What Makes for Student Success?

I just found this video made by my friend and colleague Lindsey Rothschild, Instructional Designer for Holyoke Community College. In this two minute video three faculty members and three students explain tips for being a successful online student.

Two points stood out for me related to being present "in class." Frequency and care.

1. Being present frequently was addressed by both faculty and students. Watching for and reading announcements from teachers, responding to posts and email, completing activities several times per week are tips for students to demonstrate frequent presence.

2. Careful reading and writing were also highlighted. Both faculty and students highlighted the importance of reading completely and writing in a way that makes it easy for others to understand and engage with your ideas.

How do you set expectations for your students to succeed in your online classes? If you have tips for setting or communicating expectations, please post a comment below. If you want help clarifying your expectations of students, let me know.

The Internet minus Copyright = Open Education Resources (OERs)

Why Open Education Matters a 2 min 27 sec video by David Blake

Case:

Dr. Smith needs high quality (accurate, authoritative, current) educational content for her undergraduate courses. Right now Smith uses textbooks in each of her classes. She has carefully reviewed texts from good publishers. She is confident in the material in those she has selected and happy-enough with the organization of content. She is not happy that her students have to pay between $90 and $200 for these books.

[Wouldn't it be great if we could provide high quality content to students without the exorbitant cost? Maybe we can.]

Dr. Smith heard that some of her colleagues had replaced their textbooks with open educational resources (OERs).  She learned that OERs are teaching and research resources that are published with an "open license" to be used and shared, for free. She asked her librarian and instructional designer for help. Together they found a rich collection of materials that substituted nicely for her text books. Her students are happy. And Dr. Smith is pleased that she is using excellent content in a variety of formats (e-books, articles, videos, interactive web activities).
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Scholars and educators around the world have begun to recognize that they will have a larger impact if they share their content rather than if they hold onto it. You may be able to find OERs that suit your instructional needs, at one of the many repositories of OER content. And what about all the great content you create?

Resources:
An OER Handbook from WikiEducator
TideWater CC offers a zero textbook cost ("Z") degree in Business Admin
9 Videos, each under 5 mins, from Edutopia's Why Open Education Matters video contest

Meeting Diverse Learners Needs

Whether we have students with identified learning disabilities or not, we have students who process and understand information in ways different from our own.

Universal Design for Learners (UDL) is a set of principles that guide how to meet diverse learning needs. We can be most effective at engaging and supporting learning when we follow these three principles of UDL:

1. Provide multiple means of representation - the ways we present content.
2. Provide multiple means of action and expression - the ways we encourage students to show their understanding.
3. Provide multiple means of engagement - the ways we help students make personal meaning and connection to content.

This graphic organizer from the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) offers increasingly sophisticated steps to apply these principles to help students become resourceful, strategic and motivated learners.

Used with permission from CAST on 2.19.15

Some things you can do to get started.

1. Representation - mix it up! 

Communicate with your students using alternatives to text; record your voice or a short video. When using text, add relevant images and graphics that can help students make sense of your words.

2. Action and Expression - mix it up! 

Give students opportunities to share their understanding through creative projects: create an advertisement for a concept, artwork, a letter, a dance, an app., a word cloud.

3. Engagement - mix it up! 

Provide multiple ways for learners to navigate your course. Use sources that represent multiple perspectives. Locate relevant TED Talks, Youtube videos, Blogs, twitter feeds. Give students choices. Provide ways for students to work purposely together.

Do you have ideas to share about universal design for learning? Please comment below. If you need help coming up with ideas for making your course more accessible to your students, let me know.

Resources:

A .pdf and text readable transcript of this graphic are available at the UDL Center. 

For other resources on UDL visit CAST.

Using Youtube

Here is a Youtube activity I like to use. For this example I am using the broad topic global health. Feel free to apply it to your own content.

Video and Discussion Assignment Overview
This week we will use the discussion thread called Current Events in Global Health to discuss information you have found.

Assignment Details

Step One
Go to youtube.com

In the big search bar at the top of the page, enter keywords related to global health. You may use one of the following keyword sets or choose your own.

global health
h1n1 vaccine
global health ebola
emergency preparedness ebola
global health vaccine
global health drinking water
global health nursing

Step Two
Review at least three short videos. Consider their length (how many mins), age (when posted), source (you may have to infer this based on content; watch out for ADs), value (what the video might contribute to our discussion).

Step Three
Select one and post the address/link in the discussion forum. Include a 25 word or less reason why you selected this video to contribute to the discussion.

Step Four
View and comment on at least two of your classmates' videos.


Why Do I Use Youtube?
Sure there is a lot of dubious material on Youtube. And there is some excellent content there too! This assignment gives students practice analyzing and discussing the relative value of content found on the internet. As a group we are able to peer review the content and learn from each other's effort and perspective.

Want to comment on this assignment or recommend another? Leave a comment below. If you want help considering ways to use internet resources within your course let me know.

Are you Teaching Above the Line?

In the 1990s Dr. Ruben Puentedura introduced the SAMR model for describing the use of technology for learning. Going from the bottom up, direct substitution of a digital tool or process for an older technology or practice does not substantively change learning. When we use digital technologies to create new opportunities - previously unavailable - for our students, we can transform learning.

image licensed for reuse under CC by Ruben Puentedura

Though there is no cut and dry way to determine if an activity is strictly substitution, augmentation, modification or redefinition, consider this example.

College essays were written with paper and pen. Then using the technology of the typewriter they were neatly typed. Then with the advent of computers papers were typed on a computer and printed possibly in multiple copies for distribution. These technological advances enhance the experience of writing, but do they transform it? I suggest these advances fall below the dotted line of the SAMR model. Writing activities that might go beyond enhancement, or above the line, include publishing papers for a large audience and using a teacher's social network to invite expert feedback.

The technology alone does not transform learning. It is how we use it. When we first start teaching online, it is tempting to use digital tools and activities to substitute for the traditional classroom experience. As we gain confidence, we must consider moving up the SAMR model.

If you have ideas to share about transformative uses of digital technologies/media, please comment. If you need help generating transformative strategies, let me know.

5 Minute Video Boot Camp by Bill Selak, Edutopia

Check out Bill Selak's 5 Minute Film Festival: Video Boot Camp. He starts this helpful tutorial this way:

The rapid adoption of devices in the classroom has fundamentally changed the way we can create video. Every part of the creation process -- writing, recording, editing, and distributing -- is possible on the devices that can fit in our pocket. Vision is the most dominant of the five senses. Research shows that concepts are better remembered if they are taught visually. This is called the pictorial superiority effect, and it’s why video is such a powerful learning tool. Selak, B.

Instructors may create short videos to clarify hard to grasp concepts, and to add a sense of teacher presence to the online classroom.

When students are responsible to make a short videos about their understanding of content, the process leads to powerful learning. As Selak tells us videos are made three times - when they are written, when they are shot, when they are edited.

If making videos is not possible, consider curating videos. Instructors and students can help each other learn by reviewing, evaluating and recommending the best of the best that deals with the topic at hand.

Easing the Way for Students Into Your Course

One of the hardest things to achieve in an online course is to make it easy and inviting to the new student. Each of us tends to set up our courses in a way that makes perfect sense to us (but not necessarily others). Here are two questions to consider as you build your spring courses.

1. Is it clear to your students what they should do first in your course?

In Blackboard, you can set the first page students see when they open your course. The Home (notifications) page may be just what you want. If not you can change it by…

Control Panel -> Customization -> Teaching Style -> Scroll down to Select Course Entry Point and change (to the desired entry point - for instance to Information, Announcements or Content).

2. How do students figure out how to progress through your information and their assignments?

Some of the techniques that Linfield instructors use follow:

• Personalize HOME By choosing Edit -> Banner. You can add the course name, an image that represents the course and instructions to move next to Information or Content.
• “READ THIS FIRST” - a document within Information section that welcomes students, gives a brief overview, and lays out course expectations.
• A Welcome Video or Slideshow – Containing the same information as READ THIS FIRST, adding images of the Blackboard layout can improve student understanding. Adding your image and voice can provide a sense of connection and reassurance to students that their professor is real and available.
• The Information section contains items to be viewed in chronological order: A “Welcome letter" or “Meet your professor page", the course syllabus, learner expectations, the course schedule of topics/assignments.
• The Content section is organized chronologically by week or module.

It helps to have a colleague or friend take a look at the opening material - while you are still in development. Another set of eyes can help you determine if it is obvious to the would-be student what to do.