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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.

Announcements are an essential aspect of online course engagement. When surveyed, students rated “sending regular announcements or email reminders” as one of the most beneficial engagement tactics that an instructor can employ (Martin & Bolliger, 2018, p. 216). In Canvas learning management system (LMS), announcements have a distinct advantage over inbox messages or whole-class emails, as announcements allow students to locate important course information in one convenient location, chronologically arranged. In contrast, email or inbox messages can become much more unruly, rendering information harder to find—especially after the course ends. In addition, most students should receive an email every time an instructor posts an announcement.

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.

We've curated a list of our favorite tools and websites that can help you make your course materials accessible to all learners. For an overview of our top tips that support accessibility, see the Envision piece Ten Ways to Open the Gate to Accessibility.

Artificial intelligence (AI) makes regular headlines, from debates about whether it will create or destroy jobs, to conversations about the ethics of its use in hiring or medicine, to its impact on higher education. The role and impact of AI in our lives is up for debate. One aspect, however, is not: employers are looking for graduates who know how to utilize AI to improve productivity in their roles. According to a recent article, 91 percent of hiring companies are looking for candidates with ChatGPT experience (Blum, 2023). Given the demand for AI experience in the job market, many educators are looking to integrate AI into their courses. But now comes the hard part—how do you do that? It is important to note that you will want to review your university’s policies on AI usage, especially as it pertains to the use of specific tools, prior to integrating AI into your course.