Search
There are 17 results.
Tag
Tag
All (67)
Active Learning (2)
Activities (2)
Analytics (4)
Animations (1)
Assessments (2)
Asynchrony (6)
Canvas (4)
Case Studies (1)
Collaboration (2)
Communication (4)
Community (4)
Content Creation (7)
Copyright (2)
Course Maintenance (4)
Course Materials (5)
Course Preparation (3)
Discussions (4)
Diversity (1)
Faculty Presence (2)
Formative Assessments (1)
Game-Based Learning (2)
Gamification (1)
Hyperlinks (1)
Images (2)
Inclusion (1)
Infographics (2)
Multimodality (7)
Page Design (1)
Podcasts (1)
PowerPoint (2)
Presentations (1)
Qualitative courses (1)
Quantitative courses (1)
Representation (1)
Revising (2)
Rubrics (1)
Screen Readers (1)
Social Media (2)
Summative Assessments (1)
Synchrony (7)
Third-Party Tools (1)
Video (11)
Visual Accessibility (2)
Visual Design (2)
Six Strategies for Multimodal Content Delivery
If you’re developing a course with synchronous and asynchronous elements, you have a host of options for engaging students and delivering content. Research suggests that incorporating multiple modalities increases accessibility, engagement, and learning (Mick and Middlebrook, 2015; Margolis et al., 2017). With that said, it is important to be intentional about multimodal course design. Both synchronous and asynchronous methods of delivery are effective, but activities can be better suited to one or the other modality and synchronous time is often limited. Delivering selected content asynchronously can support students’ understanding of how information is organized and leave more time for interactivity in synchronous sessions.
No Sweat Alt Text
What is “alt text”? Alt text is descriptive text linked to an image, graph, or other visual content that allows users to understand the visual without viewing it. Any image online should contain alt text, but guidelines differ depending on whether the image is simply decorative or related to other content on the page.
Leveraging White Space
Good page design requires balance between white space, or negative space, and positive space. Positive space encompasses all aspects and types of content; on a course page, these objects might include an introductory paragraph, video thumbnail, infographic, callout box, opinion poll, or provocative quotation. Relative to these course components, white space might seem like a nice-to-have. Because it promotes clarity and reduces distortion, however, white space is just as important to instructional page design as content.
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.
Infographic Considerations
An infographic is a visual that combines text, graphics, diagrams, and graphs to present information. When used effectively, infographics can be a powerful tool to guide students through the learning process. “Infographics ask for an active response from the viewer, raising the questions, ‘What am I seeing?’ and ‘What does it mean?’” (Krauss, 2012, p. 10). Infographics also present information in an organized way, which can improve students’ critical thinking, analysis, and synthesis skills (Yildirim, 2016).
Incorporating Multimedia in Your Course
Multimedia, which helps create an engaging and interactive online learning environment, has been shown to contribute to improved student performance (Cheng, Basu, & Goebel, 2009, p. 1). Though many online courses incorporate videos, they neglect to feature other forms of multimedia. And, while videos are a staple of multimedia use, there are other exciting options to consider: podcast episodes, graphics, and animations can all enhance course content, enriching the student experience. To maximize the benefits multimedia can provide, consider including these underutilized forms of multimedia in your course.
Zoom Into Online Learning
Faculty often express concern over how to maintain personal relationships with their students in an online course space; incorporating optional synchronous elements to an online course can help “put a face” to a name. Zoom, the video conferencing tool that allows you to create synchronous experiences for their students, has become ubiquitous in educational and businesses in the past two years.
Using Synchrony and Asynchrony to Support A Guest Speaker
Hosting a guest speaker is not only a great pedagogical tool; it’s also a vivid example of the ways one mode of interaction can enrich the other in a multimodal course. Guest speakers can participate in a class synchronously (e.g., by participating in a synchronous session via online conferencing tools or in person) and/or asynchronously (e.g., by recording video or participating in asynchronous discussion boards). Students find asynchronous guest speakers easier to access, while synchronous speakers offer more opportunities for back-and-forth interaction between students and the guest (Alebaikan, 2016).