Inspire Blog Category: Course Design/Learning Design

Alternative Text – FAQs

Accessibility is a hot topic these days, and alt text is one of its most significant building blocks. There are many comprehensive resources and tutorials out there, so I won’t get into what alt text is or how to write it (if you need an intro, start here: OSU Digital Accessibility – Alternative Text for Images). In this post, I’ll address a few issues where guidance is less clear-cut and that have come up in my conversations with instructors. Does alt text have a character limit? You’ve done the work and written a detailed alt text that you’re proud of. You hit “done” and, much to your frustration, the Canvas editor is flagging your image and saying: “Alt attribute text … Alternative Text – FAQs
by · February 2, 2026

Customizing Your Canvas Course

Customizing your Canvas course is a simple way to create a smoother, more intuitive learning experience—for both you and your students. With a few strategic adjustments, you can create a polished, efficient Canvas set-up that gives students a clean, streamlined learning environment. Personalize Your Home Page Instructors can choose which page students see first when clicking into their Canvas course, and a well-designed homepage can act as a dashboard for the entire course. Most Ecampus courses have a home page that includes a custom banner with the course code and name as well as links to the modules, Start Here module, and Syllabus page. You might want to add links to external tools or websites your students will use frequently … Customizing Your Canvas Course
by · December 8, 2025

Pedagogy of Kindness in Online Teaching and Learning – Part 1

The saying “students may forget what we teach, but they’ll remember how we made them feel” is such an important idea that could help us start thinking about how to make online learning a space that fosters belonging, connection, respect for individual differences, and authentic participation. In support of instructional design practices and teaching approaches that can accomplish these aspects, online course design and teaching can be transformative for students (and instructors) when more human-centered strategies are built into the courses, strategies that go beyond cognitive tasks and challenges, and attend to the well-being of students and instructors. What if these practices and approaches are built upon kindness? Cate Denial’s (2024) “A Pedagogy of Kindness” invites us to explore ways … Pedagogy of Kindness in Online Teaching and Learning – Part 1
by · December 1, 2025

Haunted by a Blank Course: Tales from a First-Time Developer

Special Edition: Guest Blog by Assistant Professor of Practice (Urban Forestry), Jennifer Killian When I was asked to create a new course for Oregon State University’s Ecampus program, my first reaction was a mix of sheer excitement… and, well, a little terror. I’ve built workshops, presentations, and even all-day trainings, but assembling ten weeks of graduate-level content from scratch? That felt like wandering through a haunted house to me. Dark, empty, and full of unknowns. Adding to the surrealness, I realized that thirteen years ago, I was a graduate student here, taking several Ecampus courses myself including an early version of the very class I would now be teaching. The idea that I could bring my professional experience back to … Haunted by a Blank Course: Tales from a First-Time Developer
by · October 20, 2025

When Passing Is Failing: Cultivating Critical AI Literacy

We all remember the warning from math class: “You won’t always have a calculator in your pocket!” How we laugh now, with calculators first arriving in our pockets and, eventually, smartphones putting one in our hands at all times. I have seen a lot of comparisons across the Internet to artificial intelligence (AI) and these mathematics classes of yesteryear. The idea being that AI is but the newest embodiment of this same concern, which ended up being overblown. But is this an apt comparison to make? After all, we did not replace math lessons and teachers with pocket calculators, nor even with smart phones. The kindergarten student is not simply given a Casio and told to figure it out. The … When Passing Is Failing: Cultivating Critical AI Literacy
by · September 29, 2025