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Game-Based Learning Experiences
Game-based learning (GBL) is a learning experience, or set of learning experiences, delivered through gameplay or game-like activities with defined learning outcomes. GBL is often confused with gamification, which is the application of game elements to a non-gaming experience. GBL engages students cognitively, emotionally, behaviorally, and socioculturally (Plass et al., 2015). Many factors should be considered when designing GBL, including narrative, player positioning, and interactive design (Dickey, 2005).
Branching Scenario Best Practices Guide
Designed to simulate real-world experiences, branching scenarios are powerful tools for increasing student engagement. Like a choose-your-own-adventure book, a branching scenario invites users to explore a virtual world, using knowledge and skills from their coursework and information shared within the scenario to make decisions. The decisions they make lead them down different pathways (some of which may include embedded documents and videos) towards different endings. Depending on the complexity of the branching scenarios and the choices students make, they can experience a variety of different possible outcomes within a single scenario.
Written Assignment Best Practices Guide
Formal writing requires sustained focus on content and close attention to detail. For these reasons, written assignments can be an effective assessment tool in graduate courses when they are thoughtfully and purposefully designed. This guide provides recommendations for faculty who are looking to harness the pedagogical benefits of written assignments.
Clear and Quick: The Why and How of Rubrics
Rubrics provide students with insight into their performance and mastery of learning outcomes, providing clarity on how grades are assigned and teaching students how to tailor their work. For instructors, rubrics take the guesswork out of deciding how to grade, saving valuable time.
Accessible PDFs
Developing and delivering accessible instructional content—meaning content that students with and without disabilities can readily engage with and use—is essential to the success of an online course. While many accessibility standards and guidelines are broadly applicable, there are also specific considerations unique to different content formats and delivery modes. In this piece, we present recommendations for enhancing the accessibility of PDFs for students.
Spreadsheet Accessibility
Spreadsheets are used for a broad array of data-related tasks and projects across numerous disciplines. Maximizing the utility of spreadsheets included as course materials requires careful attention towards their contents and formatting. In this post, we present recommendations for enhancing the clarity, consistency, and accessibility of course spreadsheets for students.
Discussion Best Practices Guide
Discussions are an impactful way to build engagement and discourse in asynchronous online courses. When properly designed, discussions can encompass the three pillars of engagement: student-content, student-student, and student-instructor. Asynchronous discussions allow students time to reflect prior to participating, which can lead to deeper insights and richer discourse. Moreover, when participating in discussions, students have the opportunity to collaborate with others, participate in an online learning community, and gain insights from others’ unique experiences and perspectives (Ransdell, Borror & Su, 2018). Facilitating multiple types of engagement in an online course can improve student motivation, satisfaction, and achievement (Dailey-Hebert, 2018).
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).
The Power of Retrieval Practice
Faculty aim to impart lasting knowledge and skills, but sometimes, learning doesn’t stick. One of the most powerful techniques for enhancing students’ long-term retention is retrieval practice, the process of actively recalling information to mind rather than passively reading or reviewing it. In this piece, we’ll dive into the evidence behind retrieval practice, provide strategies for how to incorporate it into online courses, suggest ways to frame its utility to students to ensure they fully reap the benefits of this learning strategy, and describe specific types of retrieval practice activities.
Types of Retrieval Practice Activities
By incorporating regular retrieval practice into your online course, you can ensure that key takeaways are actually being taken away by students to use in the future rather than being left behind due to lack of use. The following are some specific activities that can help move learners from a hazy recollection of something toward more clarity and permanence.