Content

Word clouds are those fun, visually interesting combinations of words that summarize a topic or idea. The size of each word in relation to the whole word cloud indicates that word’s prominence.

This strategy seeks to illustrate complicated engineering concepts and promote situated understanding through short and memorable multimedia videos.

Having students create content-related resources encourages them to feel ownership of what they are learning and influences the level of engagement perceived toward the class (O’Neill, 2005). There are a variety of free mobile applications that facilitate this activity.

Using branching story lines within an interactive decision-making video is an engaging method of enhancing the learning process for digital natives.

A scavenger hunt can be used to help orient students to an online course at the beginning of the term.

Photographs and other images can convey concepts effectively and provide visual interest in course materials. However, there are copyright, intellectual property, and accessibility issues to consider in order to use images appropriately. For instance, “copyright law [is] a potential liability for both the faculty member and the institution” (Diaz, Mitrano, & Chrisoph, 2009, p. 9).

Digital badges are visual indicators of the satisfaction of an instructor-defined goal. When the goals are linked to behaviors that promote success, badges can serve as feedback systems to promote those behaviors.

Faculty can help lower the cost of a textbook by adopting an eTextbook or a printed book that is available in an electronic format.

Problem-based learning is an instructional strategy in which students learn the subject matter of a course and the related skills by solving real-world problems and reflecting on their experiences of solving the problems.

Immersive technologies in which users dynamically interact with objects in a virtual environment are being incorporated in educational settings to support these skills (Johnson, Adams, & Cummins, 2012).