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Written Assignment Best Practices Guide

March 03, 2023
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.

Enhancing Quantitative Courses With Varied Learning Approaches

August 20, 2024
Employing a variety of modes of instruction and assessment, as recommended by Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, can enhance the learning experience for students in quantitative courses. Diverse elements such as visual aids, interactive features, and real-world applications can complement, extend, or replace traditional lectures and exams. Since classes consist of students with varying learning preferences and strategies, using multiple modes of representation in a course promotes deeper understanding, engagement, and skill development. This piece details design elements that can be particularly impactful in quantitative courses.

Communication, Community, and Student Engagement in the Online Classroom

September 24, 2021
The most difficult task in transitioning from on-ground to online teaching is determining the best way to emulate the community and engagement inherent in a face-to-face classroom.Consider this: Your online classroom can be even more engaging than an on-campus classroom. Simple tools, such as discussion forums and announcements, can elevate your classroom immensely.

No Sweat Alt Text

September 24, 2021
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.

Universal Design for Learning

October 10, 2022
Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which has roots in Ronald Mace’s concept of Universal Design, is a pedagogical framework that supports diverse learning needs. According to CAST, the creator of the framework, UDL seeks “to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn” (2018). UDL is not a step-by-step curriculum plan, but rather an approach to pedagogy and curriculum development that aims to make the learning environment as accessible as possible for as many learners as possible (Derer, 2021; CAST, 2018).

Rubrics as a Tool to Support Equity and Inclusion

October 07, 2022
While student populations have become increasingly diverse, many groups, including first-generation, non-native English speakers, and individuals with disabilities, still face barriers and bias that can derail their success in college (Super et al., 2020). Traditional grading practices—including penalties for late work, writing in dialects other than standard English, and even plagiarism— are prone to bias and only perpetuate disparities, the research says (Feldman, 2019; Savini, 2021).

Editing Links and Rubrics from Other Courses

September 24, 2021
Situations may present themselves in which links or rubrics from another course can be useful in a current course. Should this occur, rubrics from other courses can be uploaded into another course. To successfully insert a previously built rubric, please follow the following steps.

Five Need-To-Know Rubric Grading Tips

October 13, 2021
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.

Discussion Best Practices Guide

November 16, 2022
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).