Tips & Best Practices
From suggestions for how to effectively communicate in an online learning modality to strategies for writing test questions, this roundup of best practices aims to help instructors deliver an engaging course for Arizona Online students.
Communicating Virtually
Arizona Online learners are often balancing work and life obligations in addition to their academics. This can mean a shift in approach from traditional modes of communication or instructor expectations typically found in an on-campus setting.
- Provide clear contact instructions and include a timeframe of 24-48 hours in which you’ll respond to their queries.
- Give students the benefit of the doubt when they express difficulties about time management.
- Be compassionate and remember their unique circumstances as post-traditional students.
Brightspace Discussions
The Brightspace (formerly D2L) discussion tool is a powerful way to engage students with course material and each other.
Purposes of Brightspace Discussion Activities:
- Prime students for other online learning activities
- Continue or substitute for in-class discussions
- Illuminate key concepts in the curriculum
- Encourage collaboration and discourse
- Clarify difficult course concepts or misconceptions
- Provide opportunities for student-led interactions
Tips for Brightspae Discussion Activities:
- Think beyond conversations
- Set up debates
- Brainstorm ideas
- Analyze case studies
- Create role-play activities
- Conduct article reviews
- Conduct book reviews or annotations
- Conduct website analyses
- Generate reports from "on-ground" learning activities
- Shift responsibility for learning to students
- Consider having students post the questions
- Rotate discussion moderator/facilitator role among students
- Create student groups
- Consider participating as a peer with students in online discussions
- Balance faculty-to-student dialogue with student-to-student dialogue
- Encourage critical thinking by creating problem or scenario-based threads
- Suggest “what if” prompts
- Within reason, let discussions evolve, allowing students to explore or debate topics before stepping in
Tips for Facilitating Brightspace Discussion:
- Establish and communicate learning expectations
- Clearly communicate goals and expectations of the activity, such as:
- Why you want them to use a Brightspace discussion (explore new ideas, review concepts, compare experiences)
- What you want them to base their discussion or argument on (readings, in-class discussion, personal opinion)
- How you expect them to learn from it (reflection, critical thinking, application, compare and contrast)
- Clearly communicate goals and expectations of the activity, such as:
- Prepare students for the mechanics of Brightspace discussions
- Communicate:
- How often students should post
- By when students should post
- How long the discussion will last
- How students will be assessed on their posts
- What constitutes an appropriate post
- How to engage in critical discourse while remaining respectful and collegial
- What to expect regarding the instructor’s role and participation
- Model and create guidelines for peer-to-peer interactions
- Communicate:
Learning ePortfolios
A learning ePortfolio is a website that allows students to gather their learning and reflect on their growth, progress and future learning goals. Unlike showcase ePortfolios that illustrate a student’s “best” or “most polished” work, learning ePortfolios focus on process and growth over time.
Characteristics of Learning ePortfolios:
- Focus – the process of learning
- Content – includes process work (drafts, low-stakes assignments, goals), reflection and finished work
- Goals – explore and reflect on learning, illustrate growth over time, develop an intellectual identity
- Audiences – teachers, peers, administrators, self
How to Collate Learning ePortfolios:
- Collect – students gather all “evidence” of their learning, such as drafts, reflections and final projects
- Select – students narrow the collection to the most essential learning experiences
- Reflect – students connect these experiences to their personal and course goals
How to Use Learning ePortfolios in instruction:
- Build reflection and process learning throughout
- Engage students in developing digital identities and encouraging them to learn about audience and context
- Have students map their learning to professional and/or course goals
- Encourage students to use a range of media to demonstrate their learning
- Reach out to others to get student examples, tricks, consultations and ideas
- Practice by developing your own teaching portfolio
Benefits of Using Learning ePortfolios:
- Helps students reflect and articulate learning
- Helps students develop digital literacy skills
- Aids in more equitable assessment practices
- Connects high-impact practices together
- Prepares students for building career portfolios
- Facilitates a growth mindset approach
- Increases student success and persistence
— Yancey, 2019; Schnedier, 2018; Reynolds & Patton, 2014; Eynon, Gambino, & Kuh, 2017
Learning ePortfolios Technology at U of A:
Digication
- Students have access across Arizona and beyond
- Allows instructors to create templates and/or use built-in templates
Google Sites
- Integrates media from Google Drive
- Students might be more familiar with design features
Adobe Spark
- Students can add a wide range of media, especially images and videos
- Works like a scrolling document and has license-free images.
Writing Test Questions
Tests and quizzes can help students study, practice and retain new information; online objective questions, such as multiple-choice questions, have additional advantages. But we know it’s not an easy process to write a good question. Here’s a comprehensive primer to help, using BrightSpace quizzes as examples.