Inspire Blog Tag: online learning

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

Make Your Word Documents Accessible for All

In this post I’m returning to an important topic: accessibility. In a previous blog my colleague Susan Fein explained how everyone benefits from more accessible materials and that a large number of our students have some degree of disability. Word documents are ubiquitous in our courses, as well as for other work-related activities. If a Word document is designed for digital consumption – such as posting in the Learning Management System or on a website – it needs to comply with accessibility standards. Fortunately, Word includes excellent tools for making your file accessible! I will first go over the main accessibility features, and then show you how to implement them in the video below. Accessibility checker: Word includes a tool … Make Your Word Documents Accessible for All
by · May 9, 2022

Five Tips for Making Accessible PowerPoint Slides

By Susan Fein, Ecampus instructional designer If you use slide presentations to deliver information and then provide a digital version of the slides to support learners, this post is for you! Instructors teaching online or who use a companion LMS or website to accompany in-person classes often upload the slide file to aid students in notetaking. However, you may not be aware that digital files are not automatically accessible to those using assistive technologies, such as screen readers. Following a few simple and easy guidelines will improve accessibility of your materials for all students and demonstrate your thoughtful attention to inclusivity and equity. Who Benefits from Accessibility? Everyone, not only those with disabilities, benefit from accessible learning materials. The U.S. … Five Tips for Making Accessible PowerPoint Slides
by · April 11, 2022

Course Design Challenge: Try Subtraction

In your work as an instructor or instructional designer, what kinds of course design problems have you been trying to solve lately? Perhaps there’s a discussion board assignment that you’d like to make more engaging, or maybe there’s a lab activity that students struggle with. According to recent research findings published in the journal Nature, “…people are more likely to consider solutions that add features than solutions that remove them, even when removing features is more efficient” (Meyvis, T. and Yoon, H., 2021). In a course design context, this means we will probably reach for something we can add to our course to fix a problem: a shiny new tool we learned about at a conference, an extra video lecture, … Course Design Challenge: Try Subtraction
by · February 24, 2022

Social Annotation as a Learning Tool

“Annotation provides information, making knowledge more accessible. Annotation shares commentary, making both expert opinion and everyday perspective more transparent. Annotation sparks conversation, making our dialogue – about art, religion, culture, politics, and research – more interactive. Annotation expresses power, making civic life more robust and participatory. And annotation aids learning, augmenting our intellect, cognition, and collaboration. This is why annotation matters.”                                            -Kalir and Garcia Annotation  When you think back to your early college years, you may remember your professor assigning a text to annotate. Annotating a text has long been a common task in higher education, one that ideally promotes deeper reading, interaction with, and comprehension of important texts. Annotation assignments vary widely but the traditional paper-based type of annotation … Social Annotation as a Learning Tool
by · November 22, 2021