ICC TLC - Online Learning

“Accessibility sounds like a lot of work. I would love to design my content following the Universal Design for Learning Framework, but where should I start?” I am glad you asked. I would recommend you start with the plus one approach. Take time to review your current course and collect feedback from your students on what you could do to make your content more accessible. Next, set up a timeline for yourself and try to add one new design aspect to your course material monthly. Do you know the top three barriers access services receive from our students here at ICC?  Audio/video with no captions or transcripts. Using special fonts, highlighting, or color coding to represent emphasis or meaning. PDF’s that are not screen-reader friendly. So, let’s begin by providing you with resources to tackle our top three barriers here at ICC. Captioning is essential for someone who is deaf, but do you realize it benefits many others? Did you know that 85% of student populations are...

I think a better question is, “Why do you teach?” I teach because I love to share the passion, knowledge, and life experiences I’ve had with others. Why do you teach? We have student learning objectives for each course we teach, from which we design our course material. Making something clear for our students to understand the first time makes it easier on all of us and is part of the universal design process. Making something accessible is part of our job as teachers. Providing clear communication and clear access to the content we provide both online and in a face-to-face classroom helps our students succeed in our classrooms. Accessibility or Accommodation Accessibility is different from providing accommodations. We make an accommodation for an individual student upon their request which is a reactive response. Accessibility is a proactive response; it’s how we design our material to benefit students and allow them to gain access to the material we provide. Both a...

Engaging Students in the Learning Process Every course we teach is unique and has a diverse population of students within it. Have you ever thought about how to make the material richer for your students? Students differ in learning styles and abilities. By attempting to offer learning opportunities, engagement, and assessment in multiple formats we can help increase the learning and mastery of all our students.  Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a design framework that guides instructors to plan and provide genuine learning opportunities and support for all students. I would assume that you are already doing this within your classrooms, both face to face and online. You have a project for students to complete, and they are given a choice in how they can show what they have learned. Maybe they write a paper, prepare a PowerPoint, create a wiki, vlog, or blog. UDL is an instructional design framework offering flexibility and adaptability to meet the needs of our di...

Online discussions can lead to deeper learning. How? The key is being intentional within the design and facilitation. As we build community within our online classrooms, we want to create a safe space where students can explore ideas and learn from each other. Online discussion boards are a tool that can be used as a meeting place for social interactions among peers, a place for collaboration and exchange of ideas, a medium to pose questions about homework, a place to discuss and review assignments and course content, a way to demonstrate understanding or application, or a discussion record for group work. First, you must decide the purpose for which you will design your discussion. The purpose should align with your student learning objectives for the course. Discussion boards have forums and threads. A forum is the topic of discussion at hand; it is the big picture. Threads are designed to post within a forum. You can design the forum so each student can post the...

One thing you need to determine is how you plan to communicate regularly with your students. I’m sure you have thought a bit about this, but let’s dive a bit deeper. Students often leave their online courses because they feel isolated or become frustrated.  Communication online is different than in a face to face classroom. As an instructor, we need to be deliberate, consistent, and relentless in building student-faculty and student-student relationships. The structure you put in place will help to create a pattern of communication for your students. Here are four tips for communicating well with your students: 1.     Communicate early and frequently ·       This can ease student anxiety and  is the easiest way to show you are present within the course. Send out an announcement in blackboard to the student email on a weekly basis. o    How to send announcements and navigate blackboard:  Video  or...