching and learning. Although all options are designed to familiarize you with community building practices, this option takes a closer look at the benefits of peer interaction and group work. Remember that what we offer are strategies and suggestions only. It is always up to you to determine whether or not a particular tool or technique will align with your own approach to teaching or the learning outcomes of your unique course.
Instructions:
Time: Depending on your level of engagement, this option should take between 2 – 3 hours to complete.
Hopefully, after working your way through the preceding pages in this module, you will have gained an appreciation for the importance of building community in your online course. One way of ensuring community through peer interaction is to implement group work in your course. Below, read through the rationale and challenges in facilitating group work in online courses:
Rationale — Why should you consider group work for your online class?
What are some challenges to implementing group work?
Given these challenges and the compelling reasons to include peer interaction in online courses, how can instructors ensure that their courses include well designed activities that will ensure students meet their learning goals? There are many considerations for implementing peer interaction or group work in your class, but two of the most important are the following:
a) Model your expectations (i.e. practice what you preach)
b) Provide explicit rationale for group work
As a part of ensuring learners interact and engage thoughtfully and productively with each other, incorporating peer feedback is an effective strategy. Watch the following video (5:20min) about the RISE model of peer feedback developed by Emily Wray. As we shall see below, building in opportunities for structured peer feedback is a way to ensure your peer or group activity is effective.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=141
Teamwork or Group work resources:
Team project and peer feedback/assessment tools (e.g. rubrics, checklists, contracts, samples, etc.):
Reflection: What do you find useful about these tools? What would you change and why? How do these approaches align with your own teaching philosophy? Feel free to take some time to share your reflections with your peers in the module discussion forum.
Just as in our F2F classrooms, discussions in online classrooms allow learners to synthesize the material as they articulate their ideas to peers. It also allows them to engage in critical thinking by responding to peers’ questions and asking questions of their own. Moreover, online discussions allow students to build community among themselves as they share their ideas and experiences (Bickle & Rucker, 2018; Palloff & Pratt, 1999). Similar to our face-to-face (F2F) classrooms, creating the space and the structure for thoughtful and productive discussions to happen requires more than opening up a discussion board. It requires active facilitation that demonstrates both teacher presence and social presence. As in our discussion about team work, students need guidance and modelling to ensure that they will engage effectively in online discussions.
Review this summary of some tips for best practices in facilitating online discussions in both synchronous and asynchronous classrooms:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=141
Note that this interactive infographic was made using H5P. Learn more about H5P here.
Suggested resources:
Below is a checklist you can use when creating effective group work activities or assignments in your online course:
Group formation
Resources
Bickle, M. C., & Rucker, R. (2018). Student-to-student interaction: Humanizing the online classroom using technology and group assignments. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 19(1), 1-56.
Bowness, S. (2019). How to bring students into the feedback loop. University Affairs. https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/how-to-bring-students-into-the-feedback-loop/
Clark et al., (2018). Off to On: Best Practices for Online Team-Based Learning. White paper for Team-Based Learning Collaborative (TBLC) Conference, San Diego, CA, March 2018. http://www.teambasedlearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Off-to-On_OnlineTBL_WhitePaper_ClarkEtal2018_V3.pdf
(2017). Online Discussion Boards: The Practice of Building Community for Adult Learners, The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, 65:2, 139-145, DOI: 10.1080/07377363.2017.1274616
Donovan, J. (2015) The importance of building online learning communities. Colorado State University. http://blog.online.colostate.edu/blog/online-education/the-importance-of-building-online-learning-communities/
George Brown College. Template Group Contract. Retrieved from https://www.georgebrown.ca/peerconnect/team-contract.pdf
Lawrence, J. (2018). Using Educational technology to facilitate online peer learning. Educational Technology Solutions. Accessed on April 14th, 2020 from https://educationtechnologysolutions.com/2018/03/using-education-technology-facilitate-online-peer-learning/
Michaelsen, L.K., Knight, A.B., & Fink, L. D. (2004.) Team-based learning: A transformative use of small group in college teaching. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Mintz, S. (2020). Beyond the discussion board. Inside Higher Ed. Accessed on April 18th, 2020 from https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/beyond-discussion-board
Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K. (1999). Building learning communities in cyberspace. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
University of Waterloo. (n.d.). Collaborative online learning: Fostering effective discussions online. Centre for Teaching Excellence. https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/alternatives-lecturing/discussions/collaborative-online-learning
Whiteside, A. (2018). Continuing Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood: Returning Compassion, Connection, and Social Presence to Teaching and Learning. Educause Review. Retrieved on April 6, 2020: https://er.educause.edu/articles/2018/10/continuing-mister-rogers-neighborhood-returning-compassion-connection-and-social-presence
Feel free to leave any feedback you may have about the design, structure, or content of this module. We appreciate feedback because we are always learning!
Resources
Anderson, D., Standerford, N., & Imdieke, S. (2010). A Self-Study on Building Community in the Online Classroom, Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.4148/2470-6353.1096
Anderson, T., Rourke, L., Garrison, D. R., Archer, W. (2001). Assessing Teaching presence in a Computer Conference Environment. Journal of asynchronous learning networks, 5(2), 1-17.
Anderson, T. (2004). Teaching in an online learning context. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.), Theory and practice of online learning (pp. 273-294). Athabasca, AB: Athabasca University. Retrieved from https://auspace.athabascau.ca/bitstream/handle/2149/758/teaching_in_an_online.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Anderson, T. (2017, September). How communities of inquiry drive teaching and learning in the digital age. Contact North Nord. Retrieved from https://teachonline.ca/tools-trends/insights-online-learning/2018-02-27/how-communities-inquiry-drive-teaching-and-learning-digital-age
Bates, A. W. (Tony). (2015). Teaching in a Digital Age. Tony Bates Associates Ltd. https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/
Choy, J. L. F., Quek, C. L., (2016). Modelling relationships between students’ academic achievement and community of inquiry in an online learning environment for a blended course, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 32(4). 106-124. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.2500
DiRamio, D., & Wolverton, M. (2006). Integrating learning communities and distance education: Possibility of pipedream? Innovative Higher Education, 31(2), 99–113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-006-9011-y
Donovan, J. (2015). The importance of building online learning communities. Colorado State University. http://blog.online.colostate.edu/blog/online-education/the-importance-of-building-online-learning-communities/
Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education model. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.
Hao, R. N. (2011). Critical compassionate pedagogy and the teacher’s role in first‐generation student success. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2011(127), 91–98. https://doi.org/10.1002/tl.460
Redmond, P., Heffernan, A., Abawi, L., Brown, A., & Henderson, R. (2018). An online engagement framework for higher education. Online Learning, 22(1), 183-204. doi:10.24059/olj.v22i1.1175
Liu, X., Magjuka, R.J., Bonk, C.J. & Lee, S.h. (2007). Does sense of community matter? An examination of participants’ perceptions of building learning communities in online courses. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 8(1), 9-24.
Noddings, N. (1992). The challenge to care in schools: an alternative approach to education, New York: Teachers College Press.
Palmer, P. J. (1998). The Courage to Teach. Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Palloff, R. M., and Pratt, K. (2013). Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom. 2nd Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Raygoza, M., León, R., & Norris, A. (2020). Humanizing online teaching. http://works.bepress.com/mary-candace-raygoza/28/
Rovai, A. P. (2002). Sense of community, perceived cognitive learning, and persistence in asynchronous learning networks. Internet and Higher Education, 5, 319-332.
Schmidt, N. (2017, March 16). Humanizing online teaching and learning: The quest for authenticity.Educause. https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2017/3/humanizing-online-teaching-and-learning-the-quest-for-authenticity
Shackelford, J. L., & Maxwell, M. (2012). Sense of community in graduate online education: Contribution of learner to learner interaction. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 13(4), 228-249. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v13i4.1339
Sochacki, J. (2020, March 23). A checklist for building community in the college classroom. Faculty Focus. Retrieved on April 7th, 2020 at https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-classroom-management/a-checklist-for-building-community-in-the-college-classroom/
Swan, K. (2001). Virtual interaction: Design factors affecting student satisfaction and perceived learning in asynchronous online courses. Distance Education, 22:2, 306-331. https://doi.org/10.1080/0158791010220208
Tinto, V. (1997). Classrooms as communities: Exploring the educational character of student persistence. The Journal of Higher Education, 68(6), 599-623. doi:10.1080/00221546.1997.11779003
Vesely, P., Bloom, L., & Sherlock, J. (2007). Key elements of building online community: Comparing faculty and student perceptions. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 3(3), 234-246
Wladis, C., Conway, K., Hachey, A. C. (2017). Using course-level factors as predictors of online course outcomes: a multi-level analysis at a US urban community college. Studies in Higher Education, 42(1). 184-200.
Whiteside, A. (2018). Continuing Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood: Returning Compassion, Connection, and Social Presence to Teaching and Learning. Educause Review. Retrieved on April 6, 2020: https://er.educause.edu/articles/2018/10/continuing-mister-rogers-neighborhood-returning-compassion-connection-and-social-presence
Yuan, J., & Kim, C. (2014). Guidelines for facilitating the development of learning communities in online courses. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 30(3), 220-232. doi:10.1111/jcal.12042
Below you will find links to tutorials and websites that will provide you more information about the tools that were used in this module.
Flipgrid was used in option 2 to allow you to make videos where you responded to each other’s teaching philosophy’s. Flipgrid is a great tool to allow students to interact. It is quite simple to use the basic features as you’ll see in the video tutorial below.
NewEdTech Classroom. (2020, March 16). How to remotely with Flipgrid. [YouTube Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLzX13jw7bw
You can also find detailed instructions and tips about using Flipgrid for your university course here at the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching.
II
Where do I start?
This module consists of a series of readings, images, references and some videos to help you understand the different components that can be used to create a course syllabus. The material has been laid out in the following way:
Upon completion of this module, participants will be able to answer the following guiding questions:
As you move through this module, you will continue to return to these guiding questions. Whether you are working from a pre-existing course syllabus designed for face-to-face delivery or starting from scratch for a new online course, these questions will help ensure you address some of the major requirements for a robust course syllabus.
The course syllabus is both a central guiding document for any course as well as a contract between yourself (as the instructor) and your students. Dictionary.com defines a syllabus as “an outline or other brief statement of the main points of a discourse, the subjects of a course of lectures, the contents of a curriculum, etc.”. As such, the course outline needs to include enough information for our students to know what to expect from our course while also ensuring they understand expectations (for delivery and assessment) for the upcoming term.
The University of Lethbridge has a two policy documents (Assessment of Student Learning Policy and Procedures – Undergraduate Students and Assessment of Student Learning Policy and Procedures – Graduate Students) that outline requirements for a course syllabus. Links to these may be directly included into your syllabus if you choose.
1.2 The course outline includes the following essential elements:
1.2.1 The instructor’s name and contact information, course number, section and title, and the Department, Faculty or School.
1.2.2. Where, when and how students may seek assistance from the instructor.
1.2.3. A list of required reading materials, supplies and expenses for events outside of regular classes, and, where the instructor requires the study of material that cannot be specified at the outset of the course, and explicit statement to that effect.
1.2.4. Relative weights of all work used to determine a final grade. Where attendance or other forms of class participation are required, the criteria for these measures should be explicitly stated.
1.2.5. How the final letter grade for the course will be determined if percentages are used.
1.2.6. Due dates, approximate due dates or the approximate frequency of graded work.
1.2.7. Penalties for late work, if appropriate.
1.2.8. A reminder that students in the course are subject to the student discipline policy for academic offences (undergraduate) or student discipline policy for academic offences (graduate) and student discipline policy for non-academic offences in accordance with the policies.
1.2.9. If instructors use a University-approved plagiarism detection service to determine the originality of student papers, notice must be provided in the course outline. Student work may be stored in the database of the service, and if students object to such storage, they must advise the instructor in sufficient time that other techniques may be used to confirm the integrity of written work.
References:
Syllabus. (n.d.). in dictionary.com, retrieved March 29th, 2020) from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/syllabus?s=t
While you are certainly welcome to work through all aspects of this module, there may be aspects that are better suited to your current needs. As a result, we have designed a few choices for how you might proceed from this point.
Option 1: Other Items to Consider In Your Syllabus
There is a great deal of other information that you may want to include in your syllabus. This option will examine a number of items that may help both you and your students better understand the parameters of your course, what they can expect from you and the material, as well as what you expect of them in return.
Option 2: Crafting Course Outcomes
The inclusion of course outcomes can help to not only clarify the central foci of your course for students, but it can also assist you in deciding which activities and materials are key to the completion of the course, and which are superfluous to those goals. In this option we will discuss the purpose of course outcomes, how they differ from objectives or goals, and provide assistance in writing clear outcomes.
Option 3: Designing for Online Delivery
Creating a course for online delivery is about more than just assembling the content. In a face-to-face classroom, the class structure and routine is created by you and your presence in the classroom. In an online environment, this structure and routine needs to be designed into the course design and how you present the content to the students. This option will discuss some considerations for how you will present your course material in a straightforward and systematic structure to ensure that there are the least number of barriers to your students’ success.
Outside of the required components that are defined by the Assessment of Student Learning Policy and Procedures, there are a number of items that are well worth considering including. These items include the following:
The University of Lethbridge has a long standing relationship with the Blackfoot Confederacy. The formation of the Iikaisskini (ee-GUS-ganee) Gathering Place on campus is meant to be a gathering place for all on campus to share stories, teachings and wisdom. The name Iikaisskini means “low horn” and is named in honor of Leroy Little Bear (BA, JD, HON. DAS, HON. LL.D) and his tireless service to the University. To help acknowledge and welcome our Indigenous students into our classrooms, a territorial acknowledgement statement has been written for both our main campus in Lethbridge, as well as a dedicated version for our Calgary campus. This statement highlights our ties to the Indigenous peoples and land that our campuses inhabit, and their inclusion helps to remind all of our students of this connection. A short form of the statement that would be appropriate (for the main campus) for inclusion might be:
A version for our Calgary campus might be:
The most current acknowledgement statements can be located here – https://www.uleth.ca/sites/default/files/2019/08/final_territorial_statements_june_2019.pdf
The University of Lethbridge was founded on the principles of Liberal Education. With the recent revitalization of this foundation and the formation of the School of Liberal Education (2017), inclusion of a Liberal Education statement might be helpful for your students. Here is a sample (written by the School of Liberal Education) of a statement that you might want to consider including:
Liberal education has been a community tradition at the University of Lethbridge since its founding. Our principle of Liberal Education is based on four pillars:
More information about our School of Liberal Education can be found here – https://www.uleth.ca/liberal-education
Student Accommodations Statement:
The University of Lethbridge has a very clear policy on Academic Accommodations of Learning for Students with Disabilities. In addition, the Accommodated Learning Centre has a wealth of information (for both Faculty and Students). Including a brief statement acknowledging that your classroom is an accommodating environment will also help those students who require accommodation feel more welcome and included. This statement might look something like this:
In addition to the needs of students who have an identified disability, paying attention to Universal Design when designing your course material and activities can be very beneficial to ALL of your students. We will spend more time discussing Universal Design for Learning in Option 3: Designing for Online Delivery.
Technical Requirements of the Course:
Normally, students require little beyond the required textbook and the ability to make their way to class regularly in order to participate in a face-to-face class. Moving to online delivery brings with it other requirements that should be clearly communicated in the course outline for students. This means thinking about the types of activities you intend to engage the students in (and what is going to be required to participate in those activities). Some questions to consider include the following:
A sample technical requirements statement could look something like the following:
Communication in an online course is absolutely vital to ensure student engagement and ultimately success. Creating clear lines of communication are very important, but just as important are the guidelines and expectations for those lines of communication. Creating multiple pathways for communication to take place (both between student and instructor as well as student to student) encourages students to engage in the course and material. The use of email, discussion forums, and online office hours are all methods to help make yourself more accessible to students.
Something to consider though are the expectations associated with each of these forms of communication. For example, if you are encouraging use of email, you may consider the following:
If you are utilizing discussion forums, here are some additional considerations:
A great infographic to help outline 15 Rules of Netiquette for Online Discussion Boards can be found here. (Online Education for Higher Ed – Touro College).
If you are going to make use of online office hours, consider the following:
If you would like feedback from peers and/or facilitators on any aspect of your syllabus or course outcomes, please feel free to share it in the Module Discussion Forum.
This option gives you the opportunity to craft your own course outcomes. In this option you will do the following:
Goal – A goal is a broad definition of student competence. Examples of these goals include:
Objective – A course objective describes what a faculty member will cover in a course. They are generally less broad that goals and broader than student learning outcomes. Examples of objectives include:
A few of the key points:
*retrieved from https://ueap.sfsu.edu/sites/default/files/assets/docs/student_learning_outcomes.pdf April 3rd, 2020.
To write learning outcomes, we need to understand not only what we want our students to be able to demonstrate upon completion, but at which level we expect them to be able to complete it. Accordingly, we need a common language to identify possible levels of understanding. There are several educational taxonomies that will help us to find the language necessary to write these outcomes.
Here is a graphic that illustrates both the original Bloom’s Taxonomy and the revised version of 2000:
There are other several other taxonomies that might be of interest when thinking about how learning objectives can be written/framed. Some of the other prominent taxonomies are:
The process of writing learning outcomes then becomes a matter of matching the level of skill/understanding that you expect your students to demonstrate with specific area of understanding and how you will expect them to be able to demonstrate this to you (and themselves). There are many resources that can be extremely helpful in writing outcomes, but probably one of the easiest to use (and most visual) is this one by Arizona State University.
By following the steps in their outcome (they use the term objective) builder, you can quickly write learner-centred outcomes for your class.
Additional Resources:
The following additional resources may be of interest but are not required:
If you would like feedback from peers and/or facilitators on any aspect of your syllabus or course outcomes, please feel free to share it in the Module Discussion Forum.
References:
Allan, J., (2006). Learning outcomes in higher education, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 21, Issue 1, pp 93-108.
Bloom, B., ed. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Handbook 1 cognitive domain, London: Longman
Biggs, J. B., & Collis, K. F. (1982). Evaluating the quality of learning: The SOLO taxonomy (structure of the observed learning outcome). New York: Academic Press.
Fink, L. D. (2003). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses (1st ed.). San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.
Hussey, T., Smith, P. (2002). The Trouble with Learning Outcomes, Active Learning in Higher Education, 3(3), 220-233.
Wiggins, G. P., McTighe, J., & NetLibrary, I. (2005). Understanding by design (Expand 2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
To combat this unfortunate reality for many, consider turning your course syllabus into not only something more useful for students, but also something that is referenced throughout your course (both directly and indirectly). Creating your course syllabus in such a way that you can link back to specific parts of it will help students remember the role it has in helping explain the structure of the course. The idea of creating a “warm” syllabus has been an idea that has been discussed in a number of articles written for the Association for Psychological Science. One such article titled Creating the Foundation for a Warm Classroom Climate (January, 2011), discusses the impact that the tone of the course syllabus can have on setting the tone for the entire course.
There are many different ways in which a course syllabus can be presented to students. How about considering a course syllabus that is laid out as a graphic organizer of sorts – with all of the key information presented on the first page in an easy to view layout. The Visual Communication Guy has an excellent tutorial on turning your syllabus into an infographic (Aug 14, 2017) that is worth reading if you are interested in going this route with your syllabus. Another example of this can be found here.
Another possibility is creating what Michelle Pacansky-Brock calls a Liquid Syllabus. A liquid syllabus is a version of your syllabus that is mobile friendly (displays well on a mobile device). She writes about it in an article posted to the Teaching Without Walls website (Aug 13, 2014) and also summarizes her ideas in this brief YouTube video (2 minutes 48 seconds).
Designing an Online Course
Creating a well structured, inviting and engaging learning experience for students is about much more than simply having engaging content. The entirety of the course — from the introduction of the course and materials, to the course syllabus, to the structure, design, and layout — contributes to the student learning experience (and to student success). Most often we are not creating course material from scratch for online delivery; rather, we are re-purposing material that was created for a face-to-face delivery for online. This brings with it specific challenges and considerations:
In addition to these questions, we should also consider how we present this information to students.
A great deal has been written about how to design an effective online course (for a variety of audiences). An article title Designing Effective Online Courses: 10 Considerations (Burns, 2016) for eLearning Industry outlines the following 10 key points. She indicates a good online course needs to have the following attributes:
An article titled 4 Expert Strategies for Designing an Online Course published to Inside Higher Ed (Rottmann & Rabidoux, 2017) outlines the following 4 strategies:
These are great tips, but what does this look like within the confines of a course? What are some of the things that you can do within the University of Lethbridge Moodle environment that will help to create an inviting environment for the students? A few simple steps that can help make Moodle a bit more inviting for students are listed below:
Examples
Here are a few samples from one of our FLOf course:
Ultimately, there is no “right” way to accomplish this. It comes down to what works for you (and your students), the content that you are presenting and your approach to teaching. It often takes some experimentation to find an approach that works for you.
Additional Resources:
The following resources might help you get more familiar with some of the content that you can place into Moodle and some of the ways in which you can format content for a more inviting presentation to your students:
If you would like feedback from peers and/or facilitators on any aspect of your syllabus or course outcomes, please feel free to share it in the Module Discussion Forum.
References:
Burns, M., (2016), Designing Effective Online Courses: 10 Considerations, eLearning Industry website, retrieved April 8th, 2020 – https://elearningindustry.com/designing-effective-online-courses-10-considerations
Harnish, R. J., McElwee, R. O., Slattery, J. M., Frantz, S., Haney, R. H., Shore, C. M., Penley, J., (2011), Creating the Foundation for a Warm Classroom Climate, Association for Psychological Science Observer, retrieved April 10th, 2020 – https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/creating-the-foundation-for-a-warm-classroom-climate
Newbold, C. (2017), How to Turn Your Syllabus into an Infographic, The Visual Communication Guy Blog, retrieved April 11th, 2020 – https://thevisualcommunicationguy.com/2017/08/14/how-to-turn-your-syllabus-into-an-infographic/
Pacansky-Brock, M. (2014), The Liquid Syllabus: Are You Ready?, Teaching Without Walls website, retrieved April 15th, 2020 – http://www.teachingwithoutwalls.com/2014/08/the-liquid-syllabus-are-you-ready.html
Rottmann, A., Rabidoux, S., (2017), 4 Expert Strategies for Designing an Online Course, Inside Higher Ed, retrieved April 8th, 2020 – https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/advice/2017/03/15/4-expert-strategies-designing-online-course
III
Content Overview:
Facilitation of Learning and Teaching Online Part 2
Community of Inquiry Framework
Gilly Salmon’s Five Stage Model
Navigating Pressbooks Tutorial
You will:
Time Commitment:
This module is designed to take 2-3 hours to complete.
Instructor contact and availability:
Activity/Lesson acceptable submission formats:
Instructions:
STEP 1: Read about the need to increase interactivity in online environments to help increase student motivation and engagement.
As we shall see, instructor presence, social presence, and cognitive presence all support student engagement online. Both instructor presence and social presence speak to different levels of interactivity online. It is those levels that need to be paid careful attention to. Interactivity plays an important role in the learning process among instructors, learners, and content (Wei, et al., 2015). Interactivity can happen through instructor-student interactions, student-student interactions, and student-content interactions. Research suggests that of the three, instructor-student interactions have the most impact on student motivation, retention, and perseverance (Croxton, 2014; Huss et al., 2015). Online interactivity is not bound by time or space and thus has been viewed as one of the most important parts of a learners’ positive learning experience online (Wei, et al., 2015). Moreover, as research shows, “Multimedia resources and other tools… [only] serve to enhance the learning experience and provide a focus for students to actively engage with the instructor, their peers, and course content” (Huss et al., 2015, p. 75).
Instructor-student interaction
Huss et al. note that “Instructors who are best at facilitating interaction in online classes are those who are resilient, adaptive, and proactive” (2015, p. 74). The role of the instructor is to facilitate and encourage high-quality communication among his/her learners and thereby also encouraging learners to communicate and build relationships with their instructors.
Student-student interaction
Student-student interactions are also an important part of learner satisfaction online (Croxton, 2014). Research suggests “interactions that were most predictive of sense of community were: sharing personal experiences, collaborative group projects, entire class discussions, and exchanging resources” (Huss et al., 2015, p. 74). Student-student interactions also foster a sense of student autonomy where students learn independently or from one another and are less reliant on their instructor.
Instructions:
STEP 2: Read the article, A case study of online instructors and their quest for greater interactivity in their courses: Overcoming the distance in distance education by Huss, J.A., Sela, O., & Eastep, S. (2015).
STEP 3: Now that you have a bit more understanding about interactivity and its effect on student satisfaction, assume the comments below (excerpts from the above reading) are from your colleagues. As you read these comments, consider the following question:
Step 4: Share your thoughts on thisgeneral discussion forum Once other participants have posted their comments, post a response to at least one other participant.
Note: If you chose not to do the suggested reading, you can still do this activity below.
Online Courses Hinder Instructor-Student Interaction
“…(Carol, Kate, Marion, Olivia) brought up their frustration with the fact that the online format seems to hinder the instructor-student interaction. The fact that both teacher and student are unable to use their body language, facial expressions, and voice when communicating is a serious liability in forming the rapport necessary for good learning. Marion stated, “Because so much of my face-to-face [courses] I use body language, I read body posture and facial expressions and I respond to that, and I didn’t realize how much I use that or how that was a skill that I had until I no longer had access to it.” Kate mentioned, “You can’t look and immediately tell if people are getting it or not.” Olivia explained “…in an online course these relationships [instructor-student] aren’t manifested. This interaction is lacking… also lacking is class discussion, which is something very important for learning. I miss that.”
Olivia further noted: Yes, they write me, they won’t stop complaining and I keep telling them, it was you who chose to learn this in an online course. In class I can answer these questions, here I can’t answer every single ‘I didn’t understand, I didn’t know.’ So, I don’t answer.
The participants perceived the communication between instructor and students as flawed or insufficient and are very much upset by this and unable to find a solution” (Huss, Sela & Eastep, 2015, p. 78).
____________________________________________________________________________________
OPTIONAL: Additional reading
Croxton, R.A. (2014). The role of interactivity in student satisfaction and persistence in online learning. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 10(2), p. 314-324. Retrieved from https://jolt.merlot.org/vol10no2/croxton_0614.pdf
References
Croxton, R.A. (2014). The role of interactivity in student satisfaction and persistence in online learning. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 10(2), p. 314-324. Retrieved from https://jolt.merlot.org/vol10no2/croxton_0614.pdf
Huss, J.A., Sela, O., & Easter, S. (2015). A case study of online instructors and their quest for greater interactivity in their courses: Overcoming the distance in distance education. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 40(4), p. 72-86 Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1057909.pdf
Wei, H-C., Peng, H., & Chou, C. (2015). Can more interactivity improve learning achievement in an online course? Effects of college students’ perception and actual use of a course-management system on their learning achievement. Computers & Education, 83, 10-21. Retrieved from http://bibliografia.eovirtual.com/WeiC_2015_Can.pdf
This module is guided by the principle that in order to be an effective online facilitator you must first experience the online environment as a learner. It is designed to broaden your knowledge of online facilitation models and strategies so as to support your own online facilitation.
After reviewing two popular research-based online facilitation models, you will choose one to help guide your facilitation of a chosen activity or lesson for your course. In addition, you will be provided with two lists of various instructional strategies with which to format or guide your activity/lesson. Upon completing your facilitation instructions for your activity/lesson you’ll have the option to submit it and receive feedback as well as to reflect on your experience through a reflective discussion post.
You can start this module by reading through the learning outcomes and subsequent resources. There is additional reading material, but it is not required to complete the module. It has been provided to offer you a deeper understanding of the online facilitation models. The module will begin with a brief introduction to the two models: the Community of Inquiry framework and Salmon’s Five Stage model. Remember you only need to choose one model to guide you through your activity/lesson planning.
Learner Support:
To support your learning a sample lesson has been provided at the end of this module.
What you will learn in this module PART 2
Online facilitation models
List of facilitation methods
Below you will find two different live links of facilitation methods to choose from one from the University of Illinois Springfield and the other for McGill University.
With instructors facing new roles that demand a thorough understanding of the relationship between technology, pedagogy, and content within their given discipline (Mishra & Koehler, 2006; Wu et al., 2016), the role of educators is increasingly more complex (Ouellett, 2010). Facilitating online calls for an instructor to take on several different roles including that of facilitator, designer, technology specialist, and director.
As the facilitator, the instructor’s role is to create meaningful learning opportunities for learners to gain the skills they’ll need in their chosen careers. The instructor needs to carefully design and scaffold assignments and assessments that will help lead to personal growth and self-efficacy among students (Kwantlen Polytechnic University, n.d.).
As a designer, instructors curate resources that serve the learning goals and enable students to grow knowledgeable in their field. They select the most relevant resources such as videos, readings, and the like to best serve learning outcomes. Instructors must design the online environment, so it is logically organized and easy to navigate (Kwantlen Polytechnic University, n.d.).
As a technology specialist, the instructor assumes the role by choosing appropriate technologies to meet learning goals. It is necessary for the instructor to understand how to use the tools and clearly explain their use to students. Furthermore, as a technology specialist, the instructor needs to ensure the course site is continuously running smoothly otherwise the lack of efficiency can lead to student frustration and a barrier to learning (Taylor-Massey, n.d.). Educators now need to consider asking “when, to what degree, and to what ends” (Ouellett, 2010, p. 12) technology should be used, rather than whether it should be used, in order to make informed decisions about which educational technologies are best suited for their subject-matter (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
As the director, instructors need to make themselves available to guide students and clarify or answer questions along the way. They need to provide just-in-time feedback, so students know where they are at any given time within an assignment or project and how to proceed forward (Kwantlen Polytechnic University, n.d.).
Knowing the extent to which educators need to adjust their roles is necessary to gain knowledge or a sense of mastery in a particular area. This module will focus on providing knowledge and proficiency in facilitating online learning environments.
Instructions
STEP 1: Read the following two articles:
Anderson, T. (2004). Teaching in an online learning context. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.), Theory and practice of online learning (pp. 273-294). Athabasca, AB: Athabasca University. Retrieved from https://auspace.athabascau.ca/bitstream/handle/2149/758/teaching_in_an_online.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Wright, P. (2015). Comparing e-tivities, e-moderation, and the five stage model to the community of inquiry model for online learning design. The Online Journal of Distance Education and e-Learning, 3(2), p. 17-30. Retrieved from https://tojdel.net/journals/tojdel/articles/v03i02/v03i02-02.pdf
OPTIONAL: Additional Reading
Anderson, T. (2016, September). How communities of inquiry drive teaching and learning in the digital age. Contact North Nord. Retrieved from https://teachonline.ca/tools-trends/insights-online-learning/2018-02-27/how-communities-inquiry-drive-teaching-and-learning-digital-age
References
Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for integrating technology in teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054. Retrieved from http://onlinelearningcurriculumcommittee.pbworks.com/f/mishra.pdf
Learning to Learn Online by Kwantlen Polytechnic University is licensed under a CC BY-SA 4.0
Ouellett, M. (2010). Overview of faculty development: History and choices. In K. J. Gillespie & D. L. Robertson (Eds.), A guide to faculty development, 2nd ed., (pp. 3-20). Retrieved from https://tpa.abu.edu.ng/www.devcomlibrary.com/Ebook%20Database_E/A_Guide_to_Faculty_Development__Jossey_Bass_Higher_and_Adult_Education____2nd_edi.pdf#page=29
Taylor-Massey, J. (n.d.) Redefining Teaching: The five roles of the online instructor. Retrieved from http://blog.online.colostate.edu/blog/online-teaching/redefining-teaching-the-five-roles-of-the-online-instructor/
Wu, B., Hu, Y., Gu, X., & Lim, C. (2016). Professional development of new higher education teachers with information and communication technology in Shanghai: A Kirkpatrick’s evaluation approach. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 54(4), 531-562. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.royalroads.ca/doi/pdf/10.1177/0735633115621922
Instructions:
STEP 1: Read a brief summary of the Community of Inquiry Framework below.
The Community of Inquiry Framework (CoI)is an online learning model that focuses on collaborative and constructivist principles. Constructivist principles “recognize that the learner has prior knowledge and experiences, which are often determined by their social and cultural environment. Learning is therefore done by students’ “constructing” knowledge out of their experiences” (Wikipedia, 2018). The framework is used to analyze online learning environments and consists of three interrelated domains: social presence, cognitive presence, and teacher presence.
By using this framework in your practice, you ensure you are addressing the three critical presences (explained below) that exemplify sound practice in online learning.
Social presence denotes the level to which learners identify and associate with one another. It refers to an online environment that establishes a safe space for learners to share their ideas, explore differences, and collaborate. Building trust is the key to helping learners navigate the online space effectively. By contributing to discourse, articulating their thought processes, and discovering misconceptions, learners can cultivate a community of practice (Anderson, 2004).
Instructions:
STEP 2:
In an effort to offer a meaningful educational experience for your learners, view the Community of Inquiry framework here, and explore the website’s related files.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=61
Figure 1: Community of inquiry framework. Reprinted from The Community of Inquiry, by T. Anderson, R. Garrison, & W. Archer 2000. Retrieved from https://coi.athabascau.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/COI-ANIM.swf. Reprinted by permission.
References
Anderson, T. (2004). Teaching in an online learning context. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.), Theory and practice of online learning (pp. 273-294). Athabasca, AB: Athabasca University. Retrieved from https://auspace.athabascau.ca/bitstream/handle/2149/758/teaching_in_an_online.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, & Archer. (2001). Community of Inquiry. [Vector graphic]. Retrieved April 17, 2020 from https://coi.athabascau.ca/coi-model/
Constructivism. (2018). In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 17, 2020 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(philosophy_of_education)
Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher educationmodel. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.
Instructions:
STEP 1: Watch this video called 5 Stage Model (9:05 mins) by Gilly Salmon.
Next explore this website and pay attention to the slideshow, infographic and model to familiar yourself with the process and steps of the online facilitation model.
Glossary
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=63
Figure 2: Salmon’s five stage model. Reprinted from Being a Successful Online Teacher by G. Salmon 2011. Retrieved from https://leocontent.acu.edu.au/file/ccbe60fc-4a3c-4a2c-a80e-286a4946a9f3/1/html/ote_1_30.html
References
Salmon, G. (2013). E-tivities: The key to active online learning (2nd ed.). London & New York: Routledge
Salmon, G. (n.d.) Salmon’s Five Stage Model. [Infographic]. Retrieved from https://leocontent.acu.edu.au/file/ccbe60fc-4a3c-4a2c-a80e-286a4946a9f3/1/html/ote_1_30.html CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
The Glossary of Education Reform by Great Schools Partnership is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Instructions:
STEP 1: Now that you have a better understanding of each facilitation model, you need to choose one that speaks to you to guide you in the design of your activity. Use the guiding question(s) below to help you as you move through the rest of the module. Consider answering the following question(s) for yourself depending on which model you choose.
“…defined as a process model of online learning, it emphasise [sic] the importance of developing a community of learners, who through collaboration and connectivity, are able to create sustain higher order processes of learning. It seeks not only to establish this integral online learning community of students, but to embed the pursuit of inquiry into online learning. In order to create this, the CoI frame work identifies three key overlapping areas that are integral components of learning design for applying the model. These key elements are known as Social Presence, Cognitive Presence and Teaching Presence” (Wright, 2015, p. 20).
“The 5-Stage Model (Salmon, 2011) is a strategic approach to structuring course content and interaction, around the basis of a natural stage-by-stage progression the e-learner is likely to go through in online learning. The model provides the course designer a scaffold in which to organise course content and structure, with the integration of specific stage appropriate e-tivities, to meet the individual online pedagogy needs of the learner. This links directly to providing a valid strategy for meeting learner satisfaction in Course Structure and Organisation factors” (Wright, 2015, p. 19).
How do these elements ensure quality learning experiences? What does quality mean in this case? (Clint Lalonde, 2017).
Instructions:
STEP 2: Now you need to decide what you want to do and how you want to work with your students (eg. I want my students to work in teams to analyze a case study.) To do this, visit these two websites 1: University of Illinois Springfield (**skip to instructional strategies section) 2: McGill University to explore a variety of instructional strategies. Choose one to two instructional strategies to design your activity.
At this stage, you should have chosen one to two instructional strategies to design your activity. You should have your objectives (what your students will learn) and learning outcomes (what your students should be able to do) written as well. SEE: Crafting Course Outcomes
As you create your activity/lesson plan consider the following guiding questions:
Activity/Lesson acceptable submission formats:
Written, PowerPoint or video
Instructions:
STEP 3: Now that you have decided which model you will use to create your online activity, use the additional guiding questions below to guide your planning.
___________________________________________________________________________
Social Presence
Cognitive Presence
Teacher Presence
___________________________________________________________________________
Instructions:
STEP 1: Write a final reflective post in this general discussion forum describing how you have utilized the your chosen online facilitation model.
References
Lalonde, C. 2017. LRNT 505: Community building processes for online learning environments: Winter 2017 [Course lecture]. Retrieved from royalroads.ca
Wright, P. (2015). Comparing e-tivities, e-moderation and the five stage model to the community of inquiry model for online learning design. The Online Journal of Distance Education and e-Learning, 3(2), p. 17-30. Retrieved from https://tojdel.net/journals/tojdel/articles/v03i02/v03i02-02.pdf to inform your understanding of the Community of Inquiry Model and Gilly Salmon’s Five Stage Model that comprise of this module.
SAMPLE ACTIVITY
Objectives (what learners will learn)
Learners will:
SAMPLE Instructor introduction
Welcome to CB1000 (Community Building). My name is Sam Poland and I’ll be your instructor for the course. I’ve been teaching this course for four years and love learning new ways of building community with every iteration. I am interested in building a vibrant community together and so I invite you each to share a little bit about yourself with the class so we can get to know each other.
The sample below is for the facilitator to identify how the learning outcomes and tasks/instructions align with a particular online facilitation model (in brown). This example is based on the Col framework.
Learning outcomes (What students will be able to do)
Having read two academic readings on the Col framework, students should be able to:
1.1 explore the Col framework with a specific focus on social presence.
1.2 individually define social presence in their own words to demonstrate their own understanding of social presence.
1.3 individually research and find a chosen case study that exemplifies social presence and its role in student success in online environments.
1.4 work in groups of their choosing to analyze each case study identifying differences and comparing similarities. Note: Groups of 4
1.5 submit their findings in an 850-word summary in an effort to demonstrate their ability to analyze case studies and draw conclusions.
1.6 Optional: write a reflection on their experience of social presence in the group activity on a discussion board (LMS).
Teaching strategy
STEPS
IV
This Module is guided by the principle that good assessment comes from having well-defined learning outcomes. It is designed to help you build authentic assessment (valid and reliable), whether graded or ungraded, for an online learning environment. The assessment methods introduced in this Module are evidence-based and are designed to increase both authenticities of learning and learner engagement in online learning environments.
The approaches and strategies discussed in this module are student-centric but are also designed to increase teaching effectiveness and reduce workload for instructors. You will be exposed to the main theory of practice for meaningful assessment and to consider how your current assessments and activities align with your intended outcomes. You will then choose one aspect of assessment that you wish to adapt or create for an online learning environment. You will be equipped with summaries, templates, and resources to help you develop authentic online assessments for any course. At the end of the Module, you will have the option to submit your revised or newly created assessment to receive feedback from members of the University of Lethbridge’s Teaching Centre.
This Module begins with an introduction to the learning outcomes, materials needed, and navigation through the module. There are additional resources listed in each section to read and use for future course development. You will begin this Module by reviewing assessment methods. Then, you will have the option to create a new activity and assessment tool for an online class. The Module also consists of supplementary sections labeled ‘Tool Box.’ These sections provide you with extra guidance in hot topics related to online assessment and include some templates. There is also an FAQ section at the end of the Module.
After you complete the first two sections, you will be asked to revise/create a single assessment tool for a particular course. You will have the choice of creating a discussion forum, altering an exam, changing a hands-on project, or a transforming presentation for an online learning environment.
If you are planning a new course or completely re-designing an old course, you can visit the optional activity at the end of the Module titled “What are your course goals & learning outcomes?”
This Module should take 3-5 hours to complete (this assumes you choose one of the four options).
Various forms of media and exemplars have been provided throughout the Module to assist you through your learning. You will be able to engage with your fellow learners through informal discussion boards. If you need more guidance, we encourage you to do a quick internet search and look at what other instructors have posted as exemplars and read some articles. We have posted extended help at the bottom of each section for some good resources. Your instructors will also be able to provide some support to you.
10 AM – 4 PM on Mondays – Fridays from Monday, June 15 to Friday, June 26.
If you require extra support beyond these hours, you can contact the Teaching Centre or your instructors directly for assistance.
Guiding Questions
It is expected that you will be able to answer the following questions by the end of the Module…
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the Module, you will be able to…
Module Expectations
If you choose to engage in all aspects of the Module, you will…
If you read every section and complete the activities for one of the options, this Module will take you between 6 hours – 9 hours to complete. If you choose to interact with extended resources, this Module can take you significantly longer than the time recommendations.
Section 1 provides an overview of assessment methods and the leading method of how to build strong assessments. You will not need any specific materials.
This section should take 35 – 60 minutes to complete.
Guiding Questions
Please think about these questions before you begin this section:
Three Methods of Assessment
Assessment is “the process of using tools and techniques to collect information about student learning. In other words, assessment is the way teachers see their students’ learning” (Gareis & Grant, p. 2, 2015).
We use assessment to determine the “nature and degree of student learning” (Garies & Grant, p. 3, 2015).
There are three methods of assessment:
Pre-Assessment occurs before you teach your students.
Formative Assessment includes ungraded activities and feedback you provide to students.
Summative Assessment involves graded activities that occur at the end of learning.
Achieving Effective Assessment
Assessment needs to align with your curriculum (course content) and instruction (teaching methods). Scroll your mouse over the question marks in the diagram to learn more.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=32
Figure 7.
Ellis, D. (2007). Aligning learning outcomes, assessments and teaching methods. Teaching Excellence Academy workshop for University of Waterloo, Canada. Retrieved from Queens University, Matching Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes.
The Cycles of Assessment
We also use the practice of assessment, as a whole, to inform our teaching. By looking at assessment as a cycle throughout the duration of a class, we can begin to see how assessment informs our teaching and learning activities. For every assessment[ we create, we want to engage in a cycle that has four stages (scroll over the question marks below).
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=32
In this approach, we begin with the end in mind. This is also known as understanding by backwards design (UbD).
Understanding by Backwards Design (UbD)
Using the Backwards Design approach will help you align your assessment, curriculum, and instruction.
Backwards Design is a learning theory for designing sound pedagogical courses by starting with the learning outcomes first, rather than starting with your course activities. Please consider the diagram below to gain an understanding of how UbD can help you design good activities and assessments.
Indiana University Bloomington. (n.d.). IUB backward course design model. [Infographic]. Retrieved April 16, 2020 from https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/course-design/backward-course-design/index.html.
Extended Activity: Watch this video to review the methodology and purpose of backwards design. (8 min)
Another important aspect of backwards design is that it helps ensure your assessment is authentic. All authentic assessment starts with alignment to intended learning outcomes. When we need to change our assessment and/or learning activities, it may feel daunting. And in the face of a new teaching environment (e.g., online), it becomes clear just how crucial it is that we create authentic, pedagogically sound assessments.
What is Authentic Assessment?
As you have been transitioning to online teaching, you have undoubtedly thought about how you will accurately assess your students’ learning. Questions about how to do this properly while maintaining academic integrity in your virtual classroom may be plaguing you. The good news is that maintaining authentic assessment practice is probably less work than you think! The bad news is that it will still take some work.
TIP: the more opportunities your students have to demonstrate learning of an outcome, the more reliable your assessment is.
There are two main components of authentic assessments: validity & reliability:
A valid assessment is one that is “truthful, suitable, legitimate, applicable, convincing, compelling” (Gareis & Grant, p. 24, 2015).
A reliable assessment is one where “the consistency or dependability of the results of the assessment” are maintained (Garies & Grant, p. 37, 2015).
TIP: when building an activity for assessment (e.g., exam) try asking 2 – 3 questions that evaluate the same learning outcome. This gives students multiple chances to demonstrate their understanding of a particular content area.
Authentic assessment is achieved when you have considered the perspective of your student and built your assessment after you have created well-thought-out learning outcomes.
Here is a friendly reminder from our friend, Louis Pasteur:
Chance favours the prepared mind
Extended Resources
Bowen, R. S. (2017). Understanding by design. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved April 11, 2020, from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/understanding-by-design/.
Queens University (n.d.). Assessment types: Diagnostic, formative and summative. Retrieved April 11, 2020 from https://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/assessments/09_s2_01_intro_section.html.
Queens University. (n.d.). Deciding what to assess. Retrieved April 11, 2020 from https://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/assessments/05_s1_02_deciding_what_to_assess.html.
References
Bowen, R. S. (2017). Understanding by design. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved April 11, 2020 from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/understanding-by-design/.
Gareis, C. R. & Grant, L. W. (2015). Teacher-made assessments: How to connect curriculum, instruction, and student learning (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Indiana University Bloomington. (n.d.). IUB backward course design model. [Infographic]. Retrieved April 16, 2020 from https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/course-design/backward-course-design/index.html.
Queens University. (n.d.). Matching assessment tasks to learning outcomes. Retrieved April 11, 2020 from https://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/assessments/18_s2_10_revisiting_learning_outcomes.html.
Feel free to leave any feedback you may have about the design, structure, or content of this module. We appreciate feedback because we are always learning!
Section 2 is an introduction to the types of scoring criteria we use in assessment. You will have an option to create one of the tools below for your upcoming course. By the end of this section, you will understand proper structure and types of assessments/activities to evaluate student learning. This should take you 30 – 50 minutes to complete.
Guiding Questions
Please think about these questions before you being this section:
Types of Scoring Criteria
We will discuss three types of scoring criteria in this section: checklists, analytic rubrics, and holistic rubrics. Please note that scoring criteria can be retooled for use within a course with a few simple tweaks (e.g., using the same rubric for multiple discussion forums) and between courses (e.g., repeatedly using the same checklist for project requirements for different courses). You may want to use checklists and rubrics for grading exams, projects, and other assignments.
Read through the first two portions of Jennifer Gonzalez’s breakdown of holistic and analytic rubrics here.
STOP: The next sections are directly related to the specific activity and assessment tool you are going to (re)design. Before you select your option, we recommend you consider your upcoming course and choose the assignment/assessment you believe takes the most priority. You are not expected to read through each option. Please only visit the one section that pertains to your choice of one of the following:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=35
Forsythe, G. [@guiliaforsythe]. (2020, March 15). “so… you need to put your course online” flowchart… now generic and explicitly CCBY. [Tweet; Image]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/giuliaforsythe/status/1239371142206496770
It is also recommended that you reference the Tool Boxes and FAQ as needed. If you are looking for more information before you get working on your activity, you can follow these links below. A new page of the book will open in a new tab.
Next step: Click one of the activities you would like to complete for your class (the link will guide you to the next place you should go to in the book):
NOTE: do not click ‘next page’ here. You need to choose which activity you want to complete by following the links in one of the options below.
Extended Resources
Brock University. (n.d.). Flexible teaching and learning. Retrieved April 16, 2020 from https://brocku.ca/pedagogical-innovation/resources/flexible-teaching-and-learning/#1584019016028-8316430e-669c.
References
Forsythe, G. [@guiliaforsythe]. (2020, March 15). “so… you need to put your course online” flowchart… now generic and explicitly CCBY. [Tweet; Image]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/giuliaforsythe/status/1239371142206496770.
Gonzalez, J. (2014, May 1). Know your terms: Holistic, analytic, and single-point rubrics. Cult of Pedagogy. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/holistic-analytic-single-point-rubrics/
This section will walk you through how to create a discussion forum and how to build a corresponding assessment tool. Before beginning, we will first explore:
After reading through these key elements of discussion forums, you will engage in a hands-on activity to build a full discussion forum. This will include:
This section will take you 3 – 4 hours to complete.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=40
STOP: Now you will create a discussion forum for your class.
Activity: Design a Discussion Forum & Assessment Tool
For this activity, you will work through the following six steps:
Remember to have your course outline and learning outcomes (goals) handy!
Step 1 Create a Table of Specifications
Create a Table of Specifications to identify the course content you want to assess and the level of thinking you want your students to illustrate. Use the template Table of Specifications. (download the template by clicking the blue text)
A table of specifications outlines the course learning outcomes associated with the discussion forum, the specific content areas covered in the forum, the level of cognitive demand students will use to demonstrate their learning, and the weighted value you place on each content area you will be grading.
See a sample Table of Specifications: SAMPLE Table of Specifications
Once you have your table of specifications open, follow these five steps to complete the table:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=40
Step 2 Building Your Scoring Criteria for Discussion Forums
Create your scoring criteria. This is the assessment tool you will use to evaluate your students’ learning. We use scoring criteria to grade students.
TIP: Checklists and Holistic Rubrics are faster and easier to create. However, they view content and competencies as a ‘have’ or ‘have not.’ Analytic Rubrics are more complex, but they provide a stronger evaluation process for grading and student performance.
Open the appropriate tab for the assessment tool you want to use. Follow the steps to design your assessment tool:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=40
Step 3
A) Design & Build the Structure for your Discussion Forums
Now that you have built your grading criteria, you want to consider how to structure and design the discussion forum. Think about how students will engage in the forum, how you will moderate the forum, how you will give feedback and when you will grade forum posts. We recommend that you open a new Word Document to write down your ideas.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=40
B) Creating Prompts
Now you will write the questions/prompts to promote student discussion. The number of prompts will depend on the number of discussions you have planned. You want to create prompts that you can easily grade with your assessment tool.
Refer to your table of specifications and your assessment tool to help you build and design your prompts.
Consider creating a master list of prompts and questions on a Word Document. For each due date you have indicated create a prompt that relates to the content and level of learning you want students to exhibit.
Step 4 Setting up Forums in Moodle
Now you are ready to build your Discussion Forum in Moodle.
You may choose to have students engage in the Discussion in an open, public, online space like a website or chatroom. Be aware of student confidentiality requirements and accessibility issues if you choose one of these options. For this boot camp, we will ask you to build your forum in Moodle.
Here’s how to do this on Moodle. Please follow the steps provided in the tutorial and build your discussion forum in your class Moodle page. You will want to open your class Moodle page and keep the tutorial open to guide you through building your forum in Moodle.
Tips for engaging students in the forum:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=40
Step 5 Receive Feedback
It is always helpful to have a second pair of eyes on new teaching tools. Here are two ways you can receive feedback:
Next step:
You can go back to the beginning of the module and select a new activity, or continue reading more in the tool box sections by clicking here.
Extended Resources
Liberman, M. (2019, March 27). Discussion boards: Valuable? Overused? Discuss. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/03/27/new-approaches-discussion-boards-aim-dynamic-online-learning.
CUNY School of Professional Studies. (n.d.). Constructing effective online discussion. Office of Faculty Development and Instructional Technology. Retrieved April 16, 2020 from https://spscoursedesign.commons.gc.cuny.edu/designing-discussions/
Linney, S. (2020, March 27). The flesch reading ease and flesch-kincaid grade level. Readable. https://readable.com/blog/the-flesch-reading-ease-and-flesch-kincaid-grade-level/.
References
British Columbia Institute of Technology. Developing checklists and rating scales. [PDF] Retrieved on April 15, 2020 from http://www.northernc.on.ca/leid/docs/ja_developchecklists.pdf.
CUNY School of Professional Studies, Office of Faculty Development and Instructional Technology. (n.d.). Anatomy of a sample assignment. Retrieved on April 15, 2020 from https://spscoursedesign.commons.gc.cuny.edu/files/2015/10/Anatomy-of-a-Sample-Assignment.pdf.
Liberman, M. (2019, March 27). Discussion boards: Valuable? Overused? Discuss. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/03/27/new-approaches-discussion-boards-aim-dynamic-online-learning.
McDonald, D. (2016, July 22). Sample discussion board ground rules. Wiley Center for Teaching and Learning. Retrieved on April 15, 2020 from https://ctl.wiley.com/sample-discussion-board-ground-rules/.
Mertler, C. A. (2000). Designing scoring rubrics for your classroom. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation, 7(25), 1 – 8. https://doi.org/10.7275/gcy8-0w24.
Moodle Answers. (n.d.). Using moodle forums effectively. Retrieved on April 15, 2020 from https://moodleanswers.com/index.php/information/instructor-tutorials/97-activities/146-using-moodle-forums-effectively.
Touro College. (2014, May 19). 15 rules of netiquette for online discussion boards. [Infographic]. http://blogs.onlineeducation.touro.edu/15-rules-netiquette-online-discussion-boards/.
University of Lethbridge. (n.d.). Academic schedule. Retrieved on April 15, 2020 from https://www.uleth.ca/ross/academic-schedule?month=5&year=2020
For this section, we will have you convert a current exam into an alternative exam that is better suited for online learning. We will be walking you through some tips for converting the exam to an asynchronous, take-home exam.
We will not recommend methods of proctoring exams online as we do not have an online proctoring solution at the U of L at this moment. Furthermore, it is generally understood that offering online, synchronous exams is not a sound, pedagogical practice.
If you are concerned about Academic Integrity, we suggest you read Tool Box 2 before moving ahead with this activity.
Before we begin building a new exam, we will first explore:
After reading through these key elements of alternative exams, you will engage in a hands-on activity to create a new exam. You will do the following:
This section will take 3 – 4 hours to complete.
Please read the key elements of online exams below. You will be notified with a STOP: message once you reach the activity portion of the section.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=44
Activity: Designing an Alternative
To design an alternative delivery method of an exam, you will want to complete five steps:
Remember to have your course outline, learning outcomes (goals), and your current exam (digital or hard copy) on hand.
Step 1 Evaluate your current exam
You will evaluate your current exam to determine the content areas you are testing, as well as the level of cognitive demand associated with each content area. This is an important first step to helping you align your new exam to your current exam.
Follow these three steps to evaluate your current exam:
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Step 2 Create a Table of Specifications using the ICE Model 1
Create a Table of Specifications using the ICE Model for your chosen exam. This will ensure you are assessing the same content at the same value in your new exam. Use the template Table of Specs ICE Model.
A table of specifications outlines the course learning outcomes associated with the discussion forum, the specific content areas you want to cover in the forum, the level of cognitive demand students will use to demonstrate their learning, and the weighted value you place on each content area you will be grading.
See a sample Table of Specifications ICE Model: SAMPLE Table of Specs ICE Model
Once you have your table of specifications ICE Model open, follow these 8 steps to complete the table:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=44
Be prepared to rework the questions that currently sit in the ideas category. These types of questions are easily copied and replicated.
Step 2 Design & Build Your Alternative Exam
Consider the following things before designing your new exam:
You will want to have your old/current exam on hand and your Table of Specifications ICE Model.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=44
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=44
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=44
Step 3 Receive Feedback
After designing a new assessment tool, you want to avoid some common errors. See the tips sheet in our FAQ Section. It is always helpful to have a second pair of eyes on your assessment. Here are two ways you can receive feedback:
After receiving feedback, you will want to make the necessary changes.
Next step: You can go back to the beginning of the module and select a new activity, or continue reading more in the tool box sections by clicking here.
Footnotes
1The template of a Table of Specifications using the ICE Model was first adapted by Queen’s University and can be found here. We have made a few adaptations to suit our needs.
Extended resources
Arthur, L. (2018, February 13). How to design a good open book exam. UTS. https://lx.uts.edu.au/blog/2018/02/13/design-open-book-exam/
Assessment Centre HQ. (n.d.). How to pass an in-tray exercise. https://www.assessmentcentrehq.com/assessment-centre-exercises/in-tray-exercise/
Bengtsson, L. (2019, November 6). Take-Home exams in higher education: A systematic review. Education Science 9(267), 1 – 16. doi:10.3390/educsci9040267
Gordon, D. (n.d.). Don’t panic: The hitch-hiker’s guide to alternative assessment. (p. 18). http://www.damiantgordon.com/Guide.pdf.
Government of Canada. (2015, October). Best practices for unsupervised testing. The Personnel Psychology Centre. [PDF]. https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/canada/public-service-commission/migration/plcy-pltq/guides/tools-outils/pdf/pract-prat-eng.pdf.
Gray, T. G. F. (1994). Open book examination. Biochemical Education 22(3). 122 – 125. https://iubmb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1016/0307-4412(94)90041-8
Gupta, M. S. (2007, December). Open-book examinations for assessing higher cognitive abilities. Educator’s Corner, 46 – 50. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4405045&tag=1
Johnson, C., Green, K., Galbraith, B., & Anelli, C. (2015). Assessing and Refining Group Take-Home Exams as Authentic, Effective Learning Experiences. Journal of College Science Teaching, 44(5), 61-71. Retrieved April 15, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/43631852
Mellet, E. (2020, March 1). In-tray and e-tray exercises, examples and practice. Practice Reasoning Tests. https://www.practicereasoningtests.com/what-are-in-tray-exercises/
Mills, P. (2017, April 24). Reduce cheating on online quizzes with randomisation. https://lx.uts.edu.au/blog/2017/04/24/reduce-cheating-online-quizzes-randomisation/
Silverman, R. (2018, October 15). Exam preparations: Strategies for open book exams. Simon Fraser University. https://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/branches-depts/slc/learning/exam-types/open-book-exams
University of Saskatchewan. (n.d.). Common assessment questions. https://teaching.usask.ca/remote-teaching/exams.php#CommonAssessmentQuestions
References
AssessmentDay. (2015, March 13). Free in-tray exercise: Graduate retail banking candidate instructions booklet. https://www.assessmentday.co.uk/example-in-tray-assessmentday.pdf.
AssessmentDay. (n.d.). In-tray exercise. https://www.assessmentday.co.uk/in-tray-exercise.htm.
British Columbia Institute of Technology. Developing checklists and rating scales. Retrieved on April 15, 2020 from http://www.northernc.on.ca/leid/docs/ja_developchecklists.pdf.
Gordon, D. (n.d.). Don’t panic: The hitch-hiker’s guide to alternative assessment. http://www.damiantgordon.com/Guide.pdf.
Kramer, L. (1991, Fall). Example examination instruction and questions. University of Michigan. https://www.law.umich.edu/currentstudents/studentservices/Documents/Sample%20exam%20instructions%20and%20questions%20handout.pdf.
Mertler, C. A. (2000). Designing scoring rubrics for your classroom. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation, 7(25), 1 – 8. https://doi.org/10.7275/gcy8-0w24.
Queens University. (n.d.). Table of specifications: General model. Retrieved April 15, 2020 from https://www.queensu.ca/ctl/sites/webpublish.queensu.ca.ctlwww/files/files/What%20We%20Do/Assessment%20and%20Teaching%20Strategies/table%20of%20specifications%20general%20model.pdf.
Ryerson University. (n.d.). Open book exams. Centre for Excellence in Learning & Teaching. https://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/learning-teaching/teaching-resources/assessment/open-book-exams.pdf.
Ryerson University. (n.d.). Take home exams. Centre for Excellence in Learning & Teaching. [Google Doc]. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TLxW2GSMRNHNjoSf3U71Ondpx1PN1MiUMsAoUFlj_hs/edit.
Simon Fraser University. (n.d.). Designing take home/ open book exams. https://www.sfu.ca/content/dam/sfu/cee/documents/pdfs/Take%20Home%20_Open%20Book%20Exams%20handout.pdf.
University of Newcastle. (n.d.). A guide for academics: Open book exams. Centre for Teaching and Learning. https://www.newcastle.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/268980/Open-Book-Exams.pdf.
University of New Mexico. (n.d.). Take home exam #3. http://www.unm.edu/~hookster/Take%20Home%20Exam%203.pdf.
University of Saskatchewan. (n.d.). 5-minute assessment interviews information table. https://teaching.usask.ca/documents/gmctl/5min-assessment.pdf
Young, S. F. (2005, September). Teaching, learning, and assessment in higher education: Using ICE to improve student learning. Proceedings of the Improving Student Learning Symposium 13, 105 – 115. https://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/principles/documents/Teaching,%20Learning%20and%20Assessment%20in%20Higher%20Education.pdf
Courses in which students must create physical objects pose major challenges in the online environment and will require rethinking assessments/assessment practices. To begin, start with your learning outcomes. To re-imagine your assessment, you will most likely need to create a new assignment. To do this, you start with your learning outcomes.
If you are concerned about Academic Integrity, we suggest you read Tool Box 2 before moving ahead with this activity.
Before we jump into building a new project, we will first explore key elements of designing virtual projects. Then, you will get working on re-designing your project. You will do the following:
You will need the project you wish to restructure for this activity.
This section should take you 3 – 4 hours to complete.
Please read the key elements of transitioning to virtual projects below. You will be notified with a STOP: message once you reach the activity portion of the section.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=47
Activity: Design a Hands-On Project for Online Learning
Work through the following four steps as you build your hands-on project for online learning:
Remember to have your course outline and learning outcomes (goals) handy!
Step 1 Create a Table of Specifications
Create a Table of Specifications to identify the course content you want to assess and the level of thinking you want your students to illustrate. Use the template Table of Specifications. (download the template by clicking the blue text)
A table of specifications outlines the course learning outcomes associated with the discussion forum, the specific content areas you want to cover in the forum, the level of cognitive demand students will use to demonstrate their learning, and the weighted value you place on each content area you will be grading.
See a sample Table of Specifications: SAMPLE Table of Specifications.
Once you have your table of specifications open, follow these five steps to complete the table:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=47
Step 2 Build Your Scoring Criteria
When you build your assessment and activities, it’s helpful to consider evaluating students’ ability to demonstrate learning rather than focusing on the quality of the final product. This will encourage students to learn online tools and be okay with technologies failing.
The pressure to have a well-designed final product using a new technology is often very real for our students. While a lot of our students may consider themselves ‘tech-savvy,’ they may not have the know-how to use new tools as readily as they think they do.
It will be helpful to have your table of specifications in front of you.
Create your scoring criteria. This is the assessment tool you will use to evaluate your students’ learning. We use scoring criteria to grade students.
TIP: Checklists and Holistic Rubrics are faster and easier to create. However, they look at content and competencies as a ‘have’ or ‘have not.’ Analytic Rubrics are more complex, they provide a stronger evaluation process for grading and student performance.
Open the appropriate tab for the assessment tool you want to use. Follow the steps to design your assessment tool:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=47
REMINDER: More than 70% of our student population does not live in Lethbridge and would not be able to drop off an assignment at a location for assessment. Instead, consider how they can share their products virtually. This can be done through a virtual demonstration or photos/scans submitted online.
Step 3 Design & build the structure for your new project or alternative assessment
TIP: You may be hard-pressed to create authentic learning situations for hands-on tasks. However, you can have students critique, analyze, and evaluate curated data or samples of work that has already been created. Remember, you can only work within your constraints.
Instructions:
Here is an excerpt from Tool Box 2 with some portions that may be relevant for you:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=47
TIP: Use your new online learning environment as an asset! You can now gauge student creativity and use of technology for a project in a way you may never have before.
2. Write out the introduction to your assignment for your students to use to navigate your Project requirements. Include the following elements:
See CUNY’s (2016) Anatomy of an Assignment Sample to see how you will build the introduction section of your assignment.
Step 4 Schedule your project deadlines
Have your course schedule and calendar in front of you for this portion.
Consider the time it will take your students to complete the assignment based on your chosen method of delivery.
Here is a link to U of L’s Academic Schedule. Important dates include:
Keep in mind the due dates and timelines for your other assessments as you plan your deadlines for the project. Remember that students may have jobs, other courses, and family commitments as well as your course.
Step 5 Create the project requirement lists and supplementary documents
Step 6 Receive Feedback
It is always helpful to have a second pair of eyes on new teaching tools. Here are two ways you can receive feedback:
After receiving feedback, you will want to make the necessary changes.
See our FAQ Section for more discussion post tips.
Need more help? Email us (teachingsupport@uleth.ca)
Next step:
You can go back to the beginning of the module and select a new activity, or continue reading more in the tool box sections by clicking here.
Extended Resources
Fidaldo, P. & Thormann, J. (2017, April). Reaching students in online courses using alternative formats. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning 18(2), 139 – 161. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i2.2601.
Lieberman, M. (2018, April 25). Online students don’t have to work solo. [Web Page]. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/04/25/group-projects-online-classes-create-connections-and-challenge.
Wang, S. K. (2006, Spring). Learning hands-on skills in an online environment: The effectiveness of streaming demonstration animation. Journal of Interactive Online Learning 5(1). www.ncolr.org/jiol
Wilson, M. (2016). Digital alternatives to traditional student projects. [Web Log]. https://psychowith6.com/digital-alternatives-to-traditional-student-projects/.
Footnotes
1This article is reachable through JSTOR. You should have access using your @uleth.ca domain through our library. However, if you do not, you can create a free account to gain access for personal use.
References
British Columbia Institute of Technology. Developing checklists and rating scales. Retrieved on April 15, 2020 from http://www.northernc.on.ca/leid/docs/ja_developchecklists.pdf.
CUNY School of Professional Studies, Office of Faculty Development and Instructional Technology. (n.d.). Anatomy of a sample assignment. Retrieved on April 15, 2020 from https://spscoursedesign.commons.gc.cuny.edu/files/2015/10/Anatomy-of-a-Sample-Assignment.pdf.
Gordon, D. (n.d.). Don’t panic: The hitch-hiker’s guide to alternative assessment. http://www.damiantgordon.com/Guide.pdf.
Mertler, C. A. (2000). Designing scoring rubrics for your classroom. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation, 7(25), 1 – 8. https://doi.org/10.7275/gcy8-0w24.
Rowland, K. D. (2007, July). Check it out! Using checklists to support student learning. The English Journal, 96(6), 61 – 66. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30046754.
University of Lethbridge. (n.d.). Academic schedule. [Web Page]. Retrieved on April 15, 2020 from https://www.uleth.ca/ross/academic-schedule?month=5&year=2020.
This section will take you through changing your in-person presentations to virtual presentations. The following information will help you re-design your presentation activities but will not help you build a new assessment tool.
If you feel that you need to change the activities your students complete, you will want to go to Option 3.
This section should take 3 – 4 hours to complete.
Please read the key elements of transitioning to virtual projects below. You will be notified with a STOP: message once you reach the activity portion of the section.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=49
Activity: Design a Virtual Presentation
Work through the following five steps as your structure your virtual presentations:
Remember to have your assessment tool and any supporting materials you have created for your student presentations on hand.
Step 1 Determine the format for virtual presentations in your class
First, determine how your students will virtually present. There are four methods of delivery you can use:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
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Step 2 Alter the introduction to the assignment
You will most likely need to change the introduction to your assignment for your students (guidelines) to reflect the online learning environment. Include the following elements:
See CUNY’s (2016) Anatomy of an Assignment Sample to see how you will build the introduction section of your assignment.
Step 3 Ensure your assessment aligns with virtual presenting
Step 4 Build supporting documents and guidelines for students
Step 5 Receive Feedback
It is always helpful to have a second pair of eyes on new teaching tools. Here are two ways you can receive feedback:
After receiving feedback, you will want to make the necessary changes.
See our FAQ Section for more discussion post tips.
Need more help? Email us (teachingsupport@uleth.ca).
Next step: You can go back to the beginning of the module and select a new activity, or continue reading more in the tool box sections by clicking here.
Footnotes
1This article is reachable through JSTOR. You should have access using your @uleth.ca domain through our library. However, if you do not, you can create a free account to gain access for personal use.
Extended Resources
Kent State University. (n.d.). Assignment: PowerPoint presentation. [PDF]. https://onlineteaching.kent.edu/library/online_assignments/PPT_Presentation_Handout.pdf.
Riddle, R. (2016, February 5). Getting started with student podcast assignments. [Web Log]. Duke University. https://www.npr.org/2018/11/15/662116901/teaching-podcasting-a-curriculum-guide-for-educators
References
Evans, C.T. (2020, January 30). Online, narrated presentation assignment. https://www.ctevans.net/Nvcc/HIS218/Assignments/Presentation.html.
Gordon, D. (n.d.). Don’t panic: The hitch-hiker’s guide to alternative assessment. http://www.damiantgordon.com/Guide.pdf.
Hogle, P. (2017, March 14). Three key differences between in-person and virtual teaching. LearningSolutions. Retrieved April 15, 2020 from https://learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/2252/three-key-differences-between-in-person-and-virtual-teaching.
NPR. (2018, November 15). Teaching podcasting: A curriculum guide for educators. https://www.npr.org/2018/11/15/662116901/teaching-podcasting-a-curriculum-guide-for-educators.
Rowlands, K. (2007). Check It Out! Using Checklists to Support Student Learning. The English Journal, 96(6), 61-66. Retrieved April 17, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/30046754
This is a Tool Box Section that provides guides and ideas for online assessments. Visit the FAQ Section for more help.
This section will take you 40 – 70 minutes to complete.
By the end of this section, you will have a thorough understanding of alternatives to traditional assessment practices.
TIP: The SIMPLER the BETTER!
TIP: Restructuring a final exam into a final project requires a re-design of the entire course.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=51
TIP: When you design an assessment tool, it is helpful if you design it from the perspective of your students’ learning.
Footnotes
1 The table originally appeared in Sally Brown & Kay Sambell’s (n.d.) PDF here. It has been adapted and changed to reflect U of L practices and other considerations.
Extended Resources
Napier University. (n.d.) Quick guides & resources. Department of Learning and Teaching Enhancement. https://staff.napier.ac.uk/services/dlte/Pages/QuickGuides.aspx.
Queen’s University. (n.d.). Examples of innovative assessments. [Web Page]. Retrieved April 17, 2020 from https://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/assessments/31_s4_01_intro_section.html
Queen’s University. (n.d.). Sample assessment methods. [Web Page]. Retrieved April 17, 2020 from https://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/assessments/19_s2_11_sample_assessment_methods.html.
STLHE. (n.d.). Curated resources. [Web Page]. Retrieved April 17, 2020 from https://keepteaching.ca/resources/teaching-assessing/#academicintegrity.
References
Brown, S. & Sambell, K. (n.d.). Contingency planning: Exploring rapid alternatives to face-to-face assessment. Queen Mary University of London. https://elearning.qmul.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/Contingency-planning-exploring-rapid-alternatives-to-face-to-face-assessment.pdf.
Calendly. (n.d.) Home page. https://calendly.com/.
Napier University. (n.d.) Quick guides & resources. Department of Learning and Teaching Enhancement. https://staff.napier.ac.uk/services/dlte/Pages/QuickGuides.aspx.
Queen’s University. (n.d.). Examples of innovative assessments. Retrieved April 17, 2020 from https://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/assessments/31_s4_01_intro_section.html
Queen’s University. (n.d.). Sample assessment methods. Retrieved April 17, 2020 from https://www.queensu.ca/teachingandlearning/modules/assessments/19_s2_11_sample_assessment_methods.html.
STLHE. (n.d.). Curated resources. Retrieved April 17, 2020 from https://keepteaching.ca/resources/teaching-assessing/#academicintegrity.
This is a Tool Box Section that provides guides and ideas for online assessments. Visit the FAQ Section for more help.
This section will take you 40 – 70 minutes to complete.
By the end of this section, you will know more emerging practices for online assessment.
Problems with Synchronous Online Exams
If you relied on students going to the Testing Centre to take your midterms and final exams, you probably find yourself at a loss. The problem is, there is not a sound way for you to distribute an online, in-person exam that upholds academic integrity. If you do rely on exams for your courses, there are a few adjustments you can make to ensure that your students maintain academic honesty and your grading practices are still valid and reliable.
Read the Grade Network’s (2018) blog about the Importance of Validity and Reliability in Classroom Assessments.
TIP: Online exams that are high stakes and require a proctor are not the best option for you or your students. There are many alternative methods of assessing students.
Creating shortened timelines and strict rules around a synchronous online exam leads to heightened anxiety for your students. This, in turn, may lead to:
For more information about transitioning to online exams, please visit Waterloo’s Teaching Tips.
TIP: The University of Calgary recommends a minimum time-frame of 24 hours for a student to complete a final assessment that is replacing a synchronous, online exam.
There are circumstances beyond your control. Even if you utilize an online proctor software that closes out access to other applications on a single device, this does not ensure academic integrity. Your students will most likely have access to another device that is not being invigilated, like a smartphone. Your students can still gain knowledge from their friends and roommates, or even share information freely.
Here are some other notes about challenges your students face when writing online exams:
(University of Calgary, _EDC co-curated covid resources, n.d.)
Checking for cheating is neither convenient nor guaranteed. There are loopholes in many of these approaches and cheating may be difficult to prove. It is for this reason that we recommend you consider changing your assessment to accommodate online learning environments.
Considerations for Synchronous Exams
If you must keep a synchronous, online exam, we recommend you consider adopting two techniques:
The Taylor Institute for Learning (n.d.) recommends you avoid these four things when you are building an assessment:
Find more here (includes video and methods to approaching academic integrity).
Here are some other tips & tricks for building better online exams:
(Indiana University, _EDC co-curated COVID-19 resources, n.d.)
Footnotes
1 The information cited has come from a co-curated COVID Resources and Strategy Resources Google Document has been created and continues to be updated daily. You can find the document in References
Extended Resources
University of Waterloo. (n.d.). Learner-centred assessment. Retrieved April 17, 2020 from https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/assessing-student-work/grading-and-feedback/learner-centred-assessment.
References
(n.d.) _EDC co-curated covid resources and strategy resources. [Google Doc]. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i8cocuh5LFhjabn17MdYk3EFjoTsQwdpywZx92vbT_o/edit.
Grade Network, The. (2018, September 10). Importance of validity and reliability in classroom assessments. https://www.thegraidenetwork.com/blog-all/2018/8/1/the-two-keys-to-quality-testing-reliability-and-validity.
University of Calgary. (n.d.). Academic integrity in online courses: Adapting during covid-19. Taylor Institute. https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/academic-integrity-online-learning.
University of Waterloo. (n.d.). Teaching tips: Assessing students. Centre for Teaching Excellence. https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-tips/by-category/117.
FAQ Section
Feel free to explore the resources and templates below.
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V
This module will equip you with the competencies to:
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UDL: Listen to the text in audio format.
A good starting point for those among you who have little online teaching experience can be to listen to students who’ve enrolled in online programs/ courses and can therefore share what they consider important in online education.
In the video below, Janson Hews is sharing his perspective regarding some of the factors that have positively shaped his online learning experience. He discusses issues of access, open learning, workload, digital literacy and the need for educators to adopt more carefully considered, technologically supported teaching strategies.
You can enlarge the video by pressing the icon on the far bottom right. Note this video contains questions that guide or check your understanding.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=79
UDL: Alternatively to viewing the video, you can read the Transcript for Youtube Video Learning Online from Student Perspective (word document).
An audio element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can listen to it online here: https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=79
Like other sections in our FitFOL course, this module is designed with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles undergirding all of its parts. This is done to demonstrate proactive ways of creating interactions with learners, so they do not have to ask for special accommodations, regardless of the barriers they may face – time, connectivity, or disability.
Rooted in Universal Design (UD), UDL expands efforts that guarantee access rights to people with physical challenges to also include ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, and ability-based diversity in the design of educational environments, resources and interactions. (Tobin & Behling, 2018) Given the current circumstances, it is unrealistic for educators making such a sudden shift to the online teaching delivery to implement the full suite of accessibility standards in their online courses. However, a certain familiarity with the concepts and the rationale for why you would want to apply certain proactive design strategies will be of great benefit to a broader palette of your students.
Historically, students had to find ways to document specific needs in order to request accommodations, but in the last decade more people in higher education have moved away from the medical model to a more social approach that works with a proactive quality learning design for many. The understanding how UDL can help expand the reach and efficacy of learning and has therefore led to the more common adoption of the research-based set of UDL principles by many academics and educational staff, who now use it to plan the design of teaching and research, continuous professional learning, workforce development, and online publishing. (CAST, 2018)
Each of the three UDL principles come with a set of concrete suggestions that incorporate multiple means of:
1. Engagement is shown through the variety of ways in which you can interact with the materials, your peers and the instructors.
2. The Representation of Information in this module is demonstrated through content in multiple formats, including text, visual prompts, video and audio.
3. The principle of Action and Expression in FitFOL happens through a variety of options to inspire, demonstrate and self-evaluate your learning.
Listen to or download this overview in audio format by clicking on this link here.
The design of the Module: Working with the Online Learner has been informed by the following three frameworks for quality standards in online teaching. The choice for these three different frameworks from three reputed quality assurance bodies was very deliberate since they are tools that effectively guided the design process through critical questions and comprehensive criteria for academic rigour relating to the topic of the module.
The intention is that these critical questions will be answered to the satisfaction of learners, instructors and those reviewing the experience and outcomes of this module in the short term, but also inform online design and evaluation on the course and program levels going forward. At this critical junction, our university community will soon need to agree on specific quality assurance functions that guide our educators in their online teaching and ensure high-quality online learning experiences for our students.
Focus: As you browse the quality rubrics below, reflect on the items that you consider important for your own online teaching and which ones should become common standards for online teaching at our university.
As briefly laid out in the Introduction above, there are several distinct elements you can weave into your online course to make it a truly inclusive space that is welcoming, accessible and equitable to all learners alike.
To decide which of the three options above you’d like to work on, you can read up on the resources, activities and course products by clicking on thegreen information (=i) icons in the cake picture below.
You are completely free to take/ do only as much as you need.
The German in me wishes you ‘Guten Appetit’ and hopes the module of your choice will be ‘a piece of cake’ for you!
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=79
UDL: Alternatively to viewing the picture information, you can access the module options in the attached word document here: Descriptions of the 3 module options Working with the Online Learner
Bates, T. (2019, November 19). Results for 2019 survey of online learning in Canadian post-secondary institutions now available | Tony Bates. Retrieved December 1, 2019, from https://www.tonybates.ca/2019/11/19/results-for-2019-survey-of-online-learning-in-canadian-post-secondary-institutions-now-available/
Bennett, D., McCarty, C., & Carter, S. (2019). Teaching Graduate Economics: Online Vs. Traditional Classroom Instruction. Journal for Economic Educators, 11(2), 1–11. Retrieved from https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jfee/article/view/1478
Bernard, R. M., Abrami, P. C., Lou, Y., Borokhovski, E., Wade, A., Wozney, L., Wallet, P. A., Fiset, M., and Huang, B. 2004. “How Does Distance Education Compare with Classroom Instruction? A Meta-analysis of the Empirical Literature.” Review of Educational Research 74 (3): 379–439.
CAST (2018). Universal design for learning guidelines version 2.2 [graphic organizer]. Wakefield, MA: Author. Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org/more/downloads
Hung, M.-L., Chou, C., Chen, C.-H., & Own, Z.-Y. (2010). Learner readiness for online learning: Scale development and student perceptions. Computers & Education, 55(3), 1080–1090. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.05.004
Learning online from a student perspective. (2014, July 20). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwx_UDaCMxc
Li, N., Marsh, V., & Rienties, B. (2016). Modelling and Managing Learner Satisfaction: Use of Learner Feedback to Enhance Blended and Online Learning Experience. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, 14(2), 216–242. https://doi.org/10.1111/dsji.12096
Manning-Ouellette, A., & Black, K. (2017). Learning Leadership: A Qualitative Study on the Differences of Student Learning in Online versus Traditional Courses in a Leadership Studies Program. Journal of Leadership Education, 59–79. Retrieved from https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/leadership_pubs/3/
McLaren, C. H. (2004). A Comparison of Student Persistence and Performance in Online and Classroom Business Statistics Experiences. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, 2(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0011-7315.2004.00015.x
Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., and Baki, M. 2013. “The Effectiveness of Online and Blended Learning: A Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Literature.” Teachers College Record 115 (3): 1–47.
Ní Shé, C., Farrell, O., Brunton, J., Costello, E., Donlon, E., Trevaskis, S., Eccles, S. (2019). Teaching online is different: critical perspectives from the literature. Dublin: Dublin City University. Doi: 10.5281/zenodo.3479402 Retrieved from https://openteach.ie/publications/
Ochs, J. H. (2017). Online or In-Class: Evaluating an Alternative Online Pedagogy for Teaching Transcultural Nursing. Journal of Nursing Education, 56(6), 368–372. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20170518-10
Ottawa University Teaching and Learning Support Service (TLSS). (n.d.). Blended Learning Course Quality Rubric. https://tlss.uottawa.ca/site/files/docs/TLSS/blended_funding/2017/TLSSQARubric.pdf](https://tlss.uottawa.ca/site/files/docs/TLSS/blended_funding/2017/TLSSQARubric.pdf
Redecker, C., & Punie, Y. (2017, November 20). European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators: DigCompEdu [Text]. EU Science Hub – European Commission. https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/european-framework-digital-competence-educators-digcompedu
Roddy, C., Amiet, D. L., Chung, J., Holt, C., Shaw, L., McKenzie, S., Garivaldis, F., Lodge, J. M., & Mundy, M. E. (2017). Applying Best Practice Online Learning, Teaching, and Support to Intensive Online Environments: An Integrative Review. Frontiers in Education, 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2017.00059
Seaman, J., Allan, E., & Seaman, J. (2018). 2018 Report: Grade Increase: Tracking Distance Education in the United States. ICDE. https://www.icde.org/knowledge-hub/grade-increase-tracking-distance-education-in-the-united-states
Tobin, T. J., & Behling, K. (2018). Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education: Vol. First edition. West Virginia University Press. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1936511&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Unal, Z., & Unal, A. (2017). Comparison of Student Performance, Student Perception, and Teacher Satisfaction with Traditional versus Flipped Classroom Models. International Journal of Instruction, 10(4), 145–164. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1155632.pdf
Zhao, Y., Lei, J., Yan, B., Lai, C., and Tan, H. S. 2005. “What Makes the Difference? A Practical Analysis of Research on the Effectiveness of Distance Education.” Teachers College Record 107 (8): 1836
UDL: Principle of Representing Information in Multiple Ways:
Listen to or download this overview in audio format by clicking on this link here. It will direct you to access the audio file on a U of L instructor Google drive (no sign-in required).
(adapted for this course from DCU, 2020)
Teaching and learning online changes some of the ways in which learners interact with content and other participants in an online course. Well-designed and facilitated online courses can offer students rich and flexible learning experiences that will not only foster academic growth but also shape the impressions learners have of learning online.
Since online instructors work in the absence of physical cues such as facial expressions, raised hands or noisy chatter in their students, you will need to thoroughly plan out the following:
Instead of trying to emulate “real” classroom interactions, you can direct your focus to the deliberate design of your online course to “help your students persist by orientating them to the course environment, helping them understand expectations, and providing them with resources throughout the course.” (Stavredes, 2011, p. 85)
Having fewer means as an online instructor to directly encourage your students requires careful selection and planning of resources, methods and tools to navigate students through your chosen online learning spaces. This planning will guide them in their engagement with the academic activities and equip them to meet the goals of the course. Below you will find examples for four forms of cognitive
in online pedagogy that can “help learners enhance, augment, and extend their thinking processes, which can result in improving learners’ thinking skills as they engage in the learning activities.” (Stavredes, 2011, p. 74).
Scaffolding here refers to the design of a course to include processes that support individual learning efforts through an appropriate structure and specific tools that guide your students in their decisions:
(Hannafin et al, 1999, p. 131)
If you are interested in designing an orientation for your online course, you can do the suggested steps in the following learning activity. Otherwise, feel free to skip the activity and move into the next section in this module.
30 – 45 min.
This activity has 2 steps (outlined in the presentation below).
Purpose: This activity starts off with two students talking about their learning in their online courses. You will then access examples of course orientations from fellow university instructors and consider templates to help you build your own online course orientation.
Navigation:
You can move between the steps in the presentation by accessing the slides on the bottom of the presentation below (see them numbered 1 – 4).
You can enlarge the slides for a better viewing experience by hitting the arrows on the lower right. In Slide 3, you can access the examples by clicking on the active links.
You can also type your own notes at the bottom of the Slide 3 and finally export them together with the links for reference on Slide 4.
Technology: The presentation was created with the OER tool H5P to allow for embedding of video and exportable text. An instructor tutorial for how to create H5P activities can be found here [new tab].
Watch this brief tutorial below to see how students work with an H5P presentation.
ADD Video
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=84
Please find attached here the Transcript to the Youtube Video in Slide 2: Transcript Video by Open Suny The Online Student Perspective
As discussed above, Stavredes (2011, p. 103) produced a scaffold planning tool for the different kinds of scaffolds. To inspire your own planning of scaffolds for your online course(s), the table below contains current examples and template resources that you can open in new tabs by clicking on the respective active links.
You are free to browse as many or as few examples you would like to get your course design juices flowing. There is no task attached other than to take a look at one or some of the resources that will help your students come into your online course better prepared and be well supported throughout its duration.
Type of Scaffolding | Subtypes: Teaching Intentions |
Examples |
Procedural: Support how to navigate learning environment and engage in learning activities | I want to provide an Orientation to my online course (e.g. use a Syllabus that includes an overview and/ or create an activity to orient learners to the most essential elements in the course) |
U of L Online Faculty PD Courses Examples:
1 FitFOL 2020 Course Overview 2 FLOf2019 Syllabus 3 FLOf2019 Course Orientation |
External Orientation Templates | ||
Quality Standards Rubric to Develop your own Orientation | ||
I want to communicate my Expectations to the students and share campus Support Resources with them. |
Template Learning and Teaching Expectations | |
FitFOL2020 Expectation Document | ||
Plagiarism Statement + Toolkit | ||
U of L Campus-Specific Student Supports | ||
Metacognitive: Support of Study Skills (Learning Management) | I want to help my students Plan their time participation in my course and understand how the activities tie into the greater course goals. |
Course Overview (Schedule) Examples: |
Course Road Map | ||
FLOd2019: Unit Overview
FLOd 2019 Course Road Map CMNS 1140 Course Map on page 7 |
||
Online Textbook: Learning to Learn Online | ||
I want to help my students in Monitoring and Documenting their progress. |
Online Learning and Covid
Templates, Worksheets, worked examples |
|
Unit Checklist | ||
Time logs (Managing Time and Motivation) | ||
Note-taking tools (1 + 2) for lectures and readings | ||
I want to involve my students in the processes of Evaluating their own learning and my online course. |
Grading rubrics, scoring guides with self-evaluation strategies | |
Self-reflections | ||
Student Feedback at specific points during term: FitFOL2020 Exit Feedback | ||
Conceptual – Support for Information Literacy and Information Management | I want to support my students in the Processing and Application of the course information. | Definitions |
Chunking Information/ Assessments | ||
Study Guides | ||
Outline | ||
Advance Organizers
Graphic Organizers – diagrams, concept maps, etc. |
||
Strategic – Create alternative learning pathways | I want to make sure all students in my course will Engage with the course content. | Alternative explanations |
Probing Questions | ||
Hints | ||
Worked examples | ||
Supplementary resources | ||
Expert advise | ||
Definitions | ||
Chunking Information/ Assessments | ||
Alternative explanations |
If you happen to find other valuable resources not yet linked in the Scaffolding Planning Tool table above, please post them to the collaborative Etherpad linked here for us all to see. You will find user instructions on the top of the online pad: https://oet.sandcats.io/shared/ukYxQxxIcR_QLLzIrD9FgrwBNDiVvX2G-xz0s2-4GiP
As the scaffolds table in 2.2 shows, you can use a number of specific conceptual and metacognitive scaffolds to guide the engagement of your online students with your content and the other participants in your online course. Those specific course resources allow your online learners to better manage their online study by planning ahead before embarking into activities, monitoring progress when doing specific steps and evaluating performance at concluding points throughout the term.
In this section, we will look at concrete examples of and templates that can help your students understand how to engage with the content, you and their peers as they move through the term. The following activity will take you through the steps of planning and creating a Teaching and Learning Expectations document to share with your students at the beginning of your course.
60 – 90 mins
This activity has 3 steps (outlined in the presentation below).
Purpose: This activity will allow you to first articulate your pedagogical preferences for your online course and then describe your teaching and learning expectations in a course document to be shared with your students.
Navigation:
A: Teaching and Learning Expectations Presentation: You can move between the steps by accessing the slides on the bottom of the presentation below. You can enlarge the slides for a better viewing experience by hitting the arrows on the lower right.
B: Google Folder Tutorial in Step 3, watch the brief video below the Teaching and Learning Expectations presentation.
Technology: Find all technologies used for the presentation listed and linked in the last slide = #8.
Click on the picture below to start the presentation! Then move into the following slides by clicking on them sequentially.
Pedagogy Cards: Please find attached the pdf document used in Slide 2 here to download: Cards to Determine Pedagogical Preferences
Tutorial: Watch the brief tutorial below if you need help with adding your own document to our shared U of L Google folder: Teaching Values and Expectations for Learning [new tab] for the step 3 in slide 6:
A video element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can watch it online here: https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=84
We will now take a closer look at the following two forms of scaffolding and consult references to inspire your own planning of at least one resource for your own course. To briefly recap:
a) Conceptual Scaffolds are those that support your students when they encounter new information or information that is difficult to understand.
b) Strategic Scaffolds are means to emphasize alternative pathways that can be applied to the learning context to meet diverse learner needs.
This activity has 4 steps (outlined below).
Purpose: This activity provides you with examples of scaffolds that you can adapt to support student learning in your online course(s).
Navigation: You can access the examples and templates by clicking on the links in the table above.
Technology: You will access a range of digital resources through the use of links that direct you to original websites or documents.
STEP 1: Build on existing resources by browsing 3 -5 of examples for conceptual and strategic scaffolding in the Scaffolds table in 2.2 and/ or the additional resources at the bottom of this box.
STEP 2: While browsing the resources, reflect on their applicability to your own online course.
STEP 3: Create one (either conceptual or strategic) scaffolding resource for your own online course based on the information you accessed before.
STEP 4: (Optional) Share your resource with our FitFOL2020 cohort for comments and feedback in our Moodle Module Forum.
Additional Resources:
Orey, M. (2010). Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology. (p.226-236) Retrieved from https://textbookequity.org/Textbooks/Orey_Emergin_Perspectives_Learning.pdf
Swanson, J., & Lipscomb, L. (2017). Ch. 11 Scaffolding. In Instructional Methods, Strategies and Technologies to Meet the Needs of All Learners. https://granite.pressbooks.pub/teachingdiverselearners/chapter/scaffolding-2/
The design of this module option: Orientating your Students to your Online Course was based on the following two Frameworks for Quality Standards in Online Teaching, which might be helpful planning and evaluation tools to guide the creation of your own online course:
1. Part 1 in the OSCQR – Open SUNY Course Quality Review Rubric: Quality Scorecard Suite: OSCQR 3.1. Link to Part 1: Course Overview and information
2 TELAS Standard 3 in the ASCILITE Technology-Enhanced Learning Accredidation Scheme. https://www.telas.edu.au/framework/
Please find below a selection of materials from different higher education institutions to support academic student learning online. Feel free to share other applicable resource that you know of in our Moodle Module Forum.
Academic Reading Resources | Learning Skills Services. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2020, from https://lss.info.yorku.ca/academic-reading-resources/
Centres, K. P. U. L., Page, C., & Vincent, A. (2018). Learning to Learn Online. Kwantlen Polytechnic University. https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/learningtolearnonline/
FutureLearn. (n.d.). SQ3R: Process of note-taking. FutureLearn. Retrieved April 15, 2020, from https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/english-for-study-intermediate/0/steps/35219
GoodNotes. (2019, May 27). The Best Note-Taking Methods. Medium. https://medium.goodnotes.com/the-best-note-taking-methods-for-college-students-451f412e264e
Managing Time and Motivation. (n.d.). Newcastle University. Retrieved April 15, 2020, from https://internal.ncl.ac.uk/ask/online-learning/managing-time-and-motivation
Note Taking 101. (2014, March 10). OnlineUniversities.Com. https://www.onlineuniversities.com/articles/students/note-taking-101/
Online Learning and COVID | Learning Skills Services. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2020, from https://lss.info.yorku.ca/online-learning/
Time Management Resources | Learning Skills Services. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2020, from https://lss.info.yorku.ca/time-management-resources/
Weilandt, J. (n.d.). Can someone help me direct MY STUDENTS? In Orientation to Teaching at the UofL Handbook. Retrieved April 15, 2020, from https://pressbooks.library.ualberta.ca/orientationhandbook/part/i-want-to-develop-my-teaching-what-do-you-suggest/
To self-evaluate your readiness to orientate your learners to your own online course, you can answer the questions in the quiz below.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=84
Hannafin, M., Land, S., & Oliver, K. (1999). Open Learning Environments: Foundations, methods, and models. In Instructional-Design Theories and Models (Vol. 2). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237035032_Open_Learning_Environments_Foundations_methods_and_models
Kwantlen Polytechnic University Learning Centres, Page, C., & Vincent, A. (2018). Learning to Learn Online. Kwantlen Polytechnic University. https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/learningtolearnonline/
Open Suny Online Teaching, & Online Learning Consortium. (n.d.). OSCQR – Open SUNY Course Quality Review Rubric: Quality Scorecard Suit: OSCQR 3.1. CC-BY 4.0. Retrieved April 8, 2020, from https://oscqr.suny.edu/
RattusScholasticus, ~. (2020, April 12). Let Them Suck Eggs: Framing advice to students appropriately in a crisis. Rattus Scholasticus. https://rattusscholasticus.wordpress.com/2020/04/12/let-them-suck-eggs-framing-advice-to-students-appropriately-in-a-crisis/
Stavredes, T. (2011). Effective Online Teaching. Foundations and Strategies for Student Success. Jossey- Bass: San-Francisco.
TELAS + ASCILITE. (2019). ASCILITE Technology-Enhanced Learning Accredidation Scheme. https://ascilite.org/get-involved/telas/
Villasenor, J. (2020, April 8). 6 Steps to Prepare for an Online Fall Semester. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/6-Steps-to-Prepare-for-an/248463
This is OPTIONAL and only reccommended for those already familiar with the freely accessible web-annotation tool Hypothes.is, which you can use to share your reflections, ideas and suggestions in feedback comments with us the instructors and other peers in our secure, closed group specifically created for UofLFitFOL2020 cohort annotations.
You can only join this group after the set up of an Hypothesis account.
If you are curious learn more about Hypothes.is first, read this brief instructor tutorial here.
UDL: Principle of Representing Information in Multiple Ways:
Listen to or download this overview in audio format by clicking on this link here. It will direct you to access the audio file on a U of L instructor Google drive (no sign-in required).
To plan for a facilitation of engagement, equity and fairness, requires some time and dedicated efforts to determine who your learners are and how you can best match their learning needs with your teaching intentions. To remove potential hurdles, you will need consider full range of human diversity with respect to ability, language, culture, race, gender, age, and other forms of human difference.
Designing and facilitating an equitable online course includes five primary areas of consideration, all of which are integral parts in the five different modules of this course (Kelly, 2019):
Aspect | Meaning |
Academic | Students’ preparedness for learning and readiness for online learning |
Pedagogical | Course Organisation and design, engagement and interaction, effective teaching methods, strategies and practices |
Psychological | Student’s feelings of social belonging and ability to express stereotype threat, as well as perceptions of course relevance and instructor compassion |
Social | Students’ perceptions of connection versus isolation related to the course |
Technological | Students’ ability to access and use course technologies |
Let’s take a look the virtual environment first. The important elements here include the user interface, the navigation strategies, the layout, functionality, accessibility and user experience (TELAS + ASCILITE, 2019, Standards 1-3).
While not all aspects are within your control, you can certainly communicate to your students how you will use the existing interface and layout to organize and structure your course. You can, for example, share strategies and basic tutorials that explain how students can navigate between the content you post and and the online activities you create for them to engage in.
Not every barrier in an online environment is necessarily due to software design. If you, for instance, post important information in places not directly visible to your students, you will need to clearly let your students know what it is you want them to access and where they can find it.
Testing through quizzes and exams within online environments often poses challenges to students that you will need to address proactively to avoid anxiety and frustration (Tobin and Behling, 2018, p. 226-228). Working closely with technical and pedagogical support staff will help you plan effective online testing.
To manage and improve the online learning experience of your students, it is important to build in feedback instances allowing students to share the nature and date of problems they are facing when using your course technology. Sharing that feedback with the people who are responsible for hosting and designing the tools and environments is critical to ensuring their continuous improvements.
Note that if you decide to use the university supported LMS Moodle, you can rely on a dedicated team of technically and/ or pedagogically trained specialists to advise and support you in teaching with Moodle online. You can request one-on-one help or access a set of digitally available tutorials by clicking on the following link: https://moodleanswers.com/.
The graph above is used to show that there are multiple levels on which access to learning can be impeded, not only pertaining to the resources you create yourself. The online learning environments and content created by others come with their own in-built design features, which cannot easily be altered. However, there are a number of things that you can do ensure that the course resources you use are accessible. The Accessibility activity in the following section will guide your focus towards ways to overcome (often undocumented) learning challenges in students.
When you choose or create teaching materials for your courses, you might want to ensure that all your students can easily access and use those resources. Accessible content meets the requirements of the Alberta Human Rights Act, which “has as its objective the amelioration of the conditions of disadvantaged persons or classes of disadvantaged persons, including those who are disadvantaged because of their race, religious beliefs, colour, gender, gender identity, gender expression, physical disability, mental disability, age, ancestry, place of origin, marital status, source of income, family status or sexual orientation.”
Content authors must ensure that their e-learning content is presented in multiple formats and, therefore, accessible through multiple senses. For people who are blind, visual materials require an alternative, typically in the form of text. While an audio version of visual content (such as an MP3 audio file that describes a complex image) could be used as an alternative, chances are the audio will interfere with the screen reader output. Text alternatives, on the other hand, are easily adapted or even simplified, read aloud by a screen reader, turned into Braille to be output through a Braille display, or translated into other languages.
30-45 min.
This activity has 6 steps (outlined below).
Purpose: This activity introduces specific (often undocumented) learning challenges students can face along with different types of hardware and software that they might use for accommodations.
Navigation: You can access the information in the BCcampus Open Ed Accessibility Toolkit by simply clicking on the link below next to Step 1.
Technology: The Accessibility Toolkit in Step 1 is an open textbook created with the Pressbooks Software. It is being hosted in the BC Campus Open Textbook repository, where it can be accessed freely in digital format or downloaded for offline use. The Persona Card in Step 2 is available for viewing and downloading from a Google Drive link.
STEP 1: Read the following sections in the Accessibility Toolkit:
Sections | Links |
Personas | https://opentextbc.ca/accessibilitytoolkit/chapter/using-personas/[new tab] |
Best Practices | https://opentextbc.ca/accessibilitytoolkit/part/best-practices/[new tab] |
STEP 2: Do you now know which learner types need what format for resources? Briefly check your knowledge here by dragging the appropriate content type on to the matching persona below.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=90
STEP 3: Open the following Persona Card Document by clicking on this link: http://goo.gl/m1Fp6 [new tab]
Now take a few minutes to think about 1-3 potential learners in your course. Fill in the missing blanks for a more holistic picture of the diversity of learners in your course.
Download a copy in a format of your choice (.doc; odt; txt, or other) if you would like to retain a document for future reference. Downloading is possible through the FILE tab on the upper left.
STEP 4: Based on the Best Practices introduced to you in STEP 1, you will now evaluate the accessibility of this Module Option 2 Page.
Take a closer look at all of the parts on this page with all its elements (headers, pictures, tables, links, etc.) before you answer the following five quiz questions:
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=90
Please note: Should you, contrary to the test results, encounter accessibility issues with this page, you can report them to us here [new tab directing you to UofL Qualtrics mask]
STEP 5: Implement accessibility recommendations into the design of your own online course.
Now refer to back to your online course in preparation to answer the following two questions:
STEP 6: Optional: You may share your answers with your FitFOL2020 II peers in our Moodle Module Forum here.
Additional Resources:
Teaching is a radical act, in which your choices reflect your own identity, your view of learning and the opinions you have about your students. It is important to focus some of your time on the reflection of who you are as a researcher and educator. However, as Kevin Gannon (2016) puts it: “Our students are not us. If we merely teach to how we prefer to learn, we exclude a majority of our students.” If you are to create an inclusive and safe learning environment for your learners, you might find the following subsections and activity useful for the design of an inclusive learning environment.
The following excerpt from the ASCILITE technology-enhanced learning accreditation scheme (standard 7.3) provides quality markers for online courses at universities in higher ed courses in Australasian countries and may be a useful instrument guiding your content choices to reflect diversity:
Extended Resources:
If you would like to delve deeper into the topic within the context of the science disciplines, you can browse the following collection of resources for more ideas how to plan for inclusive online teaching.
CBE – Life Sciences Education. (n.d.). INSTRUCTOR CHECKLIST. LSE Resources. https://lse.ascb.org/evidence-based-teaching-guides/inclusive-teaching/
Peralta Equity Standards Rubric: The Peralta Rubrics developed by Stark and Kelly details the above items and provides descriptions for practices that demonstrate equity standards within an online course: https://web.peralta.edu/de/equity-initiative/equity/
30-60 min.
1. Choose an element in your course that your wish to revise or plan (such as your reading requirements or other course).
2. You can refer to the previously presented Peralta Rubric or the ASCILITE technology-enhanced learning accreditation scheme (standard 7.3) to guide you in your planning of inclusive materials.
3. If you wish to share ideas or the fruits of your labour with the cohort, feel free to leave a post in our Module Forum in Moodle.
BCcampus. (n.d.). Consider these ideas when planning your course online. Retrieved from https://bccampus.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Inclusion.accessible.pdf
CBE – Life Sciences Education. (n.d.). INSTRUCTOR CHECKLIST. LSE Resources. Retrieved April 23, 2020, from https://lse.ascb.org/evidence-based-teaching-guides/inclusive-teaching/instructor-checklist-group-work/
Coolidge, A., Doner, S., Robertson, T., & Gray, J. (2018). Accessibility Toolkit—2nd Edition. BCcampus – OpenEd. https://opentextbc.ca/accessibilitytoolkit/
Dublin City University DCU. (2020). Quality Design Checklist: Questions for Designing and Delivering Online Courses. Retrieved from https://ni4dl.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/dcu-quality-checklist-online-courses.pdf
Gannon, K. (2016, July 6). Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto. The Tattooed Professor. http://www.thetattooedprof.com/2016/07/06/radical-hope-a-teaching-manifesto/
Gannon, K. (2020). Radical Hope (1st ed.). James M. Lang. http://www.thetattooedprof.com/radical-hope/
Gordon, D. (2020). The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to Alternative Assessment. http://www.damiantgordon.com/Guide.pdf
Hamraie, A. (2020, October 3). Accessible Teaching in the Time of COVID-19. Mapping Access. https://www.mapping-access.com/blog-1/2020/3/10/accessible-teaching-in-the-time-of-covid-19
Inclusive Design Research Centre. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2020, from https://idrc.ocadu.ca/
Lab, P. W. (n.d.). Definitions // Purdue Writing Lab. Purdue Writing Lab. Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/definitions.html
Learning & Teaching Office, Ryerson University (2018). Instructional Scaffolding. 9. Retrieved from https://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/learning-teaching/teaching-resources/assessment/instructional-scaffolding.pdf
Open Suny Online Teaching, & Online Learning Consortium. (n.d.). OSCQR – Open SUNY Course Quality Review Rubric: Quality Scorecard Suit: OSCQR 3.1. CC-BY 4.0. Retrieved April 8, 2020, from https://oscqr.suny.edu/
Orey, M. (2010). Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology. (p.226-236) Retrieved from https://textbookequity.org/Textbooks/Orey_Emergin_Perspectives_Learning.pdf
Swanson, J., & Lipscomb, L. (2017). Ch. 11 Scaffolding. In Instructional Methods, Strategies and Technologies to Meet the Needs of All Learners. https://granite.pressbooks.pub/teachingdiverselearners/chapter/scaffolding-2/
TELAS + ASCILITE. (2019). ASCILITE Technology-Enhanced Learning Accreditation Scheme. https://ascilite.org/get-involved/telas/
Tobin, T. J., & Behling, K. (2018). Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education: Vol. First edition. West Virginia University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uleth.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1936511&site=ehost-live&scope=site&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_226
Weilandt, J. (2018). Accessibility of Education Toolkit for Educators | University of Lethbridge. https://www.uleth.ca/teachingcentre/accessibility-education-toolkit-educators
This is OPTIONAL and only reccommended for those already familiar with the freely accessible web-annotation tool Hypothes.is, which you can use to share your reflections, ideas and suggestions in feedback comments with us the instructors and other peers in our secure, closed group specifically created for UofLFitFOL2020 cohort annotations.
You can only join this group after the set up of an Hypothesis account.
If you are curious learn more about Hypothes.is first, read this brief instructor tutorial here.
UDL: Principle of Representing Information in Multiple Ways:
Listen to or download this overview in audio format by clicking on this link here [new tab]. It will direct you to access the audio file on a U of L instructor Google drive (no sign-in required).
No different from traditional on-campus classes, online courses welcome a broad range of individual learners who, with their unique set of personality traits, desires for learning, life-changing events in their biographies, and high hopes for future advancement, will inevitably shape the dynamics of your course(s) through the interactions with you and her/ his/ zer/ their peers.
You can place bets on the fact that there will be students who keep quiet and tend to only hesitatingly take part in the course conversations. At the same time, you can expect their exact opposites – the take-charge students or the ‘noisy’ ones as defined by Ko and Rossen (2010, p. 343). There will likely be students who disengage from your course for different reasons opposite to those who will challenge your knowledge or your authority. No doubt, these difficult student behaviours can make online teaching difficult at times.
It is therefore very important to know which specific factors cause or amplify difficult behaviours of students in online environments. An awareness for those factors is crucial as it guides your course design to include proactive strategies that can help prevent behavioural issues from arising. It also equips you with management methods that you can utilize to if you need resolve conflict with individual students or with dissonant student groups after all.
This chapter is designed to support you in the development of behaviour management and conflict resolution skills for the online classroom.
Students who demonstrate behavioural issues are often unclear about the course requirements or have not yet build proficient skill levels to learn independently online without some extra help coming from you. The difficulties students have and exhibit in their behaviour can thus take many forms – from an inability to adjust to new technologies, to domination or sidetracking of conversations, to a lack of participation and scapegoating others for the own lack in sufficient academic progress.
As those difficulties might show up with a delay in an online environment, you will need to become able to read signs as early as they appear and know which strategies to apply for different types of behaviour issues, some of which we will examine with the following activity.
This activity has 3 steps (outlined below).
Purpose: This activity introduces different learner types, describes their impact on the course dynamics and provides strategies to effectively deal with difficult behaviour.
Navigation: You will navigate between this chapter and the spaces where you can access the necessary information and collaborate with your peers.
Technology: The technology used for this activity include Pressbooks, Youtube, Moodle Wiki.
STEP 1: Choose your preferred way to learn about specific learner types, behavioural issues and suggested strategies below. Both formats present the same information, but in different ways (viewing/ listening a video presentation versus reading a book chapter).
Read the book chapter excerpt in Ko, S. & Rossen, S. (2010). Online Teaching. A Practical Guide. Taylor and Francis. Read Chapter 12. Classroom Management. Special Issues, pp. 339 – 356. | Watch the video presentation by Mandernach, J. (2013, October 22). Dealing with Difficult Students in the Online Classroom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nTStCJBECw
Pdf of powerpoint available from https://www.uttyler.edu/cetl/files/Difficultstudents.pdf |
STEP 2: Direct your focus to answering the following two questions while accessing the necessary information.
STEP 3: Share what you have learned with your peers in a collaborative Wiki-Activity in our U of L Moodle course (for UofL profs only), which you can access by clicking on this link.
You will be asked to enter 1 piece of information that speaks to the two questions above. If you need help in navigating the Moodle Wiki to complete this step, please take a look at the tutorial linked here [new tab].
If the ability for team work is a professional outcome in your discipline, you will need to have a solid understanding of online group dynamics to design group activities that will help your students build the related collaboration skills without much intervention on your part. Pratt and Palloff, both online teaching veterans who have closely researched online teaching, are of the opinion that “with increased knowledge of online group dynamics, instructors can more easily adjust their strategies for dealing with problems such as difficult students or waning participation.” (2003, p. 159)
Knowledge of online group work relates to 1) a theoretical understanding how groups form and what the stages in the process of group development are, and 2) the strategies you can apply to work with difficult student in online groups.
According to Pratt and Palloff (2003), two theories are often brought into the discussion of group development: Tuckman and Jensen (1977) and McClure (2005); the former view group forming as a linear process with 5 distinct stages, while the latter considers it a chaotic and self-organizing process with stages between which groups move more fluidly. Both theories consider conflict an inevitable part of the process “that arises at varying points in the development of the group, and it is not uncommon for it to occur almost immediately.” (Pratt and Palloff, 2003, p. 160)
A third theory, less focused on stages, considers people, tasks and technology as important factors determining the success of teams. McGrath and Hollinghead (1994) proposed that for groups to complete a task successfully its individuals need to generate a sense of well-being through the interactions with the group members. This needs to happen in safe spaces where the group members can each support each other in achieving the collaborative tasks. It is important for the group members to feel good about the work they produce, to offer help to each offer and to be able to solve problems or resolve issues together.
Most theorists agree that groups develop in stages and over time, beginning with separate individuals who join together for a common purpose. There is often anxiety at the beginning that subsides with group members negotiating group rules or norms ,defining the scope of the work to be done by all and each individual, as well as strategies for conflict resolution. Conflict is considered an inevitable element of group development that will need to be anticipated in order for it not to impair the collaborative work.
Palloff and Pratt (2003, p. 173) have summarized the above-mentioned theories of group development in a figure that clearly illustrates the links necessary to complete a task between the individuals, the group, the facilitator and the technology. Each of the elements shown in the graph below list the characteristics that are necessary for effective online group work.
You can access those lists by clicking on the pink icons.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=96
In the following activity you will learn how Pratt and Palloff have applied McClure’s stage model to their own teaching of a specific online course to then draw specific conclusions from that course which resulted in recommendations for how to avoid and resolve conflict in in online student groups.
This activity has 3 steps (outlined below).
Purpose: Through the description of one group of students in an online class you will be provided with examples that illustrate the movements of that group through the stages proposed in McClure’s model. It will also help you draw conclusions for conflict management in your own online course(s).
Materials + Technology: You can access a fair dealings copy of the chapter 8: ‘Online Classroom Dynamics’ IN Pratt, R. M. & Palloff, K. (2003). Working with the Virtual Learner. Becoming Truly Learner-Focused: Best Practices in OL Teaching. Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series: San Francisco. in our U of L Moodle course [new tab].
STEP 1: Read the part: ‘Applying What We Understand About Groups to Online Classes on the pages 163-171 of chapter 8: ‘Online Classroom Dynamics’ IN Pratt, R. M. & Palloff (2003).
STEP 2: Identify specific student behaviour in the different stages laid out in McClure’s model to reflect on the following questions:
STEP 3: Browse the following evidence based teaching guides on group work provided by the free online quarterly journal Life Sciences Education to generate ideas how you can support your online students in the formation of effective teams. Let the following questions guide you:
Generally, experienced online instructors agree with the statement made by Ko and Rossen (2010) that:
[…] most problems can be averted by the skillful management of student expectations such as we have outlined in earlier chapters – the comprehensive syllabus, clearly written assignment instructions, protocols for communication, code of conduct and clearly stated policies and criteria for grading as well as instructor responsiveness, are all ways to ensure that students understand how to do their best in your online course. (p. 343)
Pratt and Palloff (2003, p. 185-6) have derived a series of tips out of stage theory and their own experience teaching online, which are listed in the accordion below. You can click on each of its titles to reveal further explanations for each of the points.
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=96
This is OPTIONAL and only reccommended for those already familiar with the freely accessible web-annotation tool Hypothes.is, which you can use to share your reflections, ideas and suggestions in feedback comments with us the instructors and other peers in our secure, closed group specifically created for UofLFitFOL2020 cohort annotations.
You can only join this group after the set up of an Hypothesis account.
If you are curious learn more about Hypothes.is first, read this brief instructor tutorial here.
Distance Education Services, Uv. (2013). Managing Difficult Behaviours in the Online Classroom. https://www.uvic.ca/til/assets/docs/for_instructors/managing_students/Managing-Difficult-Behaviours.pdf
Ko, S. & Rossen, S. (2010). Online Teaching. A Practical Guide. Taylor and Francis. Read Chapter 12. Classroom Management. Special Issues, pp. 339 – 356.
Mandernach, J. (2017). Dealing with “Difficult” Students in the Online Classroom. https://www.uttyler.edu/cetl/files/Difficultstudents.pdf
Mandernach, J. (2013, October 22). Dealing with Difficult Students in the Online Classroom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nTStCJBECw
McClure, B. A. (2005). Putting a new spin on groups: The science of chaos. Psychology Press.
McGrath, J. E., & Hollingshead, A. B. (1994). Groups interacting with technology: Ideas, evidence, issues, and an agenda (pp. ix, 181). Sage Publications, Inc.
Pratt, R. M. & Palloff, K. (2003). Working with the Virtual Learner. Becoming Truly Learner-Focused: Best Practices in OL Teaching. Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series: San Francisco.
Veletsianos, G. (2020). Learning Online: The Student Experience. Johns Hopkins University Press.Retrieved from: https://muse.jhu.edu/book/73824
For the design of FitFOL2020 the following technological tools were used. Participants who actively participate in the course will be using the tools in italics to collaborate with peers. Otherwise, you will access content that has been created with the tools below.
Bates, T. (2019, November 19). Results for 2019 survey of online learning in Canadian post-secondary institutions now available | Tony Bates. Retrieved December 1, 2019, from https://www.tonybates.ca/2019/11/19/results-for-2019-survey-of-online-learning-in-canadian-post-secondary-institutions-now-available/
BCcampus. (n.d.). Consider these ideas when planning your course online. Retrieved from https://bccampus.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Inclusion.accessible.pdf
Bennett, D., McCarty, C., & Carter, S. (2019). Teaching Graduate Economics: Online Vs. Traditional Classroom Instruction. Journal for Economic Educators, 11(2), 1–11. Retrieved from https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jfee/article/view/1478
Bernard, R. M., Abrami, P. C., Lou, Y., Borokhovski, E., Wade, A., Wozney, L., Wallet, P. A., Fiset, M., and Huang, B. 2004. “How Does Distance Education Compare with Classroom Instruction? A Meta-analysis of the Empirical Literature.” Review of Educational Research 74 (3): 379–439.
Brunton, J., Brown, M., Costello, E., & Farrell, O. (2018). Head start online: Flexibility, transitions and student success. Educational Media International, 55(4), 347–360. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2018.1548783
Canadian Digital Learning Association. 2019. Tracking Online and Distance Education in Canadian Universities and Colleges: 2018. Retrieved from https://onlinelearningsurveycanada.ca/download/604/
CAST (2018). Universal design for learning guidelines version 2.2 [graphic organizer]. Wakefield, MA: Author. Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org/more/downloads
CBE – Life Sciences Education. (n.d.). INSTRUCTOR CHECKLIST. LSE Resources. Retrieved April 23, 2020, from https://lse.ascb.org/evidence-based-teaching-guides/inclusive-teaching/instructor-checklist-group-work/
Conrad, R, M., & Donaldson, A. (2004). Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for creative instruction. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Retrieved from http://eltandtech.pbworks.com/f/engaging+the+online+learner.pdf
Contact North. (n.d.). How to Build Effective Online Learner Support Services | teachonline.ca. Retrieved April 3, 2020, from https://teachonline.ca/tips-tools/how-build-effective-online-learner-support-services
Coolidge, A., Doner, S., Robertson, T., & Gray, J. (2018). Accessibility Toolkit—2nd Edition. BCcampus – OpenEd. https://opentextbc.ca/accessibilitytoolkit/
Davidson, C. (2010, August 7). Open Letter to Students in Future of Thinking—And To YOU! HASTAC. https://www.hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/2010/08/07/open-letter-students-future-thinking-and-you
Davidson, C. (n.d.). “Introduction: How and Why to Structure a Classroom for Student-Centered Learning and Equality.” In Structuring Equality: A Handbook for Student-Centered Learning and Teaching Practices. Retrieved April 2, 2020, from https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/untitled-adf23c4d-e786-432d-8851-659189f441f0/section/6735c152-597e-4c61-bb14-2693007effe5
Distance Education Services, Uv. (2013). Managing Difficult Behaviours in the Online Classroom. https://www.uvic.ca/til/assets/docs/for_instructors/managing_students/Managing-Difficult-Behaviours.pdf
Dublin City University DCU. (2020). Quality Design Checklist: Questions for Designing and Delivering Online Courses. Retrieved from https://ni4dl.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/dcu-quality-checklist-online-courses.pdf
Geary, D. (2018, June 4). Ideas for Creating an Effective Syllabus for Online Learning. Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/ideas-for-creating-an-effective-syllabus-for-online-learning/
Gillett-Swan, J. (2017). The Challenges of Online Learning Supporting and Engaging the Isolated Learner. Journal of Learning Design, 10(1), 20–30.
Gordon, D. (2020). The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to Alternative Assessment. http://www.damiantgordon.com/Guide.pdf
Hamraie, A. (2020, October 3). Accessible Teaching in the Time of COVID-19. Mapping Access. https://www.mapping-access.com/blog-1/2020/3/10/accessible-teaching-in-the-time-of-covid-19
Hannafin, M., Land, S., & Oliver, K. (1999). Open Learning Environments: Foundations, methods, and models. In Instructional-Design Theories and Models (Vol. 2). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237035032_Open_Learning_Environments_Foundations_methods_and_models
HASTAC team. (2017, February 1). Structuring Equality: A Handbook for Student-Centered Learning and Teaching Practices. HASTAC. https://www.hastac.org/collections/structuring-equality-handbook-student-centered-learning-and-teaching-practices
Hung, M.-L., Chou, C., Chen, C.-H., & Own, Z.-Y. (2010). Learner readiness for online learning: Scale development and student perceptions. Computers & Education, 55(3), 1080–1090. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.05.004
Inclusive Design Research Centre. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2020, from https://idrc.ocadu.ca/
Kwantlen Polytechnic University Learning Centres, Page, C., & Vincent, A. (2018). Learning to Learn Online. Kwantlen Polytechnic University. https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/learningtolearnonline/
Ko, S. & Rossen, S. (2010). Online Teaching. A Practical Guide. Taylor and Francis. Read Chapter 12. Classroom Management. Special Issues, pp. 339 – 356.
Lab, P. W. (n.d.). Definitions // Purdue Writing Lab. Purdue Writing Lab. Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/definitions.html
Learning online from a student perspective. (2014, July 20). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwx_UDaCMxc
Learning & Teaching Office, Ryerson University (2018). Instructional Scaffolding. 9. Retrieved from https://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/learning-teaching/teaching-resources/assessment/instructional-scaffolding.pdf
Li, N., Marsh, V., & Rienties, B. (2016). Modelling and Managing Learner Satisfaction: Use of Learner Feedback to Enhance Blended and Online Learning Experience. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, 14(2), 216–242. https://doi.org/10.1111/dsji.12096
Mandernach, J. (2017). Dealing with “Difficult” Students in the Online Classroom. https://www.uttyler.edu/cetl/files/Difficultstudents.pdf
Mandernach, J. (2013, October 22). Dealing with Difficult Students in the Online Classroom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nTStCJBECw
Manning-Ouellette, A., & Black, K. (2017). Learning Leadership: A Qualitative Study on the Differences of Student Learning in Online versus Traditional Courses in a Leadership Studies Program. Journal of Leadership Education, 59–79. Retrieved from https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/leadership_pubs/3/
McClure, B. A. (2005). Putting a new spin on groups: The science of chaos. Psychology Press.
McGrath, J. E., & Hollingshead, A. B. (1994). Groups interacting with technology: Ideas, evidence, issues, and an agenda (pp. ix, 181). Sage Publications, Inc.
McLaren, C. H. (2004). A Comparison of Student Persistence and Performance in Online and Classroom Business Statistics Experiences. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, 2(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0011-7315.2004.00015.x
Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., and Baki, M. 2013. “The Effectiveness of Online and Blended Learning: A Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Literature.” Teachers College Record 115 (3): 1–47.
Minnesota State CAREERwise. (n.d.). What Makes a Successful Online Learner? |. Retrieved April 3, 2020, from https://careerwise.minnstate.edu/education/successonline.html
Ní Shé, C., Farrell, O., Brunton, J., Costello, E., Donlon, E., Trevaskis, S., Eccles, S. (2019). Teaching online is different: critical perspectives from the literature. Dublin: Dublin City University. Doi: 10.5281/zenodo.3479402 Retrieved from https://openteach.ie/publications/
Ochs, J. H. (2017). Online or In-Class: Evaluating an Alternative Online Pedagogy for Teaching Transcultural Nursing. Journal of Nursing Education, 56(6), 368–372. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20170518-10
Open Suny Online Teaching, & Online Learning Consortium. (n.d.). OSCQR – Open SUNY Course Quality Review Rubric: Quality Scorecard Suit: OSCQR 3.1. CC-BY 4.0. Retrieved April 8, 2020, from https://oscqr.suny.edu/
Orey, M. (2010). Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology. (p.226-236) Retrieved from https://textbookequity.org/Textbooks/Orey_Emergin_Perspectives_Learning.pdf
Ottawa University Teaching and Learning Support Service (TLSS). (n.d.). Blended Learning Course Quality Rubric. https://tlss.uottawa.ca/site/files/docs/TLSS/blended_funding/2017/TLSSQARubric.pdf](https://tlss.uottawa.ca/site/files/docs/TLSS/blended_funding/2017/TLSSQARubric.pdf
RattusScholasticus, ~. (2020, April 12). Let Them Suck Eggs: Framing advice to students appropriately in a crisis. Rattus Scholasticus. https://rattusscholasticus.wordpress.com/2020/04/12/let-them-suck-eggs-framing-advice-to-students-appropriately-in-a-crisis/
Pratt, R. M. & Palloff, K. (2003). Working with the Virtual Learner. Becoming Truly Learner-Focused: Best Practices in OL Teaching. Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series: San Francisco.
Redecker, C., & Punie, Y. (2017, November 20). European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators: DigCompEdu [Text]. EU Science Hub – European Commission. https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/european-framework-digital-competence-educators-digcompedu
Roddy, C., Amiet, D. L., Chung, J., Holt, C., Shaw, L., McKenzie, S., Garivaldis, F., Lodge, J. M., & Mundy, M. E. (2017). Applying Best Practice Online Learning, Teaching, and Support to Intensive Online Environments: An Integrative Review. Frontiers in Education, 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2017.00059
Ross, J., & Bayne, S. (n.d.). A manifesto for teaching online. The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved April 2, 2020, from https://www.ed.ac.uk/staff/teaching-matters/features/a-manifesto-for-teaching-online
Seaman, J., Allan, E., & Seaman, J. (2018). 2018 Report: Grade Increase: Tracking Distance Education in the United States. ICDE. https://www.icde.org/knowledge-hub/grade-increase-tracking-distance-education-in-the-united-states
Stavredes, T. (2011). Effective Online Teaching. Foundations and Strategies for Student Success. Jossey- Bass: San-Francisco.
Stommel, J. (2012, December 3). Online Learning: A Manifesto. Hybrid Pedagogy. https://hybridpedagogy.org/online-learning-a-manifesto/
Swanson, J., & Lipscomb, L. (2017). Ch. 11 Scaffolding. In Instructional Methods, Strategies and Technologies to Meet the Needs of All Learners. https://granite.pressbooks.pub/teachingdiverselearners/chapter/scaffolding-2/
TELAS + ASCILITE. (2019). ASCILITE Technology-Enhanced Learning Accreditation Scheme. https://ascilite.org/get-involved/telas/
Tobin, T. J., & Behling, K. (2018). Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education: Vol. First edition. West Virginia University Press. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1936511&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Unal, Z., & Unal, A. (2017). Comparison of Student Performance, Student Perception, and Teacher Satisfaction with Traditional versus Flipped Classroom Models. International Journal of Instruction, 10(4), 145–164. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1155632.pdf
Veletsianos, G. (2020). Learning Online: The Student Experience. Johns Hopkins University Press.Retrieved from: https://muse.jhu.edu/book/73824
Villasenor, J. (2020, April 8). 6 Steps to Prepare for an Online Fall Semester. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/6-Steps-to-Prepare-for-an/248463
Weilandt, J. (2018). Accessibility of Education Toolkit for Educators | University of Lethbridge. https://www.uleth.ca/teachingcentre/accessibility-education-toolkit-educators
Yang, A. (n.d.). Online Teaching: Do This, Not That. Αℓιѕση Уαηg. Retrieved April 2, 2020, from http://alisonyang.weebly.com/1/post/2020/03/online-teaching-do-this-not-that.html
Zhao, Y., Lei, J., Yan, B., Lai, C., and Tan, H. S. 2005. “What Makes the Difference? A Practical Analysis of Research on the Effectiveness of Distance Education.” Teachers College Record 107 (8): 1836
I didn’t need to be told, but have known for a few years now: I know too little about disabilities.
What I do know is that they can cause students great stress when they impede with the generic access we provide to the physical spaces on our campus, to the academic content we choose to use in our courses and the tools we employ thinking they will assist our students in accomplishing the learning requirements.
Students and their different challenges have taught me lots, but there is still so much more to learn.
Inspired by a forum post to #FitFOL2020 course that highlighted how people with the following three issues: colour-blindness, photophobia, and dyslexia, can quickly be excluded if no consideration is given to
The post made me wonder how our Pressbooks resource fares regarding these concerns, which is why I will be running a few tests using different technologies to find out how they can help students overcome some of the accessibility issues. I will be working on different devices as well.
This page is to document my Accessibility Testing for our FitFOL resources:
Passes the test as all three issues above can be overcome. All of the three things above can be changed to liking and needs.
Problems: Interactive Content (anything created with H5P, video or audio files) are excluded from the reader and will have to be started directly on the Pressbooks resources
2. Freda
Freda is a free electronic book program, but with annoyingly blinking ads and not very user-friendly interface
(DRM-free) books in the supported formats: EPUB, MOBI, FB2, HTML and TXT.
- customisable controls, fonts and colours, plus annotations and bookmarks
- the ability to look up dictionary definitions and translations,
- and (new feature) text-to-speech reading.
- Freda understands EPUB formatting information (bold/italic text, margins and alignment) and can display images and diagrams in books.
VoiceOver for IOS and VoiceOver for the Mac are somewhat different, though in many cases, similar concepts apply. To learn more about testing mobile sites and applications with VoiceOver for IOS (as well as TalkBack for Android), visit the Mobile page on the SOAP site.
https://h5p.org/documentation/installation/content-type-accessibility
VI
The FitFOL 2020 course is facilitated using a combination of the university online learning environment Moodle, our interactive course pack (within which this syllabus is one digital chapter), and freely accessible online tools.
In this chapter you will find a brief tutorial to each of the tools we have used:
Framework for determining use of technology
We apply the SECTIONS (Bates, 2015) model to determine the use of a specific technology. It guides us in the consideration of
to make an informed decision. You can dive deeper into the questions pertaining to each aspect of the SECTIONS model by reading the Appendix 2 in Bates reference resource mentioned above. Move through its individual parts by clicking the NEXT button on the lower right.
Below you will find all educational technology listed in alphabetical order. Please click on the respective tools to learn more. You can also navigate this chapter by moving forward – backward using the arrows on the bottom of the page.
Name of Tool/ Medium | Purpose | Modules in FitFOL 2020 |
Camtasia | Screencasting/ Video Editing | 5 |
Canva | Online Picture Editor | 5 |
Etherpad | Real-time Multiplayer Editor | 5 |
Flipgrid | Collaborative Video Vignettes | Orientation |
H5P | Interactive Content Creator | 5 |
Hypothesis | Collaborative Web Annotations | entire resource |
Images | Open Online Repositories | 5 |
Moodle | Learning Management System | FitFOL course environment |
123 App | Audio/ Video Recording + Editing | 5 |
Padlet | Online Noteboard | 5 |
Pressbooks | Open Book Creation Platform | Fitfol course textbook/ website resource |
Qualtrics | Online Survey Tool | Orientation; Accessibility Statement |
Snagit | Picture Editing Software | 5 |
Youtube | Video Sharing Platform | Orientation; 5 |
Zoom | Video Conferencing Tool | optional webinars |
Camtasia is a software that allows you to record your screen (= screencasting) and edit any kind of video material. As you might have seen in the FitFOL online tutorials and video messages, the software makes the combination of text, pictures, annotations, video and audio possible. When casting your screen, you can decide to record yourself on camera and/ or audio alsongside the things you show on the screen. While editing, you can combine different materials and record audio once you are done.
Concerning teaching content, you can create instructor video messages, instruction tutorials, slideshows with instructor narratives, summaries, video feedback and many things more.
To learn more and maybe do a trial, visit the company page here: https://www.techsmith.com/video-editor.html
Note that if you are interested in the product, education pricing applies for you.
Canva is a graphic design platform that allows users to create social media graphics, presentations, posters and other visual content. It is available on web and mobile, and integrates millions of images, fonts, templates and illustrations.
Note that the free version has been used to create some of the visuals in FitFOL.
Etherpad (previously known as EtherPad) is an open-source, web-based collaborative real-time editor, allowing authors to simultaneously edit a text document, and see all of the participants’ edits in real-time, with the ability to display each author’s text in their own colour. There is also a chat box in the sidebar to allow meta communication.
There are many openly accessible Etherpad installations for you to choose as the following list from the Etherpad.org website shows. All links will open in new tabs:
· https://board.net (including the following modules: upload and paste images, headlines, run as slideshow, comment, markdown, line numbers, show author on hover) run by NGO fairkom.eu as part of fairapps in Austria
· https://pad.riseup.net/ (Tor exit enclave and hidden service, pads removed after 30 days of inactivity)
· https://demo.sandstorm.io/ (Sandstorm demo server — pads removed after 1 hour) or run Etherpad on your own Sandstorm server
· https://framapad.org/ (run by french NGO Framasoft member of CHATONS)
· https://pad.picasoft.net/ (run by french NGO Picasoft member of CHATONS)
· https://pad.infini.fr/ (run by french NGO Infini member of CHATONS)
· https://pad.ouvaton.coop/ (pads removed after 400 days of inactivity)
· https://pad.systemli.org/ (pads removed after 30 days of inactivity)
· https://pad.lqdn.fr/ (run by French NGO La Quadrature du Net)
· https://public.etherpad-mozilla.org/ (requires login)
· https://pad.hashtagueule.fr/ (run by independent French blog Hashtagueule.fr team)
· https://pad.aquilenet.fr (French non profit ISP member of FFDN.org)
· https://demo.maadix.org/etherpad/ (Installation includes the ep_maadix plugin https://github.com/MaadixNet/ep_maadix which allows to create private groups and invite users, assigning them different roles)
· https://yopad.eu (run by German Federal Youth Council DBJR)
· https://pad.pedeagua.org/ (run by brazillian NGO Caminho das Águas)
· https://etherpad.devol.it (run by italian NGO devol)
· https://coropad.lou.quebec (run by independent developer in Montréal, Québec, Canada)
· https://pad.education (run by France Université Numérique)
(*Please note that if you are using Safari as your browser, you may not be able to see all the content in this tutorial. To avoid this problem, use a different browser such as Firefox or Chrome. We kept this in as an example to you of the kinds of tech problems you may encounter with your students and a possible solution.)
The following presentation takes you through the steps of
Note that you can navigate the tutorial by moving in between the slides
An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openeducationalberta.ca/fitfol/?p=247
Watch the brief video introduction to learn how H5P can assist you in your online teaching.
You can either scroll through the content from top to bottom or get to any specific section in this guide by clicking on the active links below.
H5P is open source software integrated with the U of L Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) which allows the easy and rapid creation of mobile-friendly interactive elements which can form an integral part of your course content.
You can use H5P Learning Objects to create, share and reuse interactive content to engage students and stimulate their learning within your Moodle courses. Being an Open Educational Technology Tool, H5P encourages (but does not mandate) the creation of Open Educational Resources that are licensed granting other users permission for reuse or modification.
In addition to the above mentioned aspects, H5P is:
Note that all H5P content you create needs to abide by copyright law. To learn more about Open Licensing and OER, contact the U of L Copyright Office or visit the following U of L LibGuides:
There are two ways to integrate H5P learning activities in Moodle.
Option 1 – Modification: Build on something useful that’s already there. If you find existing H5P content that you like or would like to adapt to your specific course needs, you can upload this to Moodle. Many university educators across the globe have started creating content with H5P, and many of these resources are now available on university websites, personal instructor blogs or other online spaces. It is noteworthy that many of these shared resources grant you permission to make modifications that better fit your specific teaching needs.
Option 2 – Creation: Create new and your very own H5P content from scratch by using H5P content editor in Moodle.
Once you have integrated H5P learning activities into your Moodle courses, you can decide whether and how to grade student engagement with those activities. The following parts (4 + 5 + 6) will take you through the steps of adapting existing H5P content and creating completely new H5P activities.
If you choose the modification route, you can use an existing H5P file (you may have found on the internet) and upload it into this course following these simple steps (after you logged into one of your U of L Moodle course!):
Watch the video tutorial below for detailed instructions or download the attachment with screenshots to represent the steps in the process.
Video Tutorial:
Attachment:
Click on this attachment to prompt the download of the H5P Tutorial with Screenshots Modify Content [word document]
Downloading existing H5P content is easy and possible when content creators grant sharing permission by activating the download function for H5P as they publish content. You can either watch the brief video or view the two screenshots how to download existing H5P content from the internet.
Video Tutorial:
Screenshots:
If you choose the creation route, you can do so in your Moodle courses following these simple steps:
1. hit ADD an ACTIVITY
2. CHOOSE h5p PLUGIN
3. Choose the CONTENT TYPE you want to create and give it a title
4. START the creation of your interactive activity (see specific instructions for specific content types in 7: More in-depth tutorials for specific content types)
5. SAVE (and add weightings in gradebook if wanted)
Watch the video tutorial below for detailed instructions or download the attachment with screenshots to represent the steps in the process.
Video Tutorial:
Attachment:
Click on this attachment to prompt the download of the Screenshot Tutorial How to create new H5P content in Moodle
H5P has created tutorials for content authors for all existing H5P content types including the ones presented above, which you can access on their website linked here or by clicking on the new tab links below: https://h5p.org/documentation/for-authors/tutorials.
Interactive Video [new tab]
Course Presentation [new tab]
Question Sets [new tab]
Branching Scenario [new tab]
Note that this option only works for U of L affiliated educators.
If you would like to browse a number of H5P content examples from various universities designed for a number of different disciplines, you can enrol in the H5P Demo Moodle course linked here: https://moodle.uleth.ca/202002/course/view.php?id=671. Hit ENROL ME to get in. You will access the course in the teacher role.
After 30 days of inactivity or 90 days of use, you will automatically be unenrolled from this course.
Hypothes.is is a web annotation tool that allows for public or private annotations of all freely accessible digital content on the internet, like for instance this Pressbooks course resource, Open Access Journal articles, websites and so much more.
You can thus bring discussion directly to course content by enabling your students to add comments and start conversations in the margins of their texts. Collaborative annotation engages students more deeply in course readings and gives teachers a view into how students are reading.
Hypothesis is an Open Educational Software tool that doesn’t require any downloads or installations. Instead you and your student set up an account, add a browser extension and then you can:
Note that in the process of creating the textbook resource for Fit for Online Learning, the authors utilized Hypothesis to discuss specific parts in development and share specific comments for improvement.
If you would like to see an example of a publicly annotated resource, you can click on the following link that will direct you an uploaded pdf of the openly licensed book: 25 Year of Ed Tech by Martin Weller.
The screenshot below shows an annotated page out of this book.
The Fit of Online Learning Textbook resource was created with Pressbooks, which means that the result is an openly accessible publication that can be annotated with Hypothes.is.
Public Feedback: You are, of course, free to leave public feedback comments on this textbook resource as well. You can do so after your sign up to Hypothesis, the steps for which are laid out here:
https://web.hypothes.is/start/
Private Feedback: If you would rather share private comments, feel free to annotate our FitFOL2020 textbook resource in our closed group, which you can join here.
Most of the pictures in FitFOL have been deliberately chosen not only for what they represent, but for the fact that they are openly licensed and therefore grant permissions for reuse and modification. The repositories we accessed for our picture search are many of the following:
Public Domain or CC-0 license
Below listed has its own ,Pixabay’s own license, which permits commercial and non-commercial uses with very few limits.
Moodle stands for Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. It is a popular open-source learning platform designed to provide educators, administrators and learners with a single robust, secure and integrated system to create personalised flexible environments for learning communities, including courses, departmental projects or campus working groups.
Moodle is built by the Moodle project which is led and coordinated by Moodle HQ (out of Australia), which is financially supported by a network of over 80 Moodle Partner service companies worldwide.
The U of L IT Department hosts and maintains its own Moodle installations on a range of different servers to ensure the privacy and security of all users and the data generated by them.
Every term a new Moodle installation is created, into which Moodle course shells will be populated for all the courses taught during this period, regardless of whether instructors intend to use them or not. Students registering in specific courses will also automatically be pushed into the respective Moodle course shells, which means that you can easily keep track of student numbers as students are enrolling in your courses.
While the hardware and software installation is in the hands of the IT department, all instructor support is offered through the U of L Teaching Centre.
Moodle is an educational technology offered for use by instructors who can decide for themselves whether this Learning Management System is a valid resource for their teaching.
If you chose to work with Moodle, you know that your content as well as the data generated through student activity will stay in a secure, locally maintained environment. Everything you create as part of your Moodle course falls under your copyright, meaning that only you (and possibly other collaborators) will own the course. Should other colleagues or student assistants request access to a Moodle course of yours, it will only be granted with your permission.
FIRST TIME ACCESS
Once you have gotten a university ID, you will need to set up your BRIDGE Account in order to activate your Moodle account. Please click on that link if you have already accessed the Bridge before.
The Bridge registration for Moodle is the only thing you will need to do in order to access your Moodle course. You can log into your Moodle account with your university username and password https://moodle.uleth.ca.
TEACHING WITH MOODLE
If you chose other people’s work as part of the content or learning activities, you will need to make sure to abide by the Copyright rules. In doubt, you will want to get clearance for your Moodle course from the U of L Copyright Office in the Library before starting to teach with it.
You can prepare for a course even before course start. Several weeks before a new term, your Moodle course(s) for the following term will be accessible to you. If you need to work several months in advance, you can request a development course shell, the content out of which can easily be transferred into your actual live course once that becomes available.
Only courses that you choose to make visible become visible to your students. They are hidden from student view by default. For instruction on how to show your courses, see this brief tutorial.
If you need to add your TA or colleagues to your course, see the instruction for adding people to your classes here. Note that only people with a Uleth ID can be added to your courses.
ACCESS AFTER TERM END
Your Moodle courses will remain “live” as well as directly accessible by you for a year after those courses have been taught. Since the servers change with every term, Moodle courses can be accessed by putting the url link into a webbrowser that clearly indicate the year and term in the following way:
https://login.uleth.ca/ + year + term, so for example the current summer term can be located through the following url: https://login.uleth.ca/202002
After a year, all Moodle courses will be archived and can be reused by requesting a course roll over with the Teaching Centre.
Students enrolling in your courses, will automatically become enrolled in your Moodle course shells as well regardless of whether you use those or not. Students retain access to their specific Moodle courses only for the duration of their enrollment. Unless you create exportable resources (downloadable textbooks, pdfs, word documents, other resources) students cannot keep copies of your course.
The most prominent use of Moodle happens in the form of information sharing either through instructor announcements or through content you decide to deposit in specific places in your course environment.
As for the instructor announcements, you can use the tool on the top of every new course set up to allow for your unilateral communication to all students in your course. This announcement tool is active with the start of enrolments, so you can choose to inform your new students about course-related issues way before your course starts. Your announcement will go out as email notifications and will also stay accessible/trackable for all involved parties in Moodle.
Concerning the other content that you might want to deposit in your Moodle course, you have a variety of options:
In addition to considering Moodle as a resource/ information repository, you might want to consider the environment a space in which your students can actively communicate and collaborate with you and with each other. There are a number of activities you can design for students to:
You can find some of the most popular Moodle activities briefly presented with description of use for teaching and technology use in the Moodle Demonstration course created for the training of U of L faculty. The self-enrolment key can be found here: https://moodle.uleth.ca/202002/course/view.php?id=698
You can request help through our ticket system, request course transfers or book individual appointments with our technical and/ or pedagogical developers for the personalized support you might need. We also maintain a website with basic Moodle tutorials for instructors for you to browse at your convenience.
123 Apps are easy to use, safe and free audio, video recording, archive extractor and pdf tools run in webbrowsers, so they don’t require sign-ups or installation. The audio recording and joining tools have been used to create the audio recordings in Module 5.
This tutorial will cover the following topics:
Zoom is a video conferencing tool that is widely used for conferencing and delivering synchronous classes. As a U of L faculty member teaching in a given semester, you have access to your own host license (account). Your students do not need to have Zoom accounts to access your Zoom session — they only need the link you will provide. Along with providing a virtual classroom space where you can deliver lectures, share content, and create small group discussions, Zoom allows you to record each session and post this as a link students may access at a later date.
2. Once you are into your ULeth Zoom account, click on Meetings
3. Click the blue button Schedule a New Meeting
4. Once you have scheduled a meeting, you will see a screen like this:
You can record your Zoom class in a cloud location in your online Zoom account or locally on your own computer. Here is an overview of the recording feature provided by U of L IT:
Once you have recorded the class, you can either download it to your own computer, or click on the “Share” button a new screen will open up that will provide you options for sharing:
It is recommended that instead of trying to upload the whole video on Moodle, you use a weblink from your Zoom account found here when you click on the meeting in your Recordings list:
Take a look at the control bar in your Zoom classroom as it appears as host:
As a Zoom session host, you will have more options available to you than your participants.
Compare that to the participant control bar:
The attendees in your meeting are called ‘Participants’ in Zoom. You can use different features to manage your participants.
2. You will see a screen like this where you can choose to share your desktop, an application, video, or a whiteboard:
Please note that if you want to share a video, you will need to click on the buttons “Share computer sound” and “Optimize Screen Sharing for Video Clip” circled in red above.
When you are sharing your screen, you will see a new control bar at either the top or bottom of your screen that looks like this:
Creating
Monitoring
Issues
Here are some tips from U of L’s Zoom webinar created by IT:
When you click on the security button at the bottom of your screen, you’ll see these options pop-up:
Key take-away points for security in Zoom include
You can use the polling feature in Zoom to monitor student comprehension or engagement. You do this in two ways:
A) Set up a poll during your class (i.e. on the fly), or
B) Set it up before your class begins in your Zoom account.
A) Set up the poll during your class
B) Set up poll before your class begins
Pressbooks is an open source content management system designed for creating books. It is based on WordPress, and can export content in many formats for ebooks, webbooks or print. U of L educators can request an educational version through the participation in the ABOER Publishing Initiative Open Education Alberta. You can also create a private account directly with the Pressbooks company in Montreal.
Once a book is published, viewers have easy and free access to digital publications or downloadable/ printable copies in a range of different formats.
One possible use for teaching is represented through this FitFOL2020 teaching resource, which has been designed to combine the delivery of information with the embedding of teaching/ learning activities. That way, our Pressbooks works much like a website and a textbook together. Unlike a traditional textbook, however, Pressbooks allows for the seamless integration of multimedia rich and interactive elements.
If you are curious to learn more about the use of Pressbooks for teaching, you can access the following tutorials here:
Publishing/distribution
https://guide.pressbooks.com/chapter/how-to-make-and-self-publish-a-book/
Padlet was used to create collaborative bulletin boards as in the Building Community and Student engagement module. There are many tutorials out there, but you may find the following useful for getting started:
Permiakov, E. Padlet (2020, March 27). Tutorial – How to Get Started Guide 2020. [YouTube Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPkq5q8nRbM.
Qualtrics is an online survey tool all educators and support staff at the U of L have access to. You can create student feedback forms, course surveys, assignments with it. To access the tool, you will need to sign in using the following url and your U of L user name and password: https://uleth.qualtrics.com [new tab].
Youtube is a video streaming platform that you can use to share your own video creations with either selected people through the unlisted and/or private options or with the world if made public.
TEACHING: As an instructor, you might consider using Youtube as a hub, from which students can access your recorded lectures, tutorials or other teaching videos without needing to download anything or logging into an account.
Once you have uploaded a video to Youtube, you can embed the share link into your email messages to students, into websites or into the Moodle Learning Management System LMS. Considering the embed into Moodle, you will not need to worry about large-size formats since embedding doesn’t require you to upload the original video. A simple url share link posted to Moodle Forums, sections, pages will automatically embed a player, so that student can conveniently watch your video within Moodle.
EXAMPLE: Below this paragraph you can see an example of the embedding function with the Moodle Navigation Video from the FitFOL Course Expectations Document.
TUTORIAL: If you would like to learn how to Set up a Youtube account, upload videos and embed your YouTube videos in Moodle, click on the following link[PDF] .
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Having worked your way through the course, we hope that you feel more prepared to take on the challenge of online teaching. Here, we would like to take a moment to remind you of ways to develop your online teaching competencies through any or all of the following initiatives or supports.
4
The Fit for Online Learning Course is informed by a scientific framework known as the Digital Competency Framework for Educators in Higher Education, which details how digital technologies can be used to enhance and innovate education and training.
By participating in the Fit for Online Learning course, you are building skills in many of the below described six areas of digital competence. See the table at the bottom of this page to find out about the specific competencies to be developed in the five modules of this course.
Note you can use the framework as a tool to self-evaluate your current digital proficiency level and strategise your future teaching development in the identified areas for improvement.
Module | Competencies as briefly described above |
1 | |
2 | |
3 Facilitation of Teaching and Learning Online | Professional Engagement 1.2, 1.3, 1.4; Teaching and Learning 3.2, 3.3, 3.4; Empowering Learners 5.2, 5.3; Facilitating Learners Digital Competence 6.2 |
4 | |
5 Working with the Online Learner | Professional Engagement: 1.2; 1.3; 1.4; Digital Resources: 2.1; 2.2; 2.3; Teaching and Learning 3.1; 3.2; 3.4; Empowering Learners: 5.1; 5.2 |
Where to start?
1. Intro: Online Don’t Come Easy
Owing to shifts in the student population and its greater demand for flexibility, online course and program offerings had already started to increase in many universities across Canada and the US in the decade before the Covid-19 pandemic forced us all to shift to the online modality for work and life. (Bates, 2019; Seaman et al, 2018)
Researchers who have investigated the impact and effect of past online learning experiences found no great differences between online and more traditional on-campus learning, granted competent planning and skilled facilitation were at play in both settings. (Bernard et al, 2004; Bennet, et al, 2019; Manning-Quellet & Black, 2017; Means et al, 2013; Ochs, 2017; Roddy et al, 2017; Unal & Unal, 2017; McLaren, 2004, Zhao et al, 2005)
Since you most likely have not made the deliberate decision to teach online, but were forced into it by the current circumstances, you might find this sudden move out of your face-to-face classrooms into online environments rather challenging and maybe also somewhat discomforting. This is only natural and should not come as a surprise because the parameters for both settings are indeed distinct from each other, and therefore require different approaches to make teaching and learning work for you and your students. (Ní Shé et al, 2019)
We would like to assure you that online teaching is an iterative process, even in the best of case of all scenarios. Taking a few specific development steps every time will allow you to slowly compose increasingly enhanced learning and teaching experiences for you and your students. A focused approach grounded in attainable course development goals will help you create the space for academic growth and building of digital competencies for teaching and learning in digital times. (Redecker & Punie, 2017)
Much like you the newly turned online educator, many of your students will not have made a conscious choice to take online classes during their time in university. It is therefore to be expected that your students, now being forced to learn online, will possess varying skill sets and experience relating to managing their studies in that delivery mode. As research investigating student success has shown, learner history is an important predictor of persistence in online programs. In other words, the less exposure students have previously had to online learning, the more support they will still need to build skills in time management, self-directed learning, and navigation of unfamiliar virtual environments and technology. (Hung et al, 2010; Li et al, 2016)
Four pillars have been identified as crucial to successful student performance in online courses or programs, including an orientation at the start, online-friendly academic resources, adequate technical scaffolding, health/ well-being support and a sense of belonging to the fully online cohort. (Roddy et al, 2017)
Being in the midst of a global crisis puts unprecedented stress on you and your students. The pivot from campus-based to online delivery at such short notice will most likely be a novel and somewhat daunting experience for you and your students, especially considering the fact that unexpected responsibilities may arise and sudden shifts in priorities might impede with their ability to produce consistent academic work.
We know generic advice isn’t great practice at the best of times, and it just isn’t going to cut it right now. The resources and research we presented here are intended as a pool of tested lifelines and rafts from which you can draw to invite those students brave enough to continue learning in these challenging times.
This module will engage you in planning your course orientation, assessing the accessibility of your teaching resources and designing scaffolds to guide student learning.
UDL: Principle of Representing Information in Multiple Ways:
Listen to or download this overview in audio format by clicking on this link here. It will direct you to access the audio file on a U of L instructor Google drive (no sign-in required).
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2. Student Perspective (~10 mins)