Inspire Blog

Demonstrating Care: Reach Out & Refer

As a new term begins, we are often thinking about the logistics of our courses, the Syllabus and course schedule, and ensuring everything is working properly. For our students, these early weeks set the tone for what they might expect from their courses and from their instructors. Your first announcement, the language and tone in the Syllabus, how you greet incoming students – these small actions all help to create a welcoming environment for your course. When students feel included in a positive course climate, they are more motivated and engaged in learning. In the weeks ahead, some students will likely reach out to you with concerns or information about major events going on in their lives. Faculty are often … Demonstrating Care: Reach Out & Refer
by · January 5, 2023

12 Ways Instructional Designers Can Be Inclusive of Low-Income and First-Generation Students

The following is a guest blog post from Michelle Coxey. Michelle completed an Instructional Design internship with OSU Ecampus during the Fall of 2022. Ian Wilkins is a high school language arts teacher, but besides the students, his passion is social justice. He shares a powerful metaphor that education is like a heavily gated castle. Those inside the castle are comfortable and safe and do not realize that the people outside are hungry (Chardin & Novak, 2021). If someone opens the gate and admits a person from the outside, would that person feel comfortable and safe inside like everyone already there? Would they know the rules of the castle? Would they feel like they fit in and deserved to be … <strong>12 Ways Instructional Designers Can Be Inclusive of Low-Income and First-Generation Students</strong>
by · December 19, 2022

The Ghost in the Course Shell

We begin with a ghost story. This story may sound familiar. It begins in a space of learning. You enter as a student. You know you will be in this place for the next two or three months with other students and an instructor. But although you know you are all there in the same space, you can’t see or hear any other students. You wander alone until you discover a pre-recorded message telling you what to do. This should be reassuring, but the person in the video doesn’t look like the instructor listed on your course schedule. “Welcome,” says the man in the video. “In this course you will learn how to apply theoretical concepts in the real world.” … The Ghost in the Course Shell
by · December 16, 2022

Beyond the Term Paper: Alternative and Authentic Assessments

Four students working together on a project

A term paper is a common final assignment, but does the final assignment have to be a paper? The answer depends on the type of course and the learning outcomes. If the final assignment can be an alternative to the term paper, we can consider other types of assignments that allow students not only to accomplish the learning outcomes, as expected, but also to engage more deeply with the content and exercise critical thinking. A caveat related to the discipline is important here. Fields that require a writing component may necessarily rely on the term paper which can be scaffolded through a set of stages. For assignments with a sequence of tasks, refer to staged assignments (Loftin, 2018) for details … <strong>Beyond the Term Paper: Alternative and Authentic Assessments</strong>
by · December 12, 2022

Make Your Canvas Pages Accessible in a Few Simple Steps!

One of the major advantages of digital learning is that we can ensure our materials are accessible to all students. As such, at Ecampus, we are striving – and encouraging others to strive – for universal design, that is, design that anyone can use comfortably regardless of any impairments. In past posts, we have covered various ways of improving accessibility in a course, including how to fix PowerPoint or Word files. Today I’d like to focus on making Canvas pages accessible and making use of the on-page Accessibility Checker available in the Canvas Rich Content Editor. Common Issues Here are the main things you can do to ensure your Canvas pages (including assignments, discussions etc.) are accessible: Find and Fix … Make Your Canvas Pages Accessible in a Few Simple Steps!
by · December 5, 2022