Search
There are 16 results.
Tag
Tag
All (71)
Active Learning (2)
Activities (2)
Alt Text (2)
Analytics (1)
Animations (1)
Assessments (4)
Asynchrony (3)
Authentic Activities (1)
Backwards Design (1)
Belonging (2)
Canvas (3)
Case Studies (2)
Collaboration (3)
Color Contrast (2)
Communication (6)
Community (3)
Content Creation (8)
Copyright (2)
Course Maintenance (5)
Course Materials (7)
Course Preparation (3)
Discussions (1)
Diversity (2)
Equity (2)
Faculty Presence (2)
Feedback (1)
Game-Based Learning (2)
Gamification (1)
Hyperlinks (1)
Images (3)
Inclusion (4)
Infographics (2)
Learning Objectives (3)
Multimodality (4)
Page Design (1)
Podcasts (1)
PowerPoint (2)
Presentations (1)
Qualitative courses (1)
Quantitative courses (1)
Representation (1)
Revising (2)
Rubrics (2)
Screen Readers (1)
Social Media (1)
Summative Assessments (1)
Synchrony (4)
Third-Party Tools (1)
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (2)
Video (11)
Visual Accessibility (2)
Visual Design (2)
Hyperlink Dos and Don'ts
When designing a course, you will want to ensure that all students can access the websites and documents that you link. Accessible hyperlinks are particularly important for students with screen readers, who will hear links read out loud. This piece contains best practices for writing and formatting accessible hyperlinks so that all learners can access the content that you have curated for your course.
Inclusive Communication Practices
In asynchronous, hybrid, and multimodal learning environments, strong communication practices greatly aid student engagement and satisfaction (Martin & Bolliger, 2018). Faculty may develop an exceptional course in terms of goals, content, and design, but without proper communication and feedback, the course experience will be significantly diminished.
Easy and Essential Online Course Elements
Transferring your course online opens a world of possibilities. In fact, you might be tempted to spend hours trying to locate and learn new educational technologies, or to rebuild your entire course in the learning management system (LMS). But while effective use of technology can certainly enhance learning experiences, it can also introduce obstacles for both faculty and students.
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.
Inclusive Language
Use inclusive language across course content and communications to reach every learner. “Inclusive education must be cultivated deliberately if we want to advance in its implementation” (Márquez & Melero-Aguilar, 2022, p. 842). Inclusion entails creating an environment of open participation for all individuals. Inclusive course design works to ensure that all students feel heard, valued, and validated. The thoughtful use of language can establish an environment of inclusion in online learning.
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.
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.
Multimodal Models
Designing a successful multimodal course means, at each step of the process, considering what each format does well—structuring the course such that each piece of content, each activity, each interaction uses the most effective delivery method available. But what does that look like in practice? This piece describes three approaches to structuring a multimodal course. In each model, asynchronous and synchronous time complement one another and further module and course objectives. Where the models differ is in the relative importance of asynchronous activities in enabling students to complete synchronous activities and vice versa.