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Academic Integrity in Assessment
To foster academic integrity, pair anti-plagiarism tools with clear conduct expectations and authentic low-stakes assessments. When designing and teaching online courses, maintaining academic integrity is frequently top of mind. In many cases, faculty may opt to adopt third-party tools to monitor student work. Despite the prevalence of academic monitoring software in online courses, however, the most powerful tools for promoting academic integrity are introduced much earlier in the course build process.
Communication, Community, and Student Engagement in the Online Classroom
The most difficult task in transitioning from on-ground to online teaching is determining the best way to emulate the community and engagement inherent in a face-to-face classroom.Consider this: Your online classroom can be even more engaging than an on-campus classroom. Simple tools, such as discussion forums and announcements, can elevate your classroom immensely.
Encouraging Effective Discussions
Online forums are valuable learning tools: they merit the time and thought it takes to create them, but they must be well-designed to be effective for instructors and students. Baker and Ahlegren (2022) note that instructors may start out with the best of intentions and a desire to achieve multiple goals, such as promoting critical thinking and fostering a community of authentic learners. However, discussion boards often become just another writing assignment, a missed opportunity to “elicit debate, inspire meaningful ideas, and fully engage . . . learner[s]” (Blakely et al., 2022, p. 3). When this happens, students can view discussions as transactional, not transformative (p. 3).
Enhancing Quantitative Courses With Varied Learning Approaches
Employing a variety of modes of instruction and assessment, as recommended by Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, can enhance the learning experience for students in quantitative courses. Diverse elements such as visual aids, interactive features, and real-world applications can complement, extend, or replace traditional lectures and exams. Since classes consist of students with varying learning preferences and strategies, using multiple modes of representation in a course promotes deeper understanding, engagement, and skill development. This piece details design elements that can be particularly impactful in quantitative courses.
Case Study Best Practices Guide
Case studies are an effective and powerful pedagogical tool. They present realistic narratives to students and require them to analyze possible outcomes or solve a dilemma or challenge associated with the narrative, and they are often followed by a series of questions or prompts that ask students to demonstrate their learning. Case studies can be based on real-world situations or fictional scenarios modeled on authentic occurrences. Regardless of the source and format, case studies provide students an opportunity to practice solving problems that they might encounter in the future.
Presentation Best Practices Guide
Many online courses focus on written communication skills, featuring discussion posts, papers, and case study reports among other assignments. However, oral communication and presentation skills are just as integral to students’ success, and, indeed, many employers list presenting as one of the most desirable skills for job candidates (Suhadi et al., 2021).
The Art of Storytelling in Online Course Development: Enhancing Learning Across Fields and Assignments
Storytelling is a foundational element of communication that has allowed humanity to easily transfer information for millennia. From ancient fables to modern narratives, stories have the power to captivate, engage, and inform people across generations. In the realm of online learning, where a key goal is to replicate the complexity and richness of real-life experiences as closely as possible, storytelling can be a helpful pedagogical tool. When seamlessly integrated into learning environments, storytelling transcends simple information transfer.
Improving PowerPoints
Sharing information via PowerPoint presentations is a long-established strategy in higher education. Designing PowerPoint presentations for online courses can pose unique challenges; however, best practices can help overcome these hurdles. With time and attention, faculty and instructional designers can create engaging and purposeful presentations with lasting value.
Rubrics as a Tool to Support Equity and Inclusion
While student populations have become increasingly diverse, many groups, including first-generation, non-native English speakers, and individuals with disabilities, still face barriers and bias that can derail their success in college (Super et al., 2020). Traditional grading practices—including penalties for late work, writing in dialects other than standard English, and even plagiarism— are prone to bias and only perpetuate disparities, the research says (Feldman, 2019; Savini, 2021).
Five Need-To-Know Rubric Grading Tips
Rubrics provide a framework for students, helping them submit stronger assignments while decreasing confusion as they write and create. While leveraging Canvas to provide clear, efficient, and consistent access to rubric, take a minute to learn a few settings, saving yourself valuable time and a possible headache.