Inspire Blog

Visual Instructor Presence in Lecture Videos: Is Cognitive Load a Concern?

By: Julie Jacobs, Jana King, Dana Simionescu, Tianhong Shi Overview A recent scenario with our course development team challenged our existing practices with lecture media. Formerly, we had encouraged faculty to include only slides with narration in their lecture videos due to concerns about increasing learners’ cognitive load. Students voiced their hope for more instructor presence in courses, and some instructors started asking about including video of themselves inserted into their lectures. This prompted us to begin thinking about instructor presence in lecture videos more deeply: why were we discouraging faculty from including their faces in lecture videos? While our practices were informed by research-based media theory, we also recognized those theories might be outdated.  We began to explore the … Visual Instructor Presence in Lecture Videos: Is Cognitive Load a Concern?
by · August 28, 2023

Assessment Design: Equity in Group Work

Some form of group work is a common activity that I help design with faculty every term. Oftentimes, faculty ask how to consider the different levels of engagement from individual group members and how to assess group work, often in the form of a group grade. Improving group work in asynchronous courses and group contracts to promote accountability are some of many ways to guide students into collaborative work. However, collaborative work may require offering equitable opportunities to all students to succeed. Based on the work by Feldman (2019), I’d like to outline some suggestions for assessment design through an equity lens. Before jumping into assessing group work, Feldman outlines three pillars of equitable grades: With these three pillars in … Assessment Design: Equity in Group Work
by · August 21, 2023

Valuable Skills for Online Students and Online Instructors

By Cat Turk and Mary Ellen Dello Stritto In this time of rapid change in online education, we can benefit from leveraging the expertise of faculty who have experienced the evolution of online education. At the Oregon State University (OSU) Ecampus Research Unit, we have been learning from a group of instructors who have taught online for ten years or more. A review of recent research uncovered that these instructors are an untapped resource. Their insights can provide valuable guidance for instructors who are just beginning their careers or instructors who may be preparing to teach online for the first time. Further, their perspectives can also be enlightening for online students. In 2018-2019 we conducted interviews with 33 OSU faculty … Valuable Skills for Online Students and Online Instructors
by · August 14, 2023

The Power of an Assignment’s Purpose Statement

Have you ever been assigned a task but found yourself asking: “What’s the point of this task? Why do I need to do this?” Very likely, no one has informed you of the purpose of this task! Well, it likely was because that activity was missing to show a critical element: the purpose. Just like the purpose of a task can be easily left out, in the context of course design, a purpose statement for an assignment is often missing too. Creating a purpose statement for assignments is an activity that I enjoy very much. I encourage instructors and course developers to be intentional about that statement which serves as a declaration of the underlying reasons, directions, and focus of … The Power of an Assignment’s Purpose Statement
by · August 7, 2023

You won’t believe where AI could replace you next! (But you’re probably going to like it).

Introduction We’ve all heard by now of ChatGPT, the large language model-based chat bot that can seemingly answer most any question you present it. What if there were a way to provide this functionality to students on their learning management system, and it could answer questions they had about course content? Sure, this would not completely replace the instructor, nor would it be intended to. Instead, for quick course content questions, a chatbot with access to all course materials could provide students with speedy feedback and clarifications in far less time than the standard turnaround required through the usual channels. Of course, more involved questions about assignments and course content questions outside of the scope of course materials would be … You won’t believe where AI could replace you next! (But you’re probably going to like it).
by · July 31, 2023