Introductions: A List
For our first activity in EPIC this semester, we’d like to get to know you as a teacher. We’d like to know not just what you teach, but how and why you teach. And what better way to learn about…
UAF CTL Staff
1. Objectives and Objections
Discussion of “learning objectives” and “measurable outcomes” is common across educational settings. In many of the conversations you might have come across already, the debate is around how to write objectives, measure and align them. In the course design process,…
2. Prompting Inquiry: Assessment Strategies
How do we know whether students are picking up what we’re putting down? Assessments help evaluate student understanding. And what else can they do? What other purposes can they serve? Can some, sometimes, do more harm than good? Are your…
3. LMS: Learning? Systems? Management?
When we teach online, the classrooms around which many of us are used to centering our courses are gone. So where do we go? Decades ago, some of the first people to ask this question created an answer that has…
4: Accessibility
Belonging and accessibility are not controversial goals. But achieving them has not always taken priority in the design of learning in higher education. We will look at these issues through the frameworks of Universal Design for Learning, and learn about…
Students communicate strategies and pitfalls
During National Distance Learning Week UAF CTL conversed with students via Facebook. Here’s a light read on student strategies to stay on task as well as a few shared challenges we all face. Read on; it might spark a small change to make in your course as a result.
5. Interactivity: Discussion and Collaboration Online
How do you engage with your online students? How do your students engage with one another? Online discussions afford many opportunities for student engagement and rich learning outcomes. However, creating and managing effective online discussions can be one of the…
6. Instructor Presence
Your presence in your online course is a huge contributing factor to student engagement and success. You can demonstrate your presence in a variety of ways — from creating short, customized videos to sharing your interest in the course content…
Bring robust labs to online classes
As we discover, test and improve methods of online teaching, one category of courses, the science laboratory based class, has resisted many efforts to bring lab units to the online realm. But this need not be the case. There are several models, methods and ready made solutions available to instructors or departments who are contemplating this transition. In this Teaching Tip, we cover the range of options available.
Illustration: University of Munich Remotely Controlled Lab on Millikan’s Experiment web interface.
7. Beyond the Classroom: Open Education, Community Engagement
This week we explore open education which includes topics of open educational resources (OER), open educational practices (OEP), open admission, and open access. Often, viewpoints you will encounter regarding open education lean toward the “knowledge wants to be free” school…
Pointers for teaching an open course
Teaching online courses that are publicly viewable can be a great way to potentially increase enrollment in your course or program, encourage students to perform at a higher level and share your expertise beyond the closed audience.