Inspire Blog Tag: communication

How Should I Work with Your Words?

Bringing Critical Language Awareness to Instructional Texts and to How You Evaluate Student Writing Instructional designers spend a lot of time working with words – they’re the raw materials that instructors share with us in the development of their online courses – but it’s often unclear what liberties we should take with instructors’ writing, and, on a related note, how we should coach instructors to assess their students’ writing. If inclusivity and equity are central values in course design, how might that be reflected in the seemingly mundane act of copyediting instructional texts or in setting up an instructor’s rubric to include “standard” grammar as a criterion? When the instructional designer copy edits the instructor’s words, or the instructor assesses … How Should I Work with Your Words?
by · June 20, 2022

Improving Student Engagement and Connection in Online Learning: Part II, Methodologies and Practices

Introduction Since the first post in the series appeared a few months ago, we have received plenty of feedback from other instructors who are actively engaged in online education. Some of the stories shared by them reiterate the points we discussed, and others included tips and techniques that have worked particularly well for them. Almost all of them agreed that teaching well online remains a challenging task. “I love the notes on proactive student support … especially the notes on checking in with those who are behind. Sometimes all they need is a little empathy!” Vic Matta, Associate Professor, College of Business, Ohio University  “I regularly incorporate each of these in my relationships with my students, to include weekly zoom … Improving Student Engagement and Connection in Online Learning: Part II, Methodologies and Practices
by · May 16, 2022

The Seven “Cs” of Successful Team Collaboration

According to the 2020 Brandon Hall Group Team Development Pulse Survey findings (Werder, 2021), at least half of work is currently done in teams in over seventy percent of companies. Global Human Capital Trends (2016) confirmed that this trend is continuing, with over 7000 organizations moving towards more team-based designs. However, the success of team collaboration is not a guarantee and requires diligent planning and hard work. Tannenbaum and Salas (2020) suggest that there are seven “Cs” (or drivers) of teamwork, namely: capability, cooperation, coordination, communication, cognition, coaching, and conditions. To contextualize and apply each of these 7 “Cs”, I’ll use a recent team collaboration I participated in as an example. A team of four staff from Oregon State University … The Seven “Cs” of Successful Team Collaboration
by · April 25, 2022

It Takes Two: Fostering Collaborative Faculty-Instructional Designer Relationships for Student-Centered Learning

Introduction Relationships matter for successful collaborative work. Yet, when it comes to online/ blended/hybrid course design, development often begins with a focus on course content, assuming that the collaborative relationship between faculty and instructional designers is secondary to the design process (Tate, 2017). If we care about student success, we must turn our attention to the ways in which effective collaborative relationships among design partners contribute to the course feel — that is, the online learning environment as perceived by students. In our recent OLC presentation, we proposed an interactive strategy for developing collaborative relationships between faculty and instructional designers based on curiosity, enthusiasm, and mutual respect.  Faculty and instructional designers often find themselves at cross-purposes. The design process expects … It Takes Two: Fostering Collaborative Faculty-Instructional Designer Relationships for Student-Centered Learning
by · January 31, 2022

Managing the Pace & Workload

Lately I’ve heard from a number of faculty whose students have expressed stress or overwhelm at the workload in a course. Further, students as well as faculty have had to adjust to a new routine or pace in their lives in recent months. All of this change gives us a chance to examine the workload and pace of a course so that it is manageable for both students and instructors. To that end, I offer three simple things that faculty can do to make their workload more manageable: Manage expectations Post time estimates for each activity Consider your own availability Manage expectations One of the most effective ways to help students understand how much they should plan to do each … Managing the Pace & Workload
by · July 6, 2020