Description It’s no secret that many students feel negatively about online courses. This often comes from the expectations that learning at the college level in an online setting will be overwhelming, and that there will be a general lack of clarity regarding coursework (Mills, 2015). Facilitating student success in online courses, means that instructors must …
Continue reading “Using Buttons to Chunk Assignment Instructional Steps”
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Assessment,
Assignments,
Statistics
Description As university graduates enter into complex and rapidly changing job markets, they often face a competitive and challenging employment search process. Well-developed employment search and interview skills are essential, and practicing techniques can improve successful outcomes (Ward, Leuty, & Corie, 2016). Web-based video employment interviews, both synchronous and asynchronous, have become more common in …
Continue reading “Use Web Conferencing and Videos to Improve Interview Skills”
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Assessment,
Content,
Job Preparation,
Reflection
Description A challenge most academics experience is delivering courses which assumes that the student has the required prerequisite knowledge. A great example of this is a course which assumes that a student has completed the prerequisite course at a previous level. This challenge more often than expected, occurs and with key topics, where the prerequisite …
Continue reading “Using Pre and Post-Tests to Close Gaps in Knowledge”
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Assessment,
Large Classes,
Scaffolding,
Schema
Description Discussion boards in online courses are widely known to encourage higher-order thinking and reflection. However, text-based discussions may not be the best choice for all students or all learning outcomes. Student-created video is used increasingly in the form of video discussion boards. For example, instructors may have heard of Flipgrid, a popular video discussion …
Continue reading “Using Video Discussion Boards to Increase Student Engagement”
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Assessment,
Discussions,
Engagement,
Formative,
Interaction,
Video
Description Information retention and transfer can be enhanced when a learner is given multiple opportunities to recall new information. In an online course, this can be done by integrating low-stakes quizzes that allow multiple attempts and providing meaningful feedback on students’ performance. Offering a low incentive and multiple attempts will help to remove the pressure often …
Continue reading “Using Low-Stakes Quizzes to Encourage Mastery”
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Assessment,
Evaluation,
Mastery,
Quizzes
Description Online discussion boards offer students an opportunity to engage with their peers and instructor in a course outside of the classroom. The discussion boards are often used to replicate a classroom discussion and have many positive benefits. It is relatively straightforward to setup and facilitate online discussions where students weigh in on a certain …
Continue reading “An Alternative Strategy for Using Online Discussions for Learning Course Content in STEM Courses”
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Assessment,
Discussions,
STEM
Description Research has shown that by providing learners with choices in learning, it can increase their intrinsic motivation and overall performance on an educational assessment (Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008). Furthermore, it is essential to provide learners with educational options to diversify the ways in which they are able to express what they know (CAST, …
Continue reading “Implement the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Framework by Providing Learners with Options for How to Express What They Know”
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Accessibility,
Assessment
Description Online debates have been found to elicit higher levels of cognitive presence in online discussions versus the more traditional question-and-answer format (Zydney, deNoyelles, & Chen, 2014). This can be explained in several ways. In a debate, students must argue for or against a position, with the intention of persuading others to assume the same …
Continue reading “Incorporate Online Debates to Stimulate Critical Thinking and Engagement”
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Assessment,
Critical Thinking,
Debate,
Discussions,
Engagement
Description Discussion forums are commonly used in online courses because benefits are multiple. However, instructors and students may find it daunting to read tens or hundreds of posts. One way to make online discussions less overwhelming is to allow alternative means of expression. Instead of writing, students may be encouraged to use images, voice, and …
Continue reading “Support Students to Use Multimedia in Discussion Forum”
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Accessibility,
Assessment,
Discussions,
Multimedia,
Video
Description Different from a traditional disposable assignment, a renewable assignment is an assignment where students compile and openly publish so that the assignment outcome is inherently valuable to the community after the class is over (Veletsianos, 2017). Renewable assignments can be scaled to graduate and undergraduate students across disciplines and take various forms. One form …
Continue reading “Foster Meaningful Learning with Renewable Assignments”
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Assessment,
Assignments,
Experiential Learning,
integrative Learning,
OER,
Project-Based Learning