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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.
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).
Group Work Best Practices Guide
Group work in online courses can facilitate student learning in unique ways. In particular, group assignments can provide students with opportunities to engage in authentic tasks and develop collaborative skills applicable to their future careers. Williams, Duray, and Reddy (2006) argue that team learning stimulates student thinking at the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, including application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Group projects can serve a variety of different purposes across a wide range of academic programs and subjects. Additionally, group projects can foster interaction and community building amongst students, which can be especially valuable in an asynchronous online classroom (Martin & Bolliger, 2018).
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.
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.
Case Studies in a Multimodal Course
Case-based learning allows students to develop higher-order critical thinking, problem-solving, synthesis, analysis, and communication skills by engaging with a realistic scenario in service of practicing course skills and concepts. Case studies are valuable tools for any class that combines asynchronous and synchronous learning. Indeed, some research (e.g., Webb, Gill, & Poe, 2005) suggests that a multimodal delivery model may be ideal for case study-based work, with the combination of synchronous and asynchronous elements enabling students to participate more fully in cases. In the first half of this piece, we outline some key considerations for using case studies in a multimodal course. In the second half, we make targeted recommendations for effectively prepping, facilitating, and reflecting on your multimodal case studies.
Formative Assessments
Formative assessments encompass a broad range of low-stakes activities aimed at improving student learning outcomes. In contrast to summative assessments, which are intended to measure products of student learning, formative assessments are oriented towards the learning process itself (Black & Wiliam, 1998). They can provide students with opportunities to evaluate their developing understanding of key concepts, practice new skills, and prepare for summative assessments (McLaughlin & Yan, 2017; Orange, Agak, Okelo, & Kiprotich, 2018). They can also provide instructors with valuable data on student progress (Bell & Cowie, 2001; McLaughlin & Yan, 2017). The results of formative assessments can indicate where individual students are struggling or excelling, allowing instructors to provide targeted feedback and tailor their instructional delivery accordingly.
Navigating Late Policies Online
Late submissions can raise thorny questions for online instructors. While studies show that students who submit assessments before the due date receive higher than average grades, as many as 70% of college students identify as procrastinators (You, 2015, p. 64). Despite instructor attempts to create a manageable workload and motivate students to submit assignments on time, it is inevitable that procrastination, combined with the competing obligations of online students, will result in occasional late submissions. When preparing for an upcoming term, then, it is a good idea to share a late policy that clearly communicates your expectations for student submissions (Santelli et al., 2020, p. 38).
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.