Magna 20 Minute Mentor | How Can I Effectively Use Class Preparation Assignments?

During this Magna video Dr. Robert Gillette and Dr. Lynn Gillette share their ideas about how they get students primed to come to class and engage with the course materials. In their “interactive model” for teaching they assign students required reading materials that introduces essential course content and have them begin processing that information on their own. When they come to the class sessions, they are expected to become involved in discussions and learning activities that have them working with other students to extend, analyze and apply the new content.

A fundamental element of the Gillettes’ teaching method is to provide the students with Class Preparation Assignments (CPAs), which are guided reading activities involving four to six questions that prepare the students for in-class active learning exercises. The CPAs are graded pass/fail and require that students answer each question, plus create one copy of the CPA to use in class and another copy that is turned in to the instructor. The learners are also encouraged to collaborate with one another outside of class-time to develop answers to the CPA questions. The students are not expected to have perfect responses on the CPA, but they must participate with the in-class learning activities in order to receive any credit. It is important that the CPA questions are not too difficult as the objective is to afford the students with a first-time exposure and not an emphasis on competence. The additional processing, critical thinking and developing expertise about the content will occur during classroom learning exercises involving the whole class.

As part of their presentation, the Gillettes offer many supplementary materials that provide thorough guidelines for implementing the CPAs, including some example questions, and details about their corresponding “multi-category” grade scheme. This video addresses the LCCC Faculty Competency domain for Competency-Based Design and can be accessed by completing this one-time registration to view all the videos in the Magna 20 Minute Mentor series.

Magna 20 Minute Mentor | How Can I Assess Students in my Online Classes through Student-created Videos?

During this video from the Magna 20-Minute Mentor series, Dr. Oliver Dreon presents information about how to use student produced videos to serve as assessment activities. Dr. Dreon proposes that many assignments instructors currently use in their courses can become a video activity, or be enhanced by adding a video component. Using video can be especially helpful in online courses to provide additional modes of interpersonal communications through voice, facial expressions and body language.

Having these additional audio/visual communication channels can offer more insights into students’ levels of comprehension than text-based learning activities by “making their learning more visible”. Dr. Dreon also suggests that using video assignments provides additional opportunities to enhance a Community of Inquiry, which includes teaching, cognitive and social presence. Additionally, he cites research that indicates student-created videos can increase student motivation, learner autonomy, and classroom community.

Dr. Dreon states that video assignments can be used in place of a wide variety of text-based activities. He explains using student-created videos instead of written papers, and also applying video assignments for student presentations, demonstrations, and reflections. Some significant considerations for any assignment are based on the Control Value Theory, which states that students will be more motivated to learn when they feel they have control and find value in the learning activity. Therefore, Dr. Dreon emphasizes the importance of creating assignments that are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time oriented. Including detailed rubrics will help communicate with the students about the precise expectations of the assignment and the criteria that will be assessed. Lastly, in order to make these video assignments successful, instructors should provide tutorials that help students gain the required technology skills. Dr. Dreon also suggests offering links to applications that have general guides for creating videos such as YouTube, YuJa, Zoom, and Flipgrid.

This Magna video addresses the LCCC Faculty Competency domain for Teaching and Learning and can be accessed by completing this one-time registration to view all the videos in the Magna 20 Minute Mentor series. 

LCCC Curriculum Management System | New Vendor

LCCC has fully implemented the digital catalog live using DIGARC’s Acalog software—check it out! For the second piece of the DIGARC software, the CET is currently working with Edie Cox as our Project Lead, Registrar Stacy Maestas and ASC Chair Paula Badgett and Co-Chair Ashleigh Ralls on implementing Curriculog. With Curriculog we will be able to push updates to the catalog automatically. This allows less editing and consistent data with both systems.

The team is currently designing the forms for Curriculog and are planning to have the new system up by May 2021. Curriculog will have different functionality, which may seem to be more cumbersome at first. For instance, faculty will not be able to add prerequisite courses individually but those will need to be as one submission for all courses. This allows for that field in Curriculog to be pushed to the Acalog catalog. We're working to understand processing differences between Curriculog and currIQunet and anticipate training opportunities in the fall to help all faculty acclimate quickly.

The CET is working on archiving documents form the currIQunet system and will publish them to a new ASC Virtual Office site for easy access. Soon, currIQunet will be set to read only to prevent edits that will not be captured in the archive; we will not be able to access the old system after June 30, 2021. If you have any questions, please email cet@lccc.wy.edu.

Magna 20 Minute Mentor | How Can I Help Online Students Develop Autonomy and Take More Responsibility for Their Learning?

In this Magna video Flower Darby presents various ways that instructors can help students become more independent and responsible learners. These are very important skills for learners to develop and are especially helpful for them to become more successful in their asynchronous online courses. The flexibility of these courses requires that students need to manage their own time, create study plans and become more self-motivated.

Ms. Darby states that instructors can create certain learning activities that will help students develop these important lifelong skills. One of these areas is assisting students in being able to plan how they can be successful. She proposes using a goal-setting exercise which requires that learners identify one potential challenge that may occur during their learning, and ascertain one strategy that could help overcome this challenge. Another learning activity is to have the students develop a “structured work plan”, where they submit a schedule for when they will complete certain tasks in order to meet an assignment deadline. This can help learners evaluate their own progress and make any necessary adjustments to achieve their required objectives.

The other learning skill that Ms. Darby focuses on is providing the students with some choices about how they participate in class and perform certain coursework. This can help students become more independent and self-directed by taking increased ownership of their learning goals. Some of the ways to provide these options is to offer multiple discussion questions that the learners can choose from, or allow students to self-enroll in groups based on different topics. Another way to promote student autonomy is allowing them to choose the format they prefer for completing an assignment, such as writing a paper, developing a concept map or producing a PowerPoint.

During this presentation, Ms. Darby provides other resources and learning activities to help students monitor and direct their own learning. This video addresses the LCCC Faculty Competency domain for Teaching and Learning and can be accessed by completing this one-time registration to view all the videos in the Magna 20 Minute Mentor series.

Magna 20 Minute Mentor | How Do I Get Students to Read Their Assignments Before Class?

In this Magna video, Dr. Maryellen Weimer addresses an unfortunately very common challenge for instructors, which is students attending class without having completed the assigned readings. Of course, this interferes with having meaningful participation and sharing perspectives in classroom discussions. This also hampers successful progress in hybrid courses where students are expected to take on more responsibility for learning certain portions of the course content.

Dr. Weimer presents a few strategies to help students recognize the importance of completing the reading assignments and being prepared to engage in the classroom conversations. She discusses that there can be many reasons for students being unprepared such as work, family responsibilities and lack of motivation. However, she suggests that a primary reason that the learners do not complete the assigned readings is that often there are no consequences. One of the ways to make the students more accountable is to ask specific questions about the text and require that the learners provide references from those readings. If there are no relevant responses it is important that the instructor does not provide the answers. Instead inform the students that the next class session will repeat the same inquiries and you expect some informed comments.

Another strategy is to use the assigned text in class and make specific references. The instructor can require that the students bring the reading materials along with them to class, and then ask them to review a certain section and discuss what they find is significant. The third strategy that Dr. Weimer proposes is to make students responsible for understanding about reading materials that you will not be able to cover in class. To help students identify some of the important reading topics, she places them in study groups and assigns them to review a certain section of the text and prepare a study guide to share with the rest of the class.

View this video to learn more about Dr. Weimer’s strategies and to access her supplementary materials, which includes three example assignments to engage students with the readings. This video addresses the LCCC Faculty Competency domain for Competency-Based Design and can be accessed by completing this one-time registration to view all the videos in the Magna 20 Minute Mentor series.

Magna 20-Minute Mentor | How Can I Assess Critical Thinking with Objective Items?

In this video from the Magna 20-Minute Mentor series, Dr. Linda B. Nilson suggests some ways that objective tests can be used to assess certain types of critical thinking (CT). Dr. Nilson begins by describing the importance of establishing clear learning outcomes that determine exactly what types of critical thinking you want to assess. She emphasizes that learning outcomes must be observable performance behaviors that demonstrate how a student can manifest their knowledge. However, objective tests will not do well in assessing certain CT skills such as creativity, organization or communication skills.

Dr. Nilson explains critical thinking activities apply to materials where a claim (interpretation, theory) is disputable or questionable - not a fact or definition. CT always involves analysis and evaluation, as well as other higher order forms of cognition such as interpretation, problem solving, and synthesis. She then proceeds to give examples of how to employ various forms of objective test items such as matching, multiple choice, and true/false questions to assess/evaluate CT skills.

Dr. Nilson states that fill-in-the-blank test questions are not very suitable for assessing critical thinking, because they tend to focus on the memorization of one particular answer. However, matching and multiple-choice tests can be applied to many CT outcomes that focus on concepts, cause and effects, hypothetical problems and new examples in a content area. She also feels that multiple true/false tests that are constructed with a question and are followed by a series of T/F response choices can be effective for assessing critical thinking. These types of questions create more decision points for students and work best when they are based on a new concept for students to analyze and interpret. At the end of the video, Dr. Nilson provides references for many examples of CT skills and questions for different types of subject-matter.

This video addresses the LCCC Faculty Competency Domain for Competency-Based Design and can be accessed by completing this one-time registration to view all the videos in this professional development series.

Magna 20 Minute Video | How Does Consistency Improve Quality in Online Courses and Programs?

During this Magna 20-Minute video, Dr. Brian Udermann provides a good overview about the various advantages that having a consistent course design for online courses produces for an institution. He begins by stating that consistency does not need to imply that all courses look exactly the same, but they should have certain elements that make them look similar. Dr. Udermann also feels it is important for institutions to strike a balance between course consistency and providing a certain amount of autonomy for instructors with course design.

Dr. Udermann describes how students, faculty, and the institution can all benefit from having a consistent structure in their online courses. Students feel more comfortable when their online courses look and feel the same. This familiarity allows them to focus on engaging with the course content and not struggling with navigation or trying to find certain materials. Having some standard course design principles can also help faculty develop online courses by providing some guidelines. However, faculty should have some leeway to include certain design components and content they feel is important. The advantage for the institution is that some uniformity in course design can facilitate data collection for assessments and course evaluations.

Dr. Udermann feels that one of the ways to increase course consistency is by offering professional development opportunities for the instructors, which includes recommendations for reliable course design. Institutions could also consider producing syllabus templates and course shells. He also believes that having a course evaluation rubric is important for promoting quality as well as certain similarities across course components. Viewing this video offers many insights into the value of common course design considerations, including Dr. Udermann’s recommendations to base these decisions on a team approach that includes faculty and other members of the campus community.

If you haven't done so already you need to complete this one-time registration in order to access this Magna video and all other videos in the vast Magna library to which the College subscribes.

Professional Development Opportunity | eLCC Virtual Conference 2021

The eLearning Consortium of Colorado (eLCC) announced they are providing their virtual conference from April 7-9, 2021. This free national event has been attended by many LCCC participants over the past few years and offers an informative range of presentations. Some of the session topics from last year included: Using Active Learning to Enhance Student Comprehension, Metacognition and Building Connections with Students in the Online Classroom, and Neotraditional Students and Online Discussions: What do they Really Want?

The 2021 eLCC conference will be larger than past years by collaborating with the Northwest Managers of Education Technology (NW/MET) and NW eLearning Community (NWeLearn) to provide a joint online conference. Last year’s conference had over 1,000 attendees, and for 2021 there will be openings for up to 1,500 participants. This year the conference will be held virtually over Zoom, and may also include other delivery platforms depending on the various session formats. Registration is free for this conference and can be found at the eLCC 2021 Virtual Conference site.

The conference is currently requesting session proposals and more information is available at these links:

• Call for presentations
• Call for poster sessions

eLLC is also seeking nominations for their annual Learning Technologies Team Award which is open to all members of the organizing groups, presenters, and attendees.

Please consider attending and participating in this useful virtual conference event!

Canvas Updates February 2021

In the most-recent Canvas release (February 20, 2021) you'll see the following:

• LaTeX equations can be entered in any Canvas text field, and MathJax is loaded if Canvas detects an equation image added by delimited LaTeX characters.
• The Rich Content Editor includes a pretty HTML editor in addition to the raw HTML editor.
• When grading periods are used in the Gradebook, the Gradebook CSV exporter will append the title of the selected grading period to column headers whose values vary based on grading period. Additionally, the Gradebook importer recognizes and can apply changes for final grade override scores.
• For instructors, the Gradebook View menu includes the View Ungraded as 0 option, which is a visual change only and does not affect any grades. This is a feature option that can be turned on in each of your course(s).

This short 4-minute release note video highlights all of these updates.

For detailed information, check out the comprehensive release notes.

Passport to Canvas is the New LMS Student Tutorial

“Passport to Canvas” is a new orientation course that Canvas recently created for learning about the various tools and features within the LMS. The “Passport to Canvas” tutorial also includes a module about “How to be a Successful Online Learner” that was developed by CET and includes contributions by Amanda Brown to offer some helpful guidelines and strategies for remote learners. Students have provided some positive feedback about this tutorial. “Yes it was extremely helpful…I think that should be mandatory practice in high school cause I was lost using Canvas!”

Beginning in the Spring 2021 semester, “Passport to Canvas” replaces the “Online Introduction to Canvas” that was previously used as a student tutorial. This new course consists of nine modules that take students through the major functions they will need to know about using Canvas successfully. Students can progress through these modules in any order, and after completing each module they are able to earn a Badge. Below is a list of the modules included in the Passport to Canvas:

1. How to be a Successful Online Learner
2. Communication Tools
3. Navigating a Course
4. Assignments
5. Quizzes
6. Discussions
7. Grades and Feedback
8. Peer Interactions
9. Student App

The following topics are addressed in the “How to be a Successful Online Learner” module:

• Characteristics of an Effective Online Learner
• Study Space
• Time Management
• Independent and Persistent Learners
• Participate in Classes
• Technology
• Mental Preparation
• Stress Management

Students can always access the “Passport to Canvas” by clicking on the Help? icon at the bottom of the Global Navigation menu and choosing the Passport to Canvas link on the Student Resources site. This self-enroll course is also available to faculty and staff wanting to learn more about the standard tools in LCCC's Canvas instance. Once a learner self enrolls in this tutotial, it remains available as an on-going resource for reviewing those materials.

Canvas & Zoom Updates, January 2021

Canvas Updates

The Assignment Enhancements feature is now available for students. This update to the classic assignment details page improves the assignment interface and submission workflow for students. To see this feature from a student view, see this short video:

“The benefits that students get with the new workflow (saving progress, or uploading a document before processing the submission) was well worth turning this feature on!”
– David Stokowski, Principal Learning Consultant for the State of Wyoming, Instructure

The student workflow is focused on keeping everything on one page (no separate page for submission details), access to previous submissions, and better DocViewer feedback visibility. See How-to Student Guides for steps for each assignment type.

Zoom Updates

Enhanced privileges for co-hosts for managing Breakout Rooms; sharing slides as a virtual background; in-meeting security controls. These feature updates require the most recent version of the Zoom desktop client to be installed. If the features are not available in your classroom, submit a work order to the LCCC Support Desk to update the Zoom software.

• Windows: 5.4.3 or higher 
• macOS: 5.4.3 or higher

Canvas Changes are on the Horizon!

New changes will be implemented in Canvas before faculty return on January 12, 2021. Among them will be the new Rich Content Editor (RCE), as previously blogged about here, as well as updates to where media uploads are stored and the new student view button.

First, media upload changes will be as follows:

• Newly recorded media, using the Upload/Record Media link, will now be stored more appropriately depending on the destination of the file. For example, media recorded for a discussion post will now be stored in the course files, whereas media recordings for an assignment will be store in the student's user files.
• This change will only affect the storage quotas for courses if the media file is directly uploaded to the course files rather than recorded within Canvas using the Upload/Record Media link. More information about this change can see in this demonstration video.

Next, the student view button is moving! The student view button is leaving the right sidebar and being placed in the top right corner of pages that the student role can view. For example:

• The student view button will show on the top right corner of the home page because this is a page that students can view.
• The student view button will not show on the course settings page because this is not a page that students can view. You can see the new button in action in this demonstration video. 

For more information about these changes and others, such as the "View Ungraded as Zero" option in the gradebook, please check out the new Canvas release notes for December 19, 2020.

Have a wonderful holiday season and enjoy the break with friends and/or family. The weekly CET blog posts will take a brief hiatus but will return for the Spring semester on January 18, 2021.

Student Survey Indicates Effective Online Learning Practices

Top Hat recently administered a survey of 3,400 undergraduate college students to learn about their experiences with the recent shift to online learning. The results provide some interesting insights into what aspects of these online courses had the most positive impact on student learning.

Students indicated there are certain technologies and teaching methods that they feel have been most helpful. Almost 80% of students say that video-conferencing tools such as Zoom and MS Teams have improved their online experience. These learners appreciate being able to view and interact with their instructor and classmates, plus having the flexibility to review recorded lectures at their own pace. Students also like being able to use those conferencing tools to communicate with their peers outside of class-time.

Online learners report that having more opportunities to interact with the instructor and other students helps build a sense of community which improves their learning experience. Students appreciate faculty who make frequent announcements, check-in with students about course progress, and provide timely feedback on assignments. Learners value having an open Discussion board where they can post questions about course activities that can be shared with their classmates. Being able to interact and work in smaller groups with their peers in Zoom breakout rooms is also viewed as an important activity to help establish relationships. Over 70% of students feel more engaged and motivated in courses that promote a sense of belonging and community.

Another key finding is that 77% of students responded that their instructors are including more active learning during class sessions to apply what they have learned. Students are attracted to quizzing tools such as Kahoot! and Socrative that provide opportunities for whole class interactions to review and enhance comprehension of course materials. When courses promote more in class activities, discussions, and collaborations 66% of online learners report more engagement with their learning.

The results of this survey indicate that using video-conferencing, creating a sense of community, and including active learning exercises can enhance the online course experience.

Magna 20-Minute Mentor is Making a Difference for a Few!

 Subscribe now and get us up to 100 subscribers by the end of year!

Magna 20-Minute Mentor was introduced to LCCC at the end of September and since then 24 faculty and staff have signed up to view the professional resources. These 20-minute videos include downloadable notes, supplements, transcripts, and certificates of completion. The CET receives monthly reports of completed videos and can confirm credit towards your professional development.

The resources in our Magna subscription are available to all LCCC faculty, staff and students. This rich resource requires a one-time registration to establish your access to the group subscription. Once registered bookmark https://www.magnapubs.com/profile/ and look for the monthly newsletter in your inbox for a list of videos added each month. 

This is what LCCC faculty and staff are saying about Magna.

• “Magna 20-Minute Mentor is a fantastic professional development opportunity with 297 short videos you can watch without leaving home in this time of COVID. I get busy and forget about this great resource, so I put a reminder on my calendar to help me remember to watch one a few times each week. I like that it keeps track of what you have watched, and I also like how it breaks the videos down into subject categories that make it easy to find something you are interested in learning more about.” --Teresa Authier, Librarian
• “I am always energized by learning from others and these Magna 20-minute Mentor programs allow me to do just that – on my own time, in my own space. There is a myriad of topics that are presented in a concise manner designed to share information and spark ideas. These programs offer me an opportunity to take the initiative in my own professional development and motivate me to reflect on ways I can enhance the learning ecology in my courses.” --Crystal Stratton, Instructor, Communication
• “Magna’s program has been extremely helpful. Twenty-minute lessons are the perfect length to introduce a topic and create actionable ideas that I can adapt to my courses. It’s a much better way to spend twenty minutes than doomscrolling social media. --Brendon Larsen, Instructor/Clinical Coordinator, Physical Therapist Assistant 
• “The Magna 20 Minute Mentor is a great way to brainstorm for new ideas and or share some best teaching practices with other educators around the country. I have tapped into this resource for tips related to online teaching and making a connection with students remotely. They are quick, easy and insightful. If you are looking for fresh ideas or a new approach to educational practices give it a try.” --Ty Berry, Ag and Equine Pathway Coordinator 
• “The Magna 20-Minute Mentor videos are an excellent resource about various teaching strategies and methods that are provided by faculty experts. These presentations are very concise and focused on a range of helpful topics such as: What Are Three Proven Ways to Manage My Online Discussion Board and Actively Engage Students? and How can Online Instructors Make Themselves More Visible to Students?” --Tim Kochery, Instructional Designer 
• “The Magna 20-Minute Mentor videos have been invaluable in providing the tips and tools we need to effectively instruct our bright students at LCCC. Teaching experts from a multitude of institutions provide the needed information for instructors, especially with regard to the most current information on virtual teaching--an area that all instructors at LCCC and colleges worldwide have had to pivot to in 2020.” --Danielle Jensen-Ryan, Human and Public Services Pathway Coordinator 
• The Magna 20-Minute Mentor resource has already changed the way I teach my courses, including adding video assignments for my students to complete. --Gavin Martin, Instructor, Biology 

Here are reviews on specific videos the new faculty cohort watched and gave a 5-star rating.

• What Three Things Should I Do Each Week to Engage Online Students? "Easy but impactful idea for connecting with your students." -- Marie Yearling, Instructor, Microbiology.
  "The 20+ pages of handouts also make for an easy reference or review." --Brendon Larsen, Instructor/Clinical Coordinator, Physical Therapist Assistant 
• Are Group Exams a Viable Testing Option? "Group testing doesn’t always have the best reputation. In this video, the advantages are shared with 5 different approaches. I adapted #4 for online learning and the student collaboration was impressive!" --Marie Yearling, Instructor, Microbiology 
• What are 5 Easy-to-use Technologies That Have a Big Impact on Learning in the Online Classroom? "With so many options available, it was nice to see a concise list of great resources. Particularly helpful for enhancing recorded lectures and videos." --Chris Hair, Instructor, Geography/Geosciences 
• How Can I Make My Video Lectures Effective and Engaging? "Great reminder of the attention span of students, and the effectiveness of shorter, focused video lectures. I also appreciated the data regarding professional vs. more organic (less professional) videos. Students do not necessarily learn more or respond better to professional grade videos. Many of the tools in the "5 Easy-to-Use Technologies" video are great for breaking up recorded lectures and keeping students engaged." --Chris Hair, Instructor, Geography/Geosciences 
• How Can I Help Online Students Develop Autonomy and Take Responsibility for Their Learning? "She gives some great tips about Student Goals Contracts and Structured Work Plans as well as a good book I plan to read - The Online Teaching Survival Guide, Boettcher and Conrad. She was very engaging, and I will search for more sessions she teaches." --Carole Boughton, Business and Accounting Pathway Coordinator 
• How Can I Structure a Flipped Lesson? "So what, now what? So what you came to class, now what do you do with it? So what you read the chapter, now what do you do with it? The speaker suggests we design learning, so students know what to do. "Read the chapter" can mean many things to many people, providing instructions for completing an outline with the reading helps students know what to do with it." --Marie Yearling, Instructor, Microbiology 

Subscribe now and send cet@lccc.wy.edu your feedback, we want to hear from you!

LCCC Lightboard Up and Running!

The CET is super excited to announce that a fantastic new tool is now available for use at LCCC: a lightboard!

A lightboard is a glass board that instructors can write on which is backlight with stage lights. Like a white board, the instructor uses erasable markers to write on the board, but unlike a white board the instructor does not need to turn their back to the viewers! The recorded results, when flipped horizontally, is that the instructor can give a lesson all while facing and speaking directly to the camera.

See the lightboard in action with this video recorded by Troy Amick, Program Coordinator for CIS, in which he teaches binary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThXxBea675k 

To book time with the lightboard—currently located in BT 109—create a new Outlook meeting and invite Lightboard@lccc.wy.edu as a required participant, choose an available day and time, and then indicate in the description whether or not you would like setup assistance from the CET (recommended for your first time using the equipment). The Location field in your meeting invitation should automatically populate with “Lightboard”. If not, simply search for the location in the Outlook Global Address Book Room List. 

If your chosen day and time are available, you will get an approval from the CET. Just before the scheduled time of your recording session the room will be unlocked by Monica Hudson, Administrative Assistant to BATS, and the CET will be available to help get you setup and started. Please keep your scheduled sessions to a reasonable length of time to allow others use of the room throughout the day. The room will be available Monday-Friday 8 AM-5 PM.

Documentation for using both the lightboard hardware and software will be coming soon, which will be available on the Faculty Resources Site, along with printed and digital copies in the room itself.

Students Miss F2F Interactions during Remote Learning!

The recent shift to remote learning has provided various challenges for students. Many learners are experiencing online and hybrid courses for the first time, which has impacted their educational experience in several ways. Student feedback from certain surveys indicates that their most difficult adjustment to remote learning is they miss face-to-face interactions with faculty and other students during class. This is to be expected with many forms of remote learning and poses challenges to communications and engagement with the course content.

Much of education is based on social interactions and students value having personal connections with their instructors and classmates. An important aspect of learning is sharing ideas and perspectives that help make new mental associations and expand our knowledge. Social presence is the perception that other people are physically present and this enhances communications through visual and verbal cues: eye-contact, facial expressions, and body language. Certain types of remote learning communications such as email and online discussions do not readily convey these important emotional signals. Therefore video conferencing is an important activity to include with remote instruction to provide visible contacts and exchanges that enhance learning.

Many students report that video conferencing through Zoom or MS Teams is a valuable learning activity that provides opportunities for real-time interactions. Students appreciate being able to visually and verbally participate in a dynamic dialogue with their instructor and classmates that makes them feel part of a learning community. Learners value interactive Zoom lectures that are structured with dedicated intervals for questions, and use breakout rooms where students can communicate with one another in smaller groups. By participating in these more intimate groups, student-to-student interactions can be established that allow learners to engage and build connections with one another. While videoconferencing sessions are not the same as live F2F interactions, they can afford a sense of presence and engaging personal communication.

Actively Connecting to Online Learners

Current circumstances have created the need to offer an increased number of courses through remote instruction. The result is that many students are required to take online courses for the first time, and often this form of delivery is not their preferred method for learning. The distant and asynchronous nature of these courses causes many challenges for all students, but especially for those learners who have not previously experienced this form of instruction. The physical separation often makes students feel isolated and disconnected from meaningful interactions and communications. An important instructional method to help “overcome the distance” is increasing efforts to make emotional and affective connections with these remote learners.

Engaging inter-personal contacts have been found to improve student performance and course completion rates. Students benefit from communications that demonstrate the instructor cares about their progress and helping them be successful learners. This is afforded by timely formative feedback about the coursework, and including comments that provide encouragement, positive reinforcement, and recognition of the student’s good efforts. Offering supportive communications is critical for motivating students and promoting positive emotional connections, which is central to student engagement and cognition. Below are some methods that assist in establishing rapport and a trusting student-instructor relationship:

• Provide weekly reminders and check-ins about course assignments
• Create an on-going discussion board for course questions
• Request student feedback about course activities through polls and surveys
• Encourage use of the various student support services (tutors, advisors, counselors, financial aid etc.)
• Consider scheduling phone calls to establish an additional form of communication
• Reach out and offer assistance to students who are struggling

Student persistence and motivation to succeed increases when they feel that the instructor is available and demonstrates a genuine interest in their concerns. Providing constructive communications with a personal touch is an important way to help students feel connected and engaged with their remote courses.

New Analytics Reports in Canvas -- What's Happening in YOUR Class?

Released in late September, Canvas now has a few useful reports available within the New Analytics tool. These reports are course specific and can be found by clicking either the “New Analytics” button on the homepage of your course or the “New Analytics” link in your course navigation, then clicking the “Reports” tab.

The available reports are:

1. Missing Assignments: a list of assignments that have not been submitted yet
2. Late Assignments: a list of assignments that have been submitted late
3. Excused Assignments: a list of assignments that are excused
4. Class Roster: a list of students enrolled in the course or section with student contact information such as email and SIS ID
5. Course Activity: a list of daily user views and participation

After clicking the “Run Report” button you then have the option to filter—depending on the chosen report—by Date, Assignment, Section Name (useful for cross-listed courses), and Student Name. Multiple filters can be applied to obtain specific information. A CSV file is immediately downloaded to your local machine, which can be opened and viewed in Excel. 

Note: These reports are subject to the New Analytics 24- to 40-hour data delay.

For more information check out the super useful Canvas documentation page.

Frequent and Low-Stakes Assessments

In an asynchronous online learning environment, there needs to be increased efforts to make remote students feel connected to the course content and involved with their own learning. Additionally, one of the biggest challenges is helping the students remain on-track and focused about the due dates for course materials and learning activities. An effective method for addressing both of these issues is by including frequent and low-stakes assessments.

The purpose of low-stakes assignments is to provide students with recurring formative feedback that indicates how they are performing. This feedback can assist learners at gauging the elements of the course where they are doing well and identifying other areas that need improvement. These activities are intended to have a minimal impact on final course grades, but rather are directed at furthering student comprehension about the course materials and achieving the desired learning objectives. The low-risk nature of these tasks can help students take more responsibility with their own learning by offering multiple opportunities for self-assessments and reflections. Creating low-stakes assignments produces many benefits to student learning:

• Helps maintain student engagement through more ongoing instances of formative and constructive feedback.
• Provides visible forms of instructor communications and presence.
• Additional occasions for students to recall and apply new knowledge.
• Allows instructors to better identify at-risk students who may need additional assistance and resources.

There are many types of formative learning exercises to include in your courses that can promote student progress in a non-threatening manner. One useful method is to schedule periodic low-stakes quizzes that allow multiple attempts to achieve mastery of the content. These types of quizzes can serve as valuable check-ins for students to review course content, and receive constructive feedback to enhance understanding. Integrating more low-risk learning activities that emphasize practice applying course content and receiving helpful guidance is a valuable instructional strategy for developing student success.

New Resources and New Enhancements!

20-Minute Mentor is here! Since 1972 Magna has been a leading provider of higher education professional development resources.  The 20-Minute Mentor Commons offers on-demand versions of Magna's popular 20-Minute Mentor programs, covering a broad range of faculty development topics such as course design, teaching strategies, inclusion and assessment. This rich resource requires a one-time registration to establish your access to the group subscription. The resources in our Magna subscription are available to all LCCC faculty, staff and students.

 

 New Zoom Features released 9.21.2020 in version 5.3.0 (Windows):

• Studio Effects - Users can now apply eyebrows, mustache and beard, and lip color filters as part of their video appearance. This feature is currently in beta.
• Roll-up Closed Captioning - Closed captioning will now roll up as new captions are added. Users can also move through captioning by dragging the text. Enhanced scheduling with default settings - Scheduling a new meeting will always check the user’s web settings and use those as the default. Any changes from the default will be saved for that meeting only.
• Virtual Background not compatible explanation - When you are unable to use the virtual background feature, the desktop client will provide clarification, for example, "the i7-5500U processor is not currently compatible with this feature".
• Self-select Breakout Room - The host can now create breakout rooms with the option for participants to self-select which breakout room they would like to join. If enabled, participants can move freely between breakout rooms, without needing the host’s help. Both the meeting host and participants need to be on Client 5.3.0 or later to self-select Breakout Rooms.
   
• See Release Notes for updates on other operating systems.