I consider myself to be relatively competent when it comes to using PowerPoint. However, when I read down through the hacks in the article linked below I found that there were some pretty amazing things that I will definitely be using in the future.
Are you really okay?
How many times each day do we ask each other, “Are you okay?” Most of the time, it feels easier to say, “I’m okay or I’m good”. It is faster than trying to unpack the things that might be bothering us. The fact is that we are not always really okay. We need to be honest with ourselves and others.
When we are not at our best, we are unable to help others. We need to be able to connect, identify, and process our emotions…including the daily stresses that we face. Stress is a funny thing. It can come from the anxiety of what we are hearing, seeing, or have been through in the past. From a Christian perspective, God wants us to be healed and operate at our best. This takes work. We must learn to lay our fears, stress, pain, and anxieties at the foot of the cross.
I hope that this podcast from Focus on the Family encourages you as it has encouraged me.
Course Competencies Assignment
I know you have seen the announcement about the Course Competency Extra Credit Assignment in the announcement in Canvas. I won’t take time here to go over that, but encourage you to make sure you read the announcement.
I do want to let you know that we did a pilot of this assignment in Spring term 1 in a medium-sized MSL course. Of the 29 students enrolled in the course, only 7 of those chose to participate in this optional assignment.
Here are the comments from the Instructor:
From your perspective did you feel the students who did the extra credit assignment were more engaged, about the same, or less engaged than the other students?
…the students that participated in this study were more engaged than the other students. The students that participated would post discussion ahead of the due date or turn in assignments early. I believe they were overachievers. The participants always wanted to make sure they were on time with their assignments. Posting first and turning in assignments early.
Did the students who completed the assignment do better, about the same or worse overall than those who did not do the assignment:
all of the students that participated in the pilot study currently have an “A” in the class.
As the Instructor did you feel watching the videos submitted by the students gave you a better connection with them or had no effect?
Yes, I believe it allowed me to have a connection with those students. Why? Because I knew they were going to have a great post or go the extra mile on their papers. I enjoyed reading those particular papers.
From my perspective, this is a win/win and I’m proud that we are including this going forward. I hope you find the same results:
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- that the students are more engaged
- that their overall performance is better
- and that you have a better connection with them.
Thus, encouraging your students to participate in the assignment, which opens to them one week before the start of the course benefits both you and them. I hope you will promote this with your students and that you see similar results.
Blessings,
Rick
Canvas Tips and HouseKeeping
If you are like me sometimes things begin to clutter up in Canvas making it more difficult to get in and do what I want to do – namely dive into teaching my course. Here are some tips that if you take a few minutes to do will make your life easier.
- If your “Course” link is getting cluttered with all your previous courses you can easily de-clutter. From the Courses link, scroll down to the bottom and choose “All Courses.” Once you do that you will see a list of your courses with a star next to each name. Each course with a star will show up as a favorite in your Courses. Simply click on the stars that are highlighted to un-highlight them. This will make accessing your material much easier going forward.
- Your inbox shows the number of unread items in a circle superimposed on the icon. It is a best practice, and honestly just common decency, to keep that down to ‘0.’ Take a little time to clean up your inbox – that will make it much easier to notice when a student is trying to communicate with you.
- On your Dashboard you should see Announcements from the Dean at the top – be sure to read these as they include important information for which you will be held responsible. They are usually full of useful information that can make your life easier or let you know about new features/changes.
- On the Dashboard the hamburger menu on the right (three vertical dots – think a bun with a hamburger patty in the middle) gives you options for how you see your courses (these are the same ones mentioned in #1 above). Please make sure that “Card View is selected as we have found that the other options can be problematic.
There will be more of these in the coming days so stay tuned.
Discussion Questions in Online Courses
In most cases online discussion questions in online courses fall into one of two categories. They are either essay posts, or true discussions. At Belhaven, the former is the typical format.
For either format, student engagement in the course and satisfaction with the course and the Instructor is increased when Instructors post responses to student posts. Obviously, posting a response to every post is unrealistic and is actually less meaningful than purposeful responses. Ideally, we would like to see Instructors respond to student posts in three ways:
- If the student’s post is excellent, then responding to that, especially pointing out any parts that were particularly on the mark can have a powerful effect in encouraging students and reinforcing engagement overall.
- If the student’s post is off-target or just plain wrong, then posting a response is a necessity to keep the student from assuming that since you didn’t reply they must have done OK. In this case, the best response is to post a question that has the effect of directing the student toward the right answer or thought process. Alternately, but less beneficial, the response should point out the error and provide the correct information.
- Finally, and this one should be a regular practice, the Instructor posts a reply to the discussion at the end of the week. This can be a recap of the discussion posts, pulling out the best comments from different students, but should at least contain a response that reinforces the correct information for that discussion post.
In some cases, the discussion question is reflective rather than asking for an answer to a specific question. Even in these cases, the Instructor’s engagement in the discussion has a positive effect on student engagement.
I know you are teaching because you care. Since we aren’t policing Instructor responses to discussion posts it might seem like this is an area where you can slide. While there are some who do that, those who are taking their role seriously do not. Just checking the post responses for the last few weeks it is clear to me that more than half of those teaching are making an effort to engage with their students in the discussion posts. I’d love to see that number climb to 100%.
Blessings,
Rick
Strategies for Improving Student Performance
The information below comes from a whitepaper released by McGraw Hill regarding the devastating effect procrastination can have on student performance. Here are some of the strategies they share from their research to improve student performance. I encourage you to read through the list and pick at least one or two of the ideas shared and begin to implement in your courses.
Instructors, remind students not to delay starting assignments! Make it a point to detect the early signs of procrastination and intervene with students who are lagging. If you’re using online learning management systems like Connect, you can use the system to look at patterns of student activity and engagement with the course that can help identify
which students may need a little extra assistance. Additionally, by taking some extra teaching steps and employing a few simple strategies, you can likely help the procrastinators before it becomes too late:
Intervene early: Intervene with struggling students before things go too far and grades suffer. Meet and work with them to develop a plan to successfully complete assignments and the course. Pay attention to early warning signs of struggle: late assignments, poor assignment quality, lack of communication, not responding to feedback, and displaying apathy. It also means being proactive and reaching out to students showing these signs and asking if and when, they started an assignment.
Use the data: The fact is, many students may not even know the unintended consequences of procrastination. Kick off the class with a short lecture or video presentation on procrastination. . . . Let them know that while procrastination is a natural behavior, those not staying on top of when they start an assignment have a greater likelihood of receiving a poor score and course grade.
Stay in touch: Ask students to notify you via email when they start an assignment. When about 75 percent of students have emailed you, reach out to the ones you haven’t heard from and encourage them to get started.
Measure progress: Administer mini-surveys to students to assess their progress on assignments and get involved with those who are not tracking to deadlines, or the assignment start threshold.
Monitor: Actively monitor student assignment start times in the online learning management system. When about 75 percent of them have started an assignment, contact the remaining 25 percent to get them started.
Nudge and repeat: “Nudge” them to start assignments with plenty of time before the due date. Repeat this message throughout the course, weaving it into weekly emails,
discussion posts, or any time you’re communicating with students. Use the carrot and not the stick and nudge them with extra credit for early assignment submissions.
Manage time: Integrate and lecture on-time management strategies in the first class. Listen to their ideas, provide feedback, and be clear that an important strategy is starting assignments early enough to do well on them.
Practice reflection: Early in the course, ask students to write a self-reflection paper or email on how to avoid procrastination in this course and in their college career. Have them be specific in identifying their habits and recommending specific solutions.
Text and call: Send a group text to the class reminding them to start an assignment. Or give them a call if you think they are starting an assignment late—it might just help to light a fire and get them moving on an assignment. One-on-one conversations might also reveal a student who needs assistance and an opportunity for you to help get them on the right track.
Make a timeline: Ask students to turn in a short project timeline outlining when they plan to start an assignment, meet deliverable milestones, and their strategies for staying on track. Review assignment grades and contact students who received less than a “B+” and discuss how they did the assignment work relative to their timeline. Provide helpful feedback for the next assignment and timeline.
Check-in regularly: Touch base with students, get them thinking and talking about starting assignments and making progress. Reminders can happen via text, email, when soliciting feedback or commenting on their work, or even dropping a thoughtful “don’t
procrastinate” note in the student chat room. Be proactive and show students that you’re interested in setting them up for success.